3 Bean Salad

Protein packed 3 bean salad can be made in 15 minutes or less. A simple salad dressing takes this salad to a whole new level. Look no further for a salad that’s perfect for potluck and summer picnics!  

This make ahead summer salad is perfect to carry to potluck parties or BBQ party.

We love to add more texture to three bean salad with fresh cucumbers, onion and tomatoes along with celery. Texture, texture, texture! Doesn’t it sound amazing already!

3 Bean Salad Dressing

Every salad should have a killer salad dressing. With simple ingredients you can make the best tasting salad dressing. Keeping the salad dressing full of fresh herby flavors, we loaded it with fresh herbs along with lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper to season.

The salad dressing is fresh, vibrant with herbs. Zing from lemon juice, gives a nice flavor kick to the salad. Homemade 3 bean salad recipe usually has a sweet and sour salad dressing. We left out the sugar from the salad dressing as I personally don’t like sweetness in this salad dressing.

I recommend you to add sugar to your salad dressing recipe if you want well balanced sweet and sour dressing in your salad.

Add all salad ingredients into mason jar, shake, shake, shake. That’s it!

3 Bean Salad Ingredients

This protein packed salad is loaded with beans. We are using 3 beans in the recipe. Want to make it just one bean salad or want to use 4 different beans? Go head! Do it your way. Use any bean that you like. Swap kidney beans with black beans. Not a fan of cannellini beans? Use green beans or wax beans instead.

My three bean salad recipe uses –

• Kidney Beans
• Cannellini Beans
• Garbanzo Beans
• Red onions
• Celery
• Tomato
• English Cucumbers

How To Make Three Bean Salad

Get ready to make the simplest salad. For days when cooking a meal seems like a BIG task that you are in no mood for, make three bean salad. This salad is a meal by itself. But you can also serve it as sides for BBQ party.  15 minutes or less – you are out of kitchen with your salad. Happy days!

Prep Work :

Before you start, get the vegetables prepped. Though adding vegetables to three bean salad is option, we highly recommend you use fresh vegetables in this salad.

Cut cucumbers lengthwise into half. Scoop the seeds out from the centre.  Dice cucumber into small pieces.

Use fresh tomatoes (summer heirloom tomatoes are great choice). Scoop out seeds and liquids from the center of tomatoes and dice it.

Chop red onions fine.

Pro-Tip : Soak chopped onions in water to take the edge off the onion and soften it’s taste. Optional step.

Chop fresh celery stalks.

Salad Dressing :

Prep salad dressing beforehand. Into a mason jar add apple cider vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, oregano, fresh rosemary, fresh basil and sugar (we skipped). Shake well and keep aside until use.

Make sure to drain in strainer and rinse canned beans first before you use it to make salad. Canned beans are cooked beans soaked in salt water (brine), you need to drain and rinse it.

Add all three drained and rinsed bean into mixing bowl.

Add diced summer vegetables of your choice into the bowl.

Drizzle salad dressing into the mixing bowl.

Carefully toss the salad until everything comes together.

Serve immediately or store in fridge for 2 to 3 days.

How To Serve 3 Bean Salad

Three bean salad is perfect make ahead salad. Add salad dressing, toss and store in fridge for few hours or couple of days. Beans in the salad soaks up all the flavors from the dressing and tastes great after couple of hours.

If you want to serve this salad after a day (can be stored upto about 3 days in fridge), drain the juices from the dressing so the beans and vegetables don’t loose it’s texture.

Note : Draining dressing liquids will reduce the flavor of the salad, but  you need to do it to store the salad for longer. 

Feel free to reuse to drain dressing liquids in other salads. No one like food wastage!

It’s ideal to serve three beans salad chilled.

You can serve it as main dish or as sides.

Can You Freeze 3 Bean Salad

Yes. You can freeze this salad. Before you freeze, drain off the liquids from the salad dressing in the bowl and then freeze. Make sure you store this salad in air tight freezer container for upto 3 months.

