Fresh, light, and very very healthy. This White Bean Salad is one of the best ways to eat beans during the warmer months of the year. I mean nothing beats a nice and thick bean soup, but it isn’t really inviting when the weather gets warmer now is it?
So whether you’re looking for a healthy, weight-loss meal or simply want a lighter meal this White Bean Salad is more than ideal! It’s lemony, garlicky, packed with fresh herbs, spring and red onions, extra virgin olive oil, and some mustard seeds to give that extra bit of flavor.
And now that you know of the ingredients, you probably have figured out that it is a real superfood for your gut as it has all of the foods it loves the most.
Plus, did you know that raw fresh herbs aid digestion? That’s one of the reasons some chopped fresh parsley can go on top of every food.
How To Make It
It’s a simple toss everything in a bowl and mix salad. Therefore, apart from cooking the beans, if you use dry ones, this salad will take just 5 minutes to make.
Dry Or Canned Beans?
For this recipe, and if you know me a little by now for every recipe, I prefer using dry beans. My reasons are pretty simple and go as far as this: Whatever you cook from scratch is always healthier and tastier.
Plus, the texture of canned beans is mushier. So they’re not as nice and crisp as cooked dry beans.
But what if you don’t always have the time to cook dry beans? Well, you can use canned ones, besides, this salad is so healthy overall that kinda makes up for it!
Do I Need To Soak The Beans?
When cooking beans to use for making a salad, you needn’t soak them. As soaking will make them mushier while they get cooked. And although this is nice for making a thick soup it is not ideal for a salad. A small white bean variety, such as cannellini beans that are used in this recipe, usually cooks within 1-2 hours on the stovetop. If not then the batch of beans are probably too old and perhaps should try a different label.
Bigger bean varieties such as Lima beans do need soaking in order to cook. So stick to a small bean size for this salad. Or even use Black-eyed peas a real flavorful alternative that cooks real quick.
White Bean Salad With Lemon, Garlic, & Fresh Herbs
Ingredients
- 250 grams / 8.8 oz white cannellini beans
- 1 large garlic clove minced
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ lemon zested
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 spring onions finely chopped
- ½ medium-sized red onion finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped dill
- Kalamata olives to serve with
- salt and fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Add the beans to a medium-sized cooking pot half-filled with water and bring to a boil.
- Cook for 2 minutes then drain the beans in a strainer. This is done to remove dirt and pesticides from the beans. Add beans back to the cooking pot with some fresh water and bring them back to a boil again. Cook the beans until tender, but don't let them get too mushy. This usually takes about 2 hours over medium heat. But this will depend on the batch of the beans. Drain in a strainer and let them cool down to room temperature.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the garlic clove, mustard seeds, red wine vinegar, lemon juice and zest, and olive oil, along with a bit of salt and pepper.
- Add the beans to the bowl as well, along with the red onion, spring onions, parsley, and dill. Stir well to combine. Then ideally, let the salad sit for at least 30 minutes before serving. The longer it sits, the better it gets. Serve topped with Kalamata olives. Enjoy!
Nutrition
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