This is a delicious salad made by a fellow mom at my daughter’s school. I begged her for the recipe years ago and have enjoyed making it ever since. It’s a great recipe for parties & potlucks because it makes a lot!
I’ve made some adjustments to “Carla-fy” the recipe a bit. Here is the latest version:
Mexican Bean Salad
Ingredients:
1 (15 ounce) can organic Black Beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 ounce) can organic Kidney Beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 ounce) can organic Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
1 organic green bell pepper, chopped
2 organic tomatoes, chopped
1 (15 ounce) can organic corn kernels, rinsed and drained
1 head of organic cilantro chopped
1 red onion, chopped
Dressing:
1/2 cup organic extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup organic balsamic vinegar
juice from 1 lemon
juice from 1 lime
2 tablespoons organic raw agave syrup
1 tablespoon sea salt
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine beans, bell pepper, tomatoes, corn, cilantro and red onion.
In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, citrus juices, agave, salt, garlic, cumin, black pepper and cayenne pepper.
Pour dressing over beans & veggies, mix well. Chill thoroughly and serve cold.
Mexican Bean Salad
Notes:
• Look for Eden brand canned beans as this is one of the few canning companies that doesn’t use BPA in their can liners.
• You can use organic frozen corn kernels to avoid BPA in cans. Just make sure the corn has thawed before mixing it into the recipe.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Carla,
Can’t wait to try your recipe. It will be a big hit here! Also, I’ve been thinking about the BPA in cans lately….how do you know if cans have it? I saw something about a white can liner (not having it), but not sure it’s not that easy to identify those that have it or not.
thanks,
Nancy xo
Hi Nancy~ I’ve not heard the “white can liner” theory. All I know is that Eden brand specifically markets that they do not use BPA in their liners. I would think the brands not using BPA will note that on the outer packaging since it is a desirable feature. Most canned goods are canned with BPA unfortunately. Here’s a link to learn more about Eden: http://www.edenfoods.com/articles/view.php?articles_id=178 Enjoy the recipe!
Hi Carla – 2-18-13 – I’m sitting here, eating my 1st time making your Mexican Bean Salad – Carla-fied. I am on my fourth mini-bowl! (I had to taste it, and taste it and taste it…)(and it hasn’t been refrigerated yet/mixed together very long, either!)
I thought I would “report” what my experience was! (So those not interested in food prep, you can leave now…) I used what I had and bought a few others: I had black beans and kidney beans, went and got Great Northern beans, all from my natural foods coop that I’m a member of (the only one in my state of Hawaii). They do not have “Eden” cans of beans. (My brands were Cadia – in it about half the Northern beans were kind of broken up – and “Our Pantry” brand of organic foods…)(I will suggest the “Eden” brand.)
I purchased an org. yellow bell pepper, thinking that’s what was in the recipe, but it is fine of course, but I can see how the green bell p. would give more contrast. I purchased the organic froz corn, 10 oz bag, and just used that, defrosted. I used the Roma tomatoes I had, and estimated that four of them might equal about one tomato. And at home I had a head of american parsley, which I wasn’t thinking particulars when I just thought that I had what your recipe called for at home … and it is great too. I used the Maui onion I had at home, a sweet onion, instead of the red one that I actually purchased for this, and decided to use my older Maui onion instead. I think chopping the bell pepper, the tomatoes, the parsley and onion took the most time. I also did it over about a three hour period!
And more time was taken up by this non-cook in finding items, washing items that hadn’t been washed in a while, to use in preparing this dish, and cleaning up ahead, and after.
I found that I only had about 1/4 c. left of my org. EVOO, surprise, so, I found another, non-org. olive oil, and used that. My lemon was a Meyer lemon that I grew, so used that, and the lime was extremely juicy too! I used a true French Grey Sea Salt, but found out that I had NO cumin! So, for now at least, it is cumin-free, which is too bad, because I bet that cumin gives it a nice flavor! (And I don’t have a YL oil that I wanted to try in its place.) I don’t like “spicy” so I halved the cayenne pepper and only did 1 tsp of black pepper. i love agave so was happy to have that included in the dressing, and may be partly what was drawing me back to the salad, over and over…
Thanks for this recipe, Carla! It certainly does make a lot and I will have to try it again tomorrow, and I might just go see if I can still add some cumin, and what that would be like!
This is so great Stephanie!! Thank you for your detailed & interesting account of how your bean salad came to be. Yes, this recipe is very flexible and could be prepared all sorts of ways: different bean combos, different or multiple bell peppers (green, red, yellow, orange), different spices, etc. So glad you’re enjoying it! I bet it’d be good too on top of rice, quinoa, pasta or lettuce. Could be used for burrito filling or in a pita pocket. So many options! Enjoy!! xo-C.
Thanks Carla! You know, I thought that if you replied to me, that I would get a notice, but I didn’t. Thanks for the reply.
And now I am thinking how this recipe sort of follows the “typical” Three Bean Salad that I grew up with… and also how it is different. I had always wanted to change that salad a bit, and here it is. : )