Who doesn’t love an easy three-bean salad, perfect for summer picnics and potlucks?! This classic American picnic salad features cannellini beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, celery, red onions, parsley and a sweet and sour dressing.
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Three-bean salad is one of those quintessential American summer picnic foods. It’s comforting, high in protein, and quick to put together with pantry ingredients.
Three-bean salad is usually made with canned green beans instead of the white cannellini beans I use here. But I haven’t met a canned green bean that I like, so cannellini.
In addition to cannellini beans from a can, we use kidney beans and chickpeas. You can easily use homemade versions of these (either on the stovetop or in a pressure cooker) if you have them on hand. You can also swap them out for cooked green beans, wax beans, or black beans. (Also try this Mexican Three Bean Salad if you fancy something different!)
How do you dress this salad?
This 3-bean salad is traditionally dressed with a sweet and sour dressing made from vinegar, oil, and sugar. You can reduce the sugar if you like, but I wouldn’t omit it entirely or the dressing will be too acidic.
After preparing the salad, chill it in the refrigerator for several hours to allow the dressing to soak into the beans and allow the flavors to meld. Olive oil is key to the dressing and will curdle when refrigerated. To serve, take the bean salad out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.
In general, I say cooked beans last 3 to 4 days in the fridge, but since this salad is essentially “pickled” by the vinegar in the dressing, it can last longer.
Picnic salads are the best! Here are 5 more to love
- Black Bean Salad
- Broad bean and fennel salad with parmesan
- Salad with white beans and tuna
- Pasta and Bean Picnic Salad
- Green bean salad with basil, balsamic and parmesan
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Check out this Three Bean Salad recipe
Three Bean Salad
First prepare the onion. In a small bowl of water, soak the chopped onion to remove the crust from the onion while you prepare the other ingredients.
ingredients
For the salad:
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1 (fifteen–ounce) Can of cannellini beansrinsed and drained
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1 (fifteen–ounce) can kidney beansrinsed and drained
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1 (fifteen–ounce) can chickpeasrinsed and drained
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1/2 red Onionfinely chopped (about 3/4 cup), soaked in water to remove rim from onion
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2 celery stemsfine chopped (about 1 cup)
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1 Cup packed loosly, fresh, finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
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1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
For the dressing:
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1/3 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
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1/4 Cup granulated sugar (more or less to taste)
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3 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
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1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
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1/4 teaspoon black pepper
method
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Prepare the salad:
In a large bowl, mix together the 3 different types of beans, celery, onion (drained the soaking water), parsley and rosemary.
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Make the dressing:
In a separate small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, sugar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pour the dressing over the beans. Throw to cover.
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Cool and serve:
Place the salad in the refrigerator for several hours to allow the beans to absorb the flavor of the dressing. Allow to come to almost room temperature before serving.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 280 | calories |
| 7g | Fat |
| 43g | carbohydrates |
| 12g | protein |
