Description
This easy bean salad recipe is the perfect fresh side dish for your next BBQ, potluck, or picnic! It’s fresh, light, and so easy to make.
Ingredients
Scale
For The Three Bean Salad:
- 2 cups fresh green beans, cut into 1-2 inch lengths
- 1 (15 oz.) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1/3 cup finely diced red onion
- 3 Tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
For The Homemade Dressing:
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons agave syrup (or sugar)*
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Cook The Green Beans. Heat a small pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add green beans and cook 2-3 minutes, or just until tender. Drain the green beans and immediately add to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.
- Mix Up The Dressing. In a large bowl, combine vinegar, olive oil, agave, salt & pepper. Stir to combine.
- Combine Salad Ingredients. Add the chilled green beans to the bowl with the dressing, along with kidney beans, chickpeas, red onion, and parsley. Stir to combine. (It will seem like a lot of dressing. This is normal!)
- Marinate. Transfer the salad to an airtight container (or cover the bowl), and chill in the fridge 2-3 hours, up to 1 day in advance. This will allow the salad to absorb more of the flavor.
- Serve & Store. Enjoy chilled, and store leftover salad up to 4 days in the fridge. It’s normal for the olive oil to harden when it’s cold, but it’ll thaw quickly at room temperature. I recommend pulling it out 10 minutes or so before you plan to serve it, for best results.
Notes
- Green Beans. I love using fresh beans for the brightest color and flavor, but you can use frozen green beans (cook the same way as fresh!) or even canned beans. (No need to cook canned beans!)
- Agave. I prefer using agave or white sugar for this salad. I find honey and maple syrup impact the flavor too much.
- More Veggies To Try. For variety, try adding yellow wax beans, diced cucumber, diced red bell peppers, or another variety of canned beans, like black beans or white beans (like cannellini beans, great northern beans, or butter beans).
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3/4 cup salad
- Calories: 217
- Sugar: 6.2 g
- Sodium: 370 mg
- Fat: 11.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 24.3 g
- Fiber: 6 g
- Protein: 6.6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg