Easy Bean Salad

A tasty, colourful Easy Bean Salad that's perfect for summer BBQs, picnics or just as a healthy side dish alongside a weeknight dinner.

I think bean salad is one of those salads where you can pretty much just throw in whatever you fancy, you can make it as simple or loaded as you like! 

I use canned beans in my salads just because I want them ready simply, quickly and often last minute. 

Seriously, our bean salad is just ridiculously easy!

I like to use a mixture of beans, sweetcorn, celery, salad onions and finely chopped peppers to add a pop of colour as well as extra taste.

I drizzle over some good dressing - usually a nice Italian Vinaigrette to keep it light and healthy. This salad goes great with our chicken and halloumi burgers.

I love the Italian Vinaigrette from Epicurious - simple and delicious, but if you've not time to make your own, just grab a good store bought bottle.

Easy Bean Salad Ingredients 

• 400g can Borlotti beans - or you can use chickpeas, cannellini beans, black beans or kidney beans you could also grab yourself a can of mixed beans. Just pick your favourite.

• 300g can sweetcorn

• 1 red pepper - finely diced

• 4 spring onions - finely sliced

• 2-3 sticks celery - finely sliced

• Handful of mixed chopped herbs - I usually use Basil, Flat Leaf Parsley, Chives, Dill

• 3 tbs Italian salad dressing - you can swap this for any other dressing you like - blue cheese, creamy mayonnaise or try out our lime and ginger salad dressing here for a zesty fiery option.

Equipment Needed To Make This Salad Recipe

• Chopping board
• Sharp vegetable knife
• Sieve or colander
• Tablespoon
• Mixing bowl
• Serving bowl

How To Make Easy Bean Salad

Here's how you make a bean salad from scratch and it's ridiculously easy!

• Rinse the beans - tip the tinned beans and sweetcorn into a sieve or colander and rinse them under cold running water. Then set to drain for a few minutes.

• Mix the salad vegetables together - tip the beans, sweetcorn, pepper, onions and celery into a mixing bowl and stir everything together gently to mix.

• Scatter over the herbs - saving some for garnish at the end.

• Pour over the dressing - then stir through gently to coat everything.

• Add the herb garnish - scatter over the remaining herbs and serve.

How Long Can I Keep Bean Salad In The Fridge?

When using canned beans - check the side of the can for details but it's usually 2 days in the fridge.

Make sure you store the bean salad in a non-metallic container and cover with a lid or cling film.

Is Bean Salad Good For You?

Totally! Beans are packed with fibre, B vitamins, protein and iron as well as being low fat.

Our Easy Bean Salad is also naturally vegan. 

Plus adding a few spoonfuls of bean salad to your meal is an easy way to make sure you are eating towards your 5-a-day.

Get loads more easy dinner recipes here

What Other Vegetables Can I Put In Bean Salad?

You can add in whatever you like, this is your salad, you should add in the things that you just love to eat!

• different types of beans 

• different coloured peppers

• beetroot cubes

• grated carrot or beets

• finely chopped fennel

• grated courgettes

• meat - fancy some meat in your bean salad? Try adding in some crispy bacon or even shredded ham or chicken, they all work well with beans.

• fish - seafood actually works really well with a bean salad. In particular cooked prawns or canned tuna, they taste so good with the beans and Italian style dressing.

Tips For Making The Best Bean Salad

• Make sure the beans are well rinsed and drained - otherwise your bean salad will be watery and soggy and that'll ruin the flavours of the dressing.

• Be sure to chop up the added vegetables finely, ideally you want them to be smaller than the beans. This just makes the texture better.

• You don't need to wait until serving to add the dressing to your bean-packed dish - I like the beans to marinate in the dressing for an hour or two, it just makes everything taste nicer.

Looking for more ideas? Here are 10 easy side dishes that go perfectly with chicken wraps.

How To Serve Bean Salad

If you're wondering - what does a 3 bean salad go with? Then - we've loads of tasty ideas!

This bean-packed side dish is great alongside BBQ food or with picnics, it goes especially well with hot dogs.

You can add a little pot of our beans to packed lunches.

And it's delicious served with buttery, fluffy baked potatoes.

We also love this just as a summery side dish with meat or chicken and a big green salad.

Get loads of lunch recipes and ideas here

More Easy Salad Recipes For You To Try

• Potato Salad with Radish and Herbs - a delicious, fresh tasting potato salad recipe that's naturally vegan and has no creamy dressing.

• Carrot and Quinoa Salad  - easy, healthy carrot salad that's packed with flavour.

• Homemade Healthy Coleslaw (advertisement feature recipe) - skip the creamy dressing with this healthy slaw recipe.

Get lots of fresh and healthy salad recipes here

Need Some Family Meal Ideas?

Check out our meal planning here – it’s filled with recipes, meal planning tips and pre-filled printable meal plans weekly or seasonally. We’ve got hundreds of the BEST family recipes and Easy Family Dinners your whole family will LOVE!

Get all our easy vegan recipes right here

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