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I’ve been leaning on canned beans a lot lately because they’re just super fast and easy to make things with, and, as grocery prices continue to climb, they’re an inexpensive way to fill my belly. I made this super simple Lemony White Bean Salad the other day for meal prep and it was too easy and too good not to share. It makes a great side dish, or you can add a few more ingredients to make it a meal!
What’s in this White Bean Salad?
I love simple food, and this bean salad is a great example. It’s just white beans, thinly sliced red onion, a little parsley, and a quick homemade lemon vinaigrette. Quick, simple, delicious, and FRESH.
What Kind of White Beans Are Best
For this salad, you want a bean that is fairly large and firm so they don’t fall apart when the salad is stirred together. I used cannellini beans, but butter beans would also do well. I would avoid using navy beans or great northern beans for this recipe.
What to Serve with White Bean Salad
I served this salad as part of my weekly meal prep along with some Garlic Marinated Chicken, and a few triangles of pita. It would also go great with Mediterranean Turkey Burgers, Baked Cod, Chimichurri Chicken Kebabs, or as an addition to a Hummus Lunch Box.
What Else Can I Add?
Because this recipe is so simple and basic, there are a lot of ways to dress it up and make it into something new! So browse your fridge and pantry for ingredients that might need to be used up, because chances are you can add them to this salad! Here are a few ideas:
Fresh or sun dried tomatoes
Crumbled feta
Fresh spinach
Any fresh herbs (scallions, chives, basil, tarragon, cilantro, rosemary)
Cucumbers
Sautéed kale
Tuna
Grilled chicken
Thinly sliced radishes
Diced avocado
Lemony White Bean Salad
5 from 6 votes
This simple Lemony White Bean Salad is an inexpensive, light, and fresh option for summer meals or your weekly meal prep.
Make the vinaigrette first. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, Dijon, minced garlic, salt, and pepper.
Rinse and drain the cannellini beans. Thinly slice the red onion and roughly chop the parsley.
Place the beans, onions, and parsley in a bowl, then pour the vinaigrette over top. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust the salt or pepper to your liking.
How to Make Lemony White Bean Salad – Step by Step Photos
Make the Lemon Vinaigrette first so the flavors have a few minutes to chill. Simply whisk together 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, ½ Tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 clove of minced garlic, ⅛ tsp salt, and ⅛ tsp freshly cracked pepper.
Rinse and drain two 15oz. cans of cannellini beans.
Thinly slice about ¼ of a red onion and roughly chop about 2 Tbsp of parsley. Add the beans, onions, and parsley to a bowl, then pour the vinaigrette over top.
Stir the ingredients together until well combined. Taste and adjust the salt or pepper to your liking.
You can serve the salad immediately or let it chill in the refrigerator for a while. It will be good for 3-4 days and the flavors will blend more as time goes on. Always give it a good stir to redistribute the flavors just before serving!
More Easy White Bean Recipes
Saucy White Beans with SpinachItalian Sausage and White Bean SkilletCreamy White Bean and Spinach Quesadillas
Sweetness has the magical ability to balance out acidity. Depending on the dish you're making, consider incorporating ingredients like honey, sugar, maple syrup, or even a splash of fruit juice. These sweet companions will help to tame the excessive lemon tang and create a harmonious flavor profile.
Mixed bean salad contains 90 calories per 113 g serving. This serving contains 0 g of fat, 4 g of protein and 19 g of carbohydrate. The latter is 8 g sugar and 5 g of dietary fiber, the rest is complex carbohydrate.
Specifically, navy beans (and by extension cannellini beans) contain ferulic acid, which is known for its role in fighting cancer. Ferulic acid has shown promising impact in therapeutic treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer, causing apoptosis (cell death) of hepatoma cells.
All beans are rich in fiber, but the top-ranking variety is the navy bean, allegedly named for its popularity in the U.S. Navy in the early 20th century. These pea-sized, cream-colored beans provide 10 grams of fiber per half-cup serving.
You can also try rinsing the acid off -- you can use water, but it can mute the flavors and you may have to then drain it again and try adding back in some acid. An easier approach is to use a lemon-lime (or other citrus) soda -- it has some acid, the citrus taste, but also some sugar to help balance out the acid.
One of the easiest ways to cut the lemon taste is to balance it with sweetness. Adding a touch of sugar or sweetener can help neutralize the acidity and bring out the natural flavors of lemon. You can try adding a teaspoon of honey, agave syrup, or a sprinkle of powdered sugar to your lemon-infused dishes or drinks.
Lemon juice is high in the amino acid tyramine. If you are sensitive to tyramine, drinking lemon juice can trigger migraine headaches. Lemons can worsen heartburn symptoms in people with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). In high amounts, lemon juice can also irritate your stomach and cause nausea.
Indeed, eating beans is associated with the prevention of several chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. Also, beans can improve gut health. The World Cancer Research Fund recommends making foods like beans part of your usual daily diet.
On a strict keto diet, your best bet for beans is to choose either green beans or black soybeans. While green beans are typically prepared more like a vegetable than a bean, black soybeans are a great alternative to other, starchier beans in soups, bean dips, refried beans, or other recipes.
Regardless of how they're prepared, beans are a great source of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals like potassium, iron and magnesium. Simply put, they're a great addition to your diet. In fact, some experts consider them the #1 food to help you live longer and healthier.
Beans are good sources of protein, complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They're low in fat and are considered a healthy food. You can prepare beans in many ways, including boiling, baking, or sprouting.
Kidney beans are mainly composed of carbs and fiber but also serve as a good source of protein. The nutrition facts for 3.5 ounces (100 grams) of boiled kidney beans are: Calories: 127.
You can expect a 1/2 cup of beans to have 20-something grams of net carbs. Black beans have 24 grams and chickpeas have 28 grams, for example. Even if you halve it, you're still eating plenty of carbs from one source of food in a sitting, and that's excluding whatever else you're pairing those beans with.
Yes, you can eat canned beans without cooking them. They are already cooked. Simply rinse them off and use them as you please. I like to use them in salads.
However, since canned beans typically come in a super-salty liquid, you'll likely want to drain and rinse your beans before eating them, which will eliminate an average of 41% of the can's sodium content. The reason that beans are safe to eat straight from the can is pretty simple: They're already cooked.
The reason that beans are safe to eat straight from the can is pretty simple: They're already cooked. According to Epicurious, beans are blanched before being canned with water, salt, and other additives — all of which help keep the shelf-stable beans fresh for long periods of time.
How to prepare cannellini beans. Canned beans just need to be drained and rinsed, then they're ready to use. For dried beans, soak them in lots of cold water for a minimum of 5 hours (they'll expand, so make sure your bowl is big).
Introduction: My name is Gregorio Kreiger, I am a tender, brainy, enthusiastic, combative, agreeable, gentle, gentle person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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Servings 6 ½ cup each
