Behold the beautiful simplicity of a vegan bean salad with three bean varieties, crunchy veg, fresh herbs, and a flavourful lemon dressing. Ready in under ten minutes, it's an easy summer side dish that's dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, and high in protein.
This recipe features chickpeas, kidney beans, and black beans, but you can of course use any bean variety you like. I use canned beans straight out of the cupboard and then make sure they're thoroughly drained and rinsed under running water.
For similar vegan side dishes, see these recipes for Mediterranean-style couscous salad, vegan Waldorf salad, and vegan rainbow slaw.
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Which beans are best?
As long as they are canned or pre-cooked (if starting with dried), you can use any beans you like in a salad. The only thing I'd suggest is using a mix for a variety of textures.
I'll often swap out different beans in recipes depending on what I have lying around. For example, you could substitute cannellini beans in this lemony butter bean dip, butter beans in this pinto bean soup, or black beans in this smoky jackfruit chilli.
Can I use dried beans?
The simplicity of this recipe is down to using canned beans (which are already pre-cooked), but you could also use dried beans provided these are thoroughly cooked beforehand.
For more info, take a look at my Beginner's Guide to Pulses.
Is bean salad healthy?
Thanks to all the healthy legumes, this salad is packed full of nutrients including plant-based protein. One serving provides:
- Calories: 259 kcal
- Protein: 12 grams (24% of RDA)
- Fibre: 12 grams (50% of RDA)
- Vitamin C: 39 mg (47% of RDA)
(Amounts based on a third-party nutrition calculator)
What you'll need
To make this vegan bean salad, you'll need:
- Mixed beans for the bulk of it
- Crunchy veg in the form of red pepper and cucumber
- Fresh herbs of your choice – I like parsley and mint here
- Extra-virgin olive oil to create a good-quality lemon dressing
How to make vegan three-bean salad
To a small bowl, add the chopped onion and garlic. Mix in around three quarters of the lemon juice (i.e. 1½ lemons) and season with salt and pepper. The lemon juice will help to mellow the flavour of the onion and garlic (1).
Once the chickpeas and beans have been drained and well rinsed (I use a colander for this), add these to a large bowl (2) along with the diced cucumber, red pepper, parsley, and mint. Mix well.
To the smaller bowl, add the olive oil and give it a stir (3). Pour this dressing into the larger bowl and mix everything thoroughly.
Adjust the seasoning if necessary, adding any extra lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, or herbs. Mix well, scooping some of the dressing to the top, and serve.
Serving suggestions
This salad is right at home as a side dish for summer meals or barbecue recipes such as grilled tofu steaks, grilled king oyster mushrooms, and teriyaki aubergine. It's also just a nice thing to have in the fridge as a snack.
Recipe FAQ
Yep, 100%.
Yep, there's no refined sugar here.
Cover and refrigerate for up to 3-4 days, mixing well again each time before serving.
The short answer is yes, however I'd recommend eating it fresh and then from the fridge. If freezing, store in airtight containers for up to three months and defrost thoroughly in the fridge (rather than e.g. a microwave).
Variations and tips
- Bowl: Using a large bowl will make it easier to mix everything together.
- Other ingredients: Feel free to throw in other ingredients such as celery, tomatoes, corn, or avocado. You could also swap any of the beans for another canned variety.
- Fresh herbs: If you don't want the parsley flavour to be as strong, just use the leaves and not the stems. Other good herbs include fresh coriander, basil, or dill.
- Olive oil: When making dressings, I'd always recommend using a good-quality, extra-virgin olive oil.
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More vegan recipe ideas
If you liked this recipe, you may also enjoy:
- Vegan Cucumber Raita
- Spinach Couscous with Lemon and Garlic
- Cucumber Stir-Fry
- Courgette Salad with Peanut Dressing
- Asian-Inspired Cucumber Salad
- Roasted Cauliflower with Cumin
- Vegan Waldorf Salad
- 4-Ingredