Bean and Vegetable Salad with Cumin, Lime, and Cilantro Dressing

This bean and veggie salad is packed full of antioxidants, fiber, and deliciousness. It’s easy to make and also easy to customize to suit your tastes. We enjoy this not only as a salad or side dish but also as a bean and veggie salsa when we make tacos. This recipe makes a large salad bowl party-size serving but it’s easy to cut in half if needed.

This is a good “clean out your fridge and pantry” salad if you’ve got some cans of beans and veggies you’d like to use up. I typically used canned beans for this as they’re ready to go when I need them, just be sure to rinse the beans well and let them drain well before using.

Bean and Vegetable Salad with Cumin, Lime, and Cilantro Dressing Recipe

• 1 can each (about 15 oz. each) rinsed well in a colander and drained well:
  • Black beans
  • Dark red kidney beans
  • Garbanzo beans
  • Cannellini beans (or substitute Great Northern)
• 1/2 sweet bell pepper
• 1 small zucchini, diced small
• 1 small yellow summer squash, diced small
• 2 1/2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
• 3/4 cup diced red onion

Dressing

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (Bragg cider vinegar is great in this)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

• Combine beans and veggies in a large bowl
• In a separate bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients and then pour over beans and veggies
• Toss well
• For best flavor, make about 1 hour before serving

Easy, right? You can mix up the beans and veggies to what you and your family enjoy. The lime and cumin add great flavor to this. This salad pairs wonderfully with avocado – you can toss it right in but it’s best to do so right before serving. Corn is also a delicious add-in. If you want, add some diced cucumber (remove the seeds first, to keep them from watering down the salad) or some diced celery. A little diced fennel also works well; you have to play around with this and see what you like best. I change this up all the time depending on the beans and veggies I have on hand.

I’ve made this salad for many years now and it’s still one of my husband’s favorite, most-asked-for dish. It keeps well in the fridge for a few days and makes a great side to grilled skirt steak. As I mentioned at the beginning, this is also a perfect salsa for taco night so it can do double duty as a side salad one night and salsa the next.

Enjoy!