Southwestern three bean salad is an essential summer must-have. The trio of beans paired with corn, cabbage, tomatoes, jalapenos, and creamy avocado is instantly satisfying, especially when you toss it all in my creamy cilantro lime dressing. We're talking minimal effort and maximum flavor with the perfect summer salad for meal prepping, BBQs, cookouts, and more. Oh yeah, and it's totally vegan, too!
I love a good bean salad. As a vegan, I eat beans essentially every day. They're a great source of plant-based protein and fiber, plus they're so affordable and can be eaten right out of the can.
Mix a few different types together, add your favorite veggies and dressing, and you have the perfect plant-based meal ready to serve.
The Southwestern flavors in this simple three bean salad are always a good match. It's sweet and a little spicy, perfect for eating over a bed of greens as a simple meal or as a hearty side for Vegan Enchiladas Verdes alongside my Air Fryer Elote. So good!
Why you’ll love this Southwestern Bean Salad Recipe
- Loaded with crunch, flavor, and heat
- Easiest meal prep ever (just serve and enjoy!)
- Perfect balance of sweet and savory flavors
- Easy side dish that relies on super simple ingredients to feed a crowd fast
- Versatile topping for salads, veggie burgers, grain bowls, and more
Salad Ingredients for 3 Bean Salad
- Canned beans - It's not a three bean salad without three types of beans. I'm partial to white northern, black, and pinto beans, although you can definitely play around with that.
- Frozen corn - If you haven't used frozen corn for salads, you should! It thaws quickly, has a super fresh flavor, and is a zero-mess kind of ingredient (my favorite). Feel free to sub fresh sweet corn if you have it available.
- Veggies - To keep this salad crunchy and colorful, I like to add red cabbage. It can handle sitting in the dressing and adds more texture. Sprinkle some green onions for color and sliced Campari tomatoes for a little bright tomato flavor.
- Avocado - Creamy avocado helps mellow out the heat from the jalapeno and offers extra healthy fats to keep you full.
- Jalapeno - This can be optional if you aren't a fan of heat, or choose a mild jalapeno or a red bell pepper. You can also add more if you can't get enough heat!
- Creamy Cilantro and Lime Dressing - This ultra-fresh dressing is made by blending fresh cilantro with fresh lime juice, extra virgin olive oil, turbinado sugar, and salt. It's my go-to dressing for Southwestern-style salads because the flavors work so well together!
Pro Tip: If you're making this dish for later, I recommend adding the avocado right before serving. Otherwise, it can start to brown.
How to Make Southwestern Three Bean Salad
- Make dressing by combining lime juice, olive oil, cilantro, salt, and sugar in a high speed blender and pureeing until smooth.
- To a large bowl combine beans, corn, tomato, cabbage, green onion, jalapeno and avocado.
- Pour dressing over the top and toss until well combined.
- Serve over greens, with tortilla chips, or as is.
- Enjoy within 3 days for the best quality.
Note: The lime juice will preserve the avocado as long as it is wrapped tightly.
Tips for Making the Best Southwestern Bean Salad
- Keep it fresh. You really want to focus on the freshest ingredients here. They'll add so much more flavor and can handle hanging out in the dressing for a few days.
- Play around with add-ins. There's a lot of room to flex here. For example, you can add some red onion instead of or in addition to the green onions, replace the Campari tomatoes with cherry tomatoes, and opt for fresh corn instead of frozen. Feel free to add some diced bell peppers, too. Have fun with it!
- Adjust the beans. Instead of three beans, feel free to use all black beans or play around with different types of beans. Kidney beans and black-eyed peas can all work well here.
- Spice it up. If you like spicy food, choose hot jalapenos (and add as many as you'd like). You can also add some red pepper flakes, chili powder, cayenne pepper, or your favorite hot sauce.
FAQs
Place any leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Technically, it can stay fresh for longer, but the textures and flavors start to fade. The salad is served cold, so no need to heat it or anything. I don't recommend freezing it.
Part of why I love bean salads so much is because of how versatile they are. Most of us grew up eating them as a side dish at BBQs and potlucks, but they are hearty enough to serve as a main dish, too. I often like to eat them on their own or over a bed of greens. You can even crumble some tortilla chips on top for a taco salad. Wrap them with some fresh greens for a simple wrap or make a burrito bowl with rice and your favorite salsa. So many options!
This recipe is intended to be eaten cold, which helps keep all the ingredients as vibrant and fresh as possible.
More Delicious Salad Recipes
Love this recipe? Drop a comment below to share your experience with others!
Craving more? Explore all of my free ebooks or come hang out with over 1 million other plant-based foodies on Instagram!
Southwestern Three Bean Salad
Ingredients
For Dressing:
- 4 limes juiced
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ bunch cilantro stems and leaves
- 1 tbsp turbinado sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
For Salad:
- 1 15-oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 15-oz can white northern beans drained and rinsed
- 1 15-oz can pinto beans drained and rinsed
- 2 cups frozen corn defrosted
- 2 cups red cabbage shredded and chopped
- 3 green onions white and green parts chopped
- 4 campari tomatoes diced
- 1 avocado peeled and diced
- 1 jalapeno seeded and diced
Instructions
- Make dressing by combining lime juice, olive oil, cilantro, salt amd sugar in a high speed blender and pureeing until smooth.
- To a large bowl add the 3 types of beans, corn, tomato, cabbage, green onion, jalapeno and avocado. Pour dressing over the top and toss until well combined.
- Serve over greens, with tortilla chips or as is.
- Enjoy within 3 days for the best quality. The lime juice will preserve the avocado as long as it is wrapped tightly.
Leave a Reply