This easy three bean salad is a simple, healthy classic you can make in minutes. It's high in plant protein and fiber and it takes no time to make using fresh green beans and canned beans. Dress with a quick homemade French vinaigrette with Dijon mustard. Enjoy on its own as a side salad or as part of a tossed green salad. Perfect for summer picnics, potlucks and parties.
Our favorite lunch spot on the spectacular California coastal area of Big Sur is Nepenthe restaurant. Visitors come from far and wide to enjoy their casual fare including a famous burger, sandwiches, salads and soup of the day (and a great wine list). Alongside, you choose coleslaw or their cold bean salad. At a recent visit I ordered the three beans salad for lunch and was reminded how good this super easy salad is. Here's my recipe.
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Why You'll Like This Recipe
- Takes just minutes.
- Delicious source of fiber and plant protein.
- Great along side of soup, burgers, and added to a green salad.
For another recipe with garbanzo beans (chickpeas), try this kale salad with avocado, beans, and a creamy tahini dressing.
Recipe Ingredients
A combination of canned beans and fresh green beans makes this easy and healthy.
- Kidney beans: I use the red but you can
- Garbanzo beans: also called chickpeas.
- Green beans: I use the tender, skinny, French green beans called Haricot Vert. If you can't get them, use regular fresh green beans. If fresh are not available, use frozen whole green beans, thaw, cook and chop.
Substitutions and Variations
- Swap red kidney beans for white kidney beans called cannellini beans.
- Change up the dressing with this easy homemade Italian vinaigrette.
- Add freshly chopped herbs for color and flavor.
- Add black beans, corn, and/or tomatoes for a different three bean salad.
- Add chopped celery and finely red chopped onion or shallot for more flavor and color. A little chopped bell pepper si another good addition.
- Swap the green beans for yellow wax beans (yellow green beans).
- For cheese, add a tangy crumbled Greek feta.
Recipe Instructions
To cook fresh green beans, drop them into boiling salted water until tender (5 minutes for the haricot vert) then shock in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process and keep the beans a nice bright green color. Drain, dry and chop finely.
While the water is coming to a boil, drain, rinse and dry the canned beans. Snap of any stem ends left on green beans. Make the vinaigrette.
How to a Make French Vinaigrette
Here's simple tasty dressing for bean salad. Making homemade vinaigrette is easy and skips the additives you don't want from a bottle. Add extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar a little Dijon mustard plus a sprinkle of sea salt and pepper to a jar and shake until smooth. This is a good basic dressing for many salads, so make extra to use during the week.
Adding a little garlic is good to. Add a finely chopped garlic clove, but nothing is more unpleasant than biting into raw garlic. The trick is after finely chopping the garlic is to turn your knife flat against the cutting board and smear it into a paste, then add to the dressing.
Another trick is to use a microplane zester for garlic that practically melts into the dressing.
Serving Suggestions
Three bean salad is good alongside a cup of soup, as a side to many dishes, and over fresh salad greens as an entree salad.
Meal Prep the Salad
To meal prep three bean salad, add about ¾ of a cup of the bean salad to the bottom of a large glass jar or other airtight container. Top with chopped tomatoes and stuff full of salad greens. Pack extra vinaigrette for the greens separately so they stay crisp.
Good additions for a green salad are pitted black kalamata olives, crumbled feta cheese (if you enjoy dairy), chopped bell pepper, chopped celery or a little finely chopped red onion or shallot. Chopped fresh herbs are good too.
For more protein, add chopped leftover roast chicken breast.
Recipe FAQs
Three beans salad lasts 4-5 days in the refrigerator and it's best to store it without dressing. Add the dressing just before serving or a few hours before serving for the beans to soak up the flavor.
Three bean salad is higher in carbs when compared to a green salad, but you also get a good amount of plant protein and fiber in a serving.
Bean salad is usually made with a combination of beans such as red kidney beans, white kidney beans (cannellini beans), green beans, yellow wax beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), pinto beans, or black beans and dressed with a vinaigrette dressing. Using a variety of beans keeps a bean salad colorful, flavorful, and easily made with what you have on hand.
More Recipes With Beans
Beans are so versatile! Here are a few more recipes with beans for you to try. Of course this golden hummus with turmeric is always a great option.
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📖 Recipe
Three Bean Salad
Ingredients
Three Bean Salad
- 4 ounces fresh green beans I prefer the slender French green beans
- 1 15 ounce can red kidney beans rinsed and drained
- 1 15 ounce can garbanzo beans rinsed and drained
Dijon Vinaigrette (makes extra)
- ½ cup extra virgin olive
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove finely chopped
- 2 pinches sea salt
- 2 pinches ground black pepper
Instructions
Ready the Beans
- Cook green beans: Set up an ice bath by filling a medium bowl half full of ice and cold water. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 1 teaspoon salt and green beans. Boil for 5 minutes. Drain beans and immediately place them in the ice bath to stop the cooking process and keep them bright green. Chill until cold, about 5 minutes, then drain and dry. Dump the ice water, dry the bowl. Chop the green beans and add to the bowl. Add the kidney and garbanzo beans. Stir gently and add enough vinaigrette to coat and flavor.
Make Vinaigrette
- Add oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic salt and pepper to a jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake well until smooth and blended. To dress the salad, add 3 tablespoons of vinaigrette and toss gently. Add more if desired. Serve room temperature or chilled.
P says
Sodium content in the salad and dressing?
Sally Cameron says
Hi Pebo. As much as you want to add. Just a pinch of salt will do. If you are sodium-free, just add a little pepper and skip the sea salt for the vinaigrette. Good thing is with sea salt, the flavor is so good, more "salty", that you need very little to season. For the beans, be sure to buy Eden Foods organic no salt added kidney and garbanzo beans. Find them at health oriented markets and online. I get mine at Whole Foods and from ThriveMarket.com (great prices). Dijon has salt, but there is so little in the vinaigrette it doesn't add much. One teaspoon of the brand I use has 110 mg of sodium, but that dressing recipe will serve multiple people, so what it adds is little.