MORE SALAD RECIPES YOU WILL LOVE TO TRY

• Watermelon Feta Salad
• Greek Pasta Salad

5 from 8 votes

3 Bean Salad

Jyothi Rajesh

Protein packed 3 bean salad can be made in 15 minutes or less. A simple salad dressing takes this salad to a whole new level. Look no further for a salad that’s perfect for potluck and summer picnics!

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 8 servings

Calories 252

Ingredients

  

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For The Salad –

• ▢ 1 15 oz can red kidney beans drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 15 oz can cannellini beans drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 15 oz can garbanzo beans drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 medium red onion finely diced
• ▢ 2 celery stalks chopped fine
• ▢ 1 English cucumbers deseeded and diced
• ▢ 1 heirloom tomato or ripe Roma tomato – deseeded and diced

For The Salad Dressing –

• ▢ 2 ½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar substitute with red wine vinegar
• ▢ ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ▢ 3 tablespoon white sugar we skipped
• ▢ 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• ▢ 2 teaspoon oregano fresh or dried
• ▢ 2 teaspoon rosemary fresh or dried
• ▢ 2 teaspoon basil fresh or dried
• ▢ ½ cup parsley finely chopped
• ▢ Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• Before you start, get the vegetables prepped. Though adding vegetables to three bean salad is option, we highly recommend you use fresh vegetables in this salad.
• Cut cucumbers lengthwise into half. Scoop the seeds out from the centre. Dice cucumber into small pieces.
• Use fresh tomatoes (summer heirloom tomatoes are great choice). Scoop out seeds and liquids from the center of tomatoes and dice it.
• Chop red onions fine.

  Pro-Tip : Soak chopped onions in water to take the edge off the onion and soften it’s taste. Optional step.
• Chop fresh celery stalks.
• Prep salad dressing beforehand. Into a mason jar add apple cider vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, oregano, fresh rosemary, fresh basil and sugar (we skipped). Shake well and keep aside until use.
• Make sure to drain in strainer and rinse canned beans first before you use it to make salad. Canned beans are cooked beans soaked in salt water (brine), you need to drain and rinse it.
• Add all three drained and rinsed bean into mixing bowl.
• Add diced summer vegetables of your choice into the bowl.
• Drizzle salad dressing into the mixing bowl. Carefully toss the salad until everything comes together.
• Serve immediately or store in fridge for 2 to 3 days after draining the dressing liquids so the texture of beans and vegetables are not lost.

Video

Notes

1. More Vegetables : Though 3 bean salad traditional is made with just the beans we recommend you use fresh summer vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes, celery and onion) for added texture. Fresh and canned ingredients mixed together gives great texture and taste.
2. Substitutions :
   Feel free to substitute apple cider vinegar with red wine vinegar. 
   Cannelini beans can be substituted with fresh (blanched) green beans or canned green beans.
   Red kidney beans can be substituted with black beans.
3. More Flavors :
   If you want to add heat (extra kick) to the recipe, add 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper to your salad dressing.
   A teaspoon of Dijon mustard in the salad dressing oomphs up the flavors.
   A clove of garlic always works for adding more flavors in the salad.
4. Onion : Soak chopped onions in water before use to take the edge off the onion and soften it’s taste. Optional step. 
5. How to Use Canned Beans : Make sure to drain in strainer and rinse canned beans first before you use it to make salad. Canned beans are cooked beans soaked in salt water (brine), you need to drain and rinse it.
6. How to Store This Salad : If storing salad for more than a day, drain off the dressing liquids and then store in closed container in fridge. If salad is stored along with liquid, the vegetables and beans will loose it’s texture.

 

Nutritional Info – Please keep in mind that nutritional information provided is only a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

Nutrition

Calories: 252kcalCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 10gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 430mgPotassium: 368mgFiber: 9gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 500IUVitamin C: 11mgCalcium: 94mgIron: 3mg

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