Three bean salad is a classic picnic and cookout side dish. It's cool, refreshing, and a nice mayo-free option for your next summer gathering.
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Three bean salad may be a bit of a retro recipe. I feel like I don't see it much anymore when it was pretty prevalent at cookouts and parties when I was a kid. I still see cans of it already prepared at the grocery store.
I am a big fan of three bean salad. I like that it's a mayo-free salad option for a cookout. It's also very simple to make and uses easy to find ingredients, many of which are pantry staples.
Another thing I enjoy about three bean salad is that it's full of beans! Beans are a terrific protein source and fiber source. This year I've been trying to add more of both of those to my daily diet.
This salad contains red onion for color and flavor. It mellows out a bit as it soaks in the dressing. I like to add some celery as well for the texture and crunch. Both add a bit of freshness to the salad along with some fresh parsley if you choose.
Many three bean salad recipes contain quite a lot of sugar. This recipe uses 3 tablespoons which I find to be just sweet enough. You can add more or less to your taste.
The dressing in this salad is more like a marinade. I serve three bean salad with a slotted spoon so that the dressing is mostly left behind, but you get the beans and veggies that have marinated in the dressing flavors for hours.
This is why I like to make this salad several hours, or even a day ahead of time. This was the beans can soak up the flavors and have a light coating of dressing on them, but you aren't eating all of the dressing in this recipe. Plus, when serving side dish salads, I don't want items that are very runny or wet and collide with everything else.
While the salad is refrigerating, you can give it a stir after a couple of hours to make sure all the beans, onions, and celery are getting a good soak in the sweet and tangy dressing.
Classic three bean salad contains cooked green beans, cooked yellow (or wax) beans, and dark red kidney beans. I like this combination for color, flavor, and texture. If you don't like dark red kidney beans, you can replace them with light red kidney beans or white kidney beans (cannellini beans). You can try other beans as well!
I like to serve three bean salad with things like hot dogs, burgers, and barbecue chicken. I also like to bring it to a potluck summer party as it holds up well. It pairs nicely with potato salads, pasta salads, fruit salads, and more.
Give this three bean salad a try at your next summer cookout, or the next time you need to bring a dish to pass to a party.
Classic Three Bean Salad
Three bean salad is a classic picnic and cookout side dish. It's cool, refreshing, and a nice mayo-free option for your next summer gathering.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup sliced celery
- 1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion halves
- 1 can (14.5 oz) cut yellow wax beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can (14.5 oz) cut green beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can (15.5 oz) darn kidney beans rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (optional)
Instructions
- In a glass measuring cup or bowl, add the apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper and whisk.
- Slowly drizzle the extra virgin olive oil into the mixture while whisking constantly to combine.
- In a large bowl, stir together the celery, red onion, and three kinds of beans that have been drained and rinsed. Stir in the marinade until combined.
- Stir in the parsley, if using. Cover and refrigerate until serving (at least 3 hours, but it's better the next day).
- Serve with a slotted spoon to leave most of the marinade/dressing behind.
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