I love this classic bean salad recipe. It has the simplest tangy dressing and is perfect for picnics, barbecues, and make-ahead meals.
Bean salads are my favorite for entertaining, especially during the summer. I also find myself making them for make-ahead meals throughout the week. You can use canned beans or home cooked beans in this recipe!
This simple three bean salad recipe is super adaptable. You can make it with whatever beans you have on hand. Canned beans make this super easy, but you can cook your own. 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’ve used three types of beans: chickpeas, pinto beans, and black beans. For a traditional 3 bean salad, use chickpeas, kidney beans, and canned or blanched green beans. Or make it a 5 bean salad and use chickpeas, pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, and canned or blanched green beans.
- Onion: I love sweet onion for this salad since it adds crunch but doesn’t overpower the salad with onion flavor.
- Cucumber: You really want some crunch to balance the softer texture of the beans. I love cucumber, but celery, fennel, jicama, and bell peppers are all excellent crunchy veggies that work in this salad.
- Capers: My favorite ingredient in this bean salad is capers, which add little salty notes throughout. I love them!
- Fresh herbs: Look at pretty much any salad recipe on Inspired Taste, and you’ll see me adding fresh herbs. I love fresh parsley in this salad, but other herbs will work, too. Try basil, mint, tarragon, dill and cilantro. When adding tarragon, add to taste since it is more flavorful than other fine herbs.
- My favorite bean salad dressing: I love keeping the flavors in this salad light, so my dressing only requires a quick whisk of red wine vinegar, olive oil, mustard, salt, pepper, and dried oregano (Italian seasoning or Herbes de Provence would work nicely, too). I use a similar dressing to make my favorite pasta salad.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make My Favorite Bean Salad
Tip 1: Drain and rinse your beans. If you are using canned beans to make this salad, drain and rinse them under cold water before tossing them with the other salad ingredients. The liquid in the can can taste a bit salty, and since it has starch from the beans, it can make the salad dressing look murky. If you are using chickpeas be sure to save the liquid to make aquafaba.
Tip 2: Let your salad rest. The dressing needs a quick whisk before tossing it with the salad. For the best bean salad, chill it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving to allow the beans to marinate in the dressing.
Serving Suggestions
You’ll find this bean salad in our fridge most weeks. It’s such a fantastic thing to have on hand for easy lunches or dinners. I love tossing it over salad greens or some fluffy quinoa. It’s also excellent when served next to some of our lighter meals, like this lemon dill salmon, these skillet chicken breasts, or these juicy baked pork chops.
It’s also perfect for summertime entertaining. Serve this easy bean salad alongside other summer salads, such as our no-mayo potato salad, this Italian pasta salad, or this incredible lemon and herb couscous salad.
More Bean Salads
Ridiculously Easy Bean Salad
- PREP
- TOTAL
My family’s easy bean salad is perfect for saving in the fridge for the week. The beans you choose to use for this simple bean salad is up to you. I turned mine into a three bean salad, but you can use whatever you want. Both canned or home cooked beans will work. When using canned, drain and rinse the beans first before adding to the salad.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
3 (15oz) cans beans, drained and rinsed or use 4 ½ cups cooked beans
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped, about 3/4 cup
1 medium cucumber, finely chopped, about 2 cups
3 tablespoons drained capers
1/2 cup (60g) finely chopped fresh parsley
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
For the Dressing1/4 cup (60ml) red wine vinegar
1/4 cup (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 to 2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup, optional
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Directions
1Add chopped onions to a small bowl and cover with cold water. Set aside for 5 minutes, drain, and then rinse. This step helps to remove some of the “raw” flavor of the onion so that it does not overpower the salad.
2Meanwhile, in the bottom of a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, mustard, salt and pepper. Taste the dressing and then adjust with more salt/pepper. If the dressing tastes too abrasive, whisk in 1 to 2 teaspoons of honey or maple syrup to balance out the vinegar.
3Add the beans, drained onion, cucumber, parsley, capers and dried oregano. Toss well, cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 1 hour to allow the beans to marinate in the dressing.
4The salad will keep stored in an airtight container in the fridge up to 4 days.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Store bean salad in an airtight container in the fridge up to 4 days.
- Beans: In our photos, we have used chickpeas, black beans and pinto beans. You can use these or other cooked or canned beans for the salad.
- Fresh herbs: Parsley is classic in this salad, but other fine herbs work nicely, too. Try basil, mint, dill, cilantro or tarragon. When using tarragon, use a bit less than what is called for in the recipe above since it has a stronger flavor.
- Dried herbs: I enjoy dried oregano in this salad, but other herb blends will work nicely. Try an Italian, Mediterranean or French dried spice blend (like Herbes de Provence).
- Honey/maple syrup: Depending on the vinegar you use, you might find the dressing a little too vinegary. To balance this out, simply whisk in a little sweetener like honey or maple syrup.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
Excellent recipe. I used pinto, cannalini and black beans. Instead of capers I used chopped Kalamata olives. Outstanding.
I am thinking of making this as a side dish for Pizza for a church function. What are your thoughts?
That would be great!