veggie-heavy bean salads?

July 18, 2023 7:02 AM

Please share your favorite recipes for bean salads that use a lot of other non-leafy vegetables - for example, artichoke hearts with red peppers and garbanzos, or carrots with white beans.

Ideal recipes would have:
* more vegetables by weight than beans
* no leafy greens (I'll put this on top of leafy greens)
* no roasted or grilled vegetables
* no broccoli
* no avocado
* no meat (cheese is fine)
* no grains

Thank you!

posted by kristi to Food & Drink (19 answers total)

Linking you first to the entire Rancho Gordo "salads" portion of its recipe libary. Many of the recipes assume you're starting with cooked beans already, so you don't even have to use Rancho Gordo, you can just use Goya canned beans (note: one 15 ounce can of beans drained yields about 1-3/4 cups of cooked beans).

But I've also had some of those recipes, so here's the ones I can vouch for:

Celery and White Bean Salad
Black Garbanzo Salad with Ranch Dressing (note: you don't have to use black garbanzos, regular ones also work)
Black-eyed pea and carrot salad
White bean, celery and radish salad
scarlet runner salad


Also, bean salads lend themselves very well to "invention". You could probably just start with a bowl of cooked beans and then throw in whatever random vegetables you have and toss with a little oil and vinegar, and call it good.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:12 AM on July 18, 2023 [5 favorites]

This corn and bean salad from Jenn Segal is my very favorite summer salad. I know "avocado" is in the title, but I always leave out both the avocado (hate the texture) and bell pepper and the salad is *still* absolutely delicious.
posted by DrGail at 7:18 AM on July 18, 2023

Not a specific recipe but hearts of palm and baby corn are handy pantry items to fill out a salad, and a good texture complement to beans.
posted by staggernation at 7:20 AM on July 18, 2023

My everyday is cucumber, apple, walnuts, red onion, poblano peppers, a can of garbanzo beans, and a hard boiled egg, with honey, olive oil, nutritional yeast, red pepper flakes, and a little sriracha. I put it all over some kind of greens, chop the egg, shake the snot out of and enjoy.
posted by AbelMelveny at 7:46 AM on July 18, 2023

This is my favorite bean salad — green beans, edamame, and black beans, with a dressing made of rice wine vinegar, apricot jam, and ginger. Delicious! It's even better after sitting in the fridge overnight.
posted by mekily at 7:46 AM on July 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

My sister makes a bean salad with corn, tomatoes, Ro-Tel (tomatoes and peppers), scallions, feta cheese, and Italian dressing. The beans are kidney beans and black eyed peas. Very good.
posted by kevinbelt at 8:16 AM on July 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

White beans with pesto, Rana and Buitoni are fine if homemade is not available. Add frozen or fresh cauliflower.

I make an easy salad with canned black beans, canned corn, can's worth of salsa. it's great with chips or on salad, or I suppose you could eat it in front of the fridge because it's cold and refreshing.
The classic 3 bean salad of green beans, kidney beans, chick peas marinated in vinaigrette is easy, fast, tasty. You can increase the green beans for more veg.
I wouldn't make a salad of marinated beets and white beans or garbanzos, but I add both to salads and they work well.
posted by theora55 at 9:09 AM on July 18, 2023

Chickpeas in greek salad?
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:18 AM on July 18, 2023

I love Saveur's Three Bean Salad.
posted by thatone at 10:24 AM on July 18, 2023

I make a bean salad that's:

1 part diced tomatoes
1 part sweet corn
1 part black beans
1 part edamame
plus the dressing of your choice (or just plain yogurt works too)
some feta or another crumbly cheese is also a nice addition

It's nice because you can make it entirely with pantry/freezer ingredients although of course it tastes best with fresh seasonal produce and home-cooked beans. If edamame are too beany (if you count them as beans this is half and half beans and veggies) you could leave them out or replace them with another vegetable of your choice, maybe chopped cucumbers or sweet peppers? I like that everything is pretty close to the same size in this salad and the textures are not violently different from each other (no super-crunchy carrots, e.g.).
posted by mskyle at 11:07 AM on July 18, 2023

Yesterday I made a salad for throwing on top of greens that consisted of lions mane mushrooms that had been toasted to remove some of the water, mayo, dijon, celery, tomato, shallots, seasoned with salt, pepper, herb de Provence. It was delicious as-is, but you could easily throw a can of beans in there and I now regret not thinking of that.
posted by Runes at 11:09 AM on July 18, 2023

I don't have to look up the recipe for my favorite bean salad; I just remember the mnemonic "rainbow":

• Red: Bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes
• Orange: Carrots
• Yellow: Artichoke hearts
• Green: Sugar snap peas
• Purple: Onions
• Brown: Fava beans (and optionally chickpeas)
• White: Garlic

OK, that's not quite a canonical rainbow... Anyway, all vegetables are raw, and chopped fine (except the artichoke hearts, which I just cut into quarters). Then everything gets tossed with lemon vinaigrette and oregano. This is best made a day ahead so that the flavors can meld.
posted by aws17576 at 11:31 AM on July 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

When you say no leafy greens- do herbs count? Because I basically use enough to make it seems like greens.

I love summer salads and I'll make lots of chopped salads. They almost all have LOTS (like so much) Italian parsley, probably cilantro, maybe basil or mint.

One: several ears of lightly steamed corn, garbanzo beans, lots of tomatoes, chopped cucumbers, onion, maybe purple cabbage.

Another. I used pasta with this but I bet you could use a white bean. I take lots of cherry tomatoes and pop them in my toaster oven with olive oil and salt and pepper and maybe garlic. Leave them there for like an hour or until they look amazing. I add to cooked pasta (usually bows) with about a 1-1 ratio. Top with some finely chopped basil and parsley and pine nuts.
posted by beccaj at 11:39 AM on July 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Smitten Kitchen's Black Bean Confetti salad is delicious, easy and fits your requirements. Plus, you can substitute any vegetables: add more of something you like, less of another, substitute to your hearts content.
posted by j810c at 2:34 PM on July 18, 2023

Start with one can or 1.5 cups of cooked cannellini beans (or chickpeas, or whatever you prefer)

Add chopped:

red peppers
cucumber
cherry tomatoes
fennel bulb & fronds

can also add:
celery (instead of fennel)
grated carrot
diced zucchini (usually I find it bland but in this context with a good dressing it really comes to life)

dill or parsley.

Dress with olive oil & lemon, salt & pepper.

Essentially I just add whatever I have, whatever is in season/fresh/cheap and use a dressing that's easy and that I like.
posted by lulu68 at 2:40 PM on July 18, 2023

aniola's Bean Salad project ("Choose your own adventure, bean salad edition")
posted by mpark at 4:08 PM on July 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Like sebastienbailard said Greek salad with chickpeas is one of my favorite.

Also this mediterranean chickpea salad
posted by CleverClover at 10:21 PM on July 18, 2023

Lentils are great in salads. I buy them canned just to have on hand for when I'm lazy which is often. I have no particular recipe, just use whatever I have and that appeals. Cucumbers and tomatoes and celery. Feta cheese goes really well with lentils. Roasted red peppers that come in a jar. Garlic is essential in my salads.
posted by mareli at 6:16 PM on July 19, 2023

I love farro, pesto, red onions, artichokes, white bean, and chopped cherries or blueberries. On top of arugula
posted by beignet at 6:25 PM on July 31, 2023