I love this classic bean salad recipe Pair with the simplest strong seasoning. It’s perfect for picnics, barbecue and state-of-the-art meals. Use canned beans or home-cooked beans in this easy recipe!
Bean salad is my favorite entertainment, especially in the summer. I also found myself preparing for the whole week.
This easy bean salad recipe is super adaptable. You can make it with any beans on hand. Canned beans make it very simple, but you can cook your own meals. If you prefer homemade, check out our recipes for how to cook black beans and how to cook chickpeas.
Key Ingredients
- beans: In our photos, we used chickpeas, pinto beans and black beans. For more traditional 3 bean salads, use chickpeas, kidney beans, and canned or white beans. Or make it into a 5-bean salad and use chickpeas, tooth beans, kidney beans, black beans, and canned or bonded mung beans.
- onion: I like the sweet onions of this salad because it adds crispness but doesn’t overwhelm the salad with the onion flavor.
- cucumber: You really want some fragile bean texture to balance the texture of the bean. I love cucumbers, but celery, fennel, tacos and bell peppers are all great crunchy vegetables that work in this salad.
- Capers: My favorite ingredient in this bean salad is capers, which adds a barely salty flavor throughout the process. I love them!
- Fresh herbs: See almost all the salad recipes about inspirational flavors and you’ll see me adding fresh herbs. I love the fresh parsley in this salad, but other herbs can work as well. Try Basil, Mint, Tarragon, Dill, and Cilantro. When adding dragon dragon, add flavor because it is more delicious than other exquisite herbs.
- My favorite bean salad dressing: I like to retain the flavor in a light color of this salad, so my dressing just needs to be quick to stir red wine vinegar, olive oil, mustard sauce, salt, pepper and dried oregano (Italian seasoning or Herbes de Provence works well too). I use similar seasonings to make my favorite pasta salad.
How to make my favorite bean salad
For some reason, I call it ridiculous beans. If you use canned beans to make this salad, drain and rinse it under cold water before throwing it away with other salad ingredients. The liquid in the can taste salty and can make the salad dressing look blurry due to the starch on the beans.
The seasoning needs to be stirred quickly before throwing the salad. For the best bean salad, Cool in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour Marinate in seasoning before allowing the beans to be marinated.
For more bean salads, see our Creamy Kale Salad, this easy black bean and quinoa salad or my simple chickpea salad. I also love this fresh mung bean salad and crispy scallions!
Serve with bean salad
You will find this bean salad in our refrigerator. There is a great thing on hand for lunch or dinner. I like to toss it over salad veggies or some fluffy quinoa. It’s also great when served next to some of our lighter meals, such as this lemon dill salmon, these skillet chicken breasts or these juicy grilled pork chops.
It is also perfect for summer entertainment. Serve this simple bean salad with other summer salads like our No-Mayo Potato Salad, this pasta salad or this incredible lemon and herbal couscous salad.
Ridiculous simple bean salad
The beans you choose to use for this simple bean salad is up to you. Canned or cooked beans work. When using canned food, drain and rinse the beans before adding to the salad.
Made 6 cups
Watch us make recipes
You will need
3 (15 oz) canned, washed and rinsed or used 4½ cups of cooked beans
1/2 medium onion, chopped, about 3/4 cup
1 medium cucumber, chopped, about 2 cups
3 tablespoons drained cinnamon
1/2 cup (60g) chopped fresh parsley
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
For flavor
1/4 cup (60ml) red wine vinegar
1/4 cup (60 ml) super olive oil
1 teaspoon of simplified mustard
1 to 2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup, optional
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, more flavor
1/4 teaspoon fresh black pepper
direction
1Add the chopped onions to a small bowl and cover with cold water. Leave for 5 minutes, drain, and rinse. This step helps eliminate some of the “raw” flavor of the onion so as not to overwhelm the salad.
2Meanwhile, at the bottom of a large bowl, stir vinegar, olive oil, mustard, salt and pepper. Taste the dressing and adjust with more salt/pepper. If the seasoning tastes too much, stir in 1 to 2 teaspoons of honey or maple syrup to balance the vinegar.
3Add beans, onions, cucumbers, parsley, capers and dried oregano. Toss well, cover the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and marinate the beans in the seasoning.
4The salad will be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 4 days.
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- storage: Store bean salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- beans: In our photos, we used chickpeas, black beans and pinto beans. You can use these or other cooked or canned beans for salads.
- Fresh herbs: Parsley is classic in this salad, but other beautiful herbs are good too. Try Basil, Mint, Dill, Cilantro, or Tarragon. When using Dragon Dragon, use less than the recipe above because it has a stronger flavor.
- Dry Herbs: I love dry oregano in this salad, but other herbal mixtures will work well. Try Italian, Mediterranean or French dry spice mixtures (such as Herbes de Provence).
- Honey/Maple Syrup: Depending on the vinegar you use, you may find the dressing a little too vinegar. To balance this, just stir it into a small sweetener like honey or maple syrup.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
Nutrition per serving
Service size
About 1/2 cup
/
Calories
135
/
Total fat
6.3g
/
Saturated fat
0.8 g
/
cholesterol
0mg
/
sodium
343.5mg
/
carbohydrate
16G
/
Dietary fiber
4.3 grams
/
Total sugar
3.2g
/
protein
4.7 grams
We are Adam and Joanne, a couple who are passionate about cooking and sharing delicious, reliable recipes since 2009. Our goal? Inspire you to enter the kitchen and cook fresh and delicious meals confidently.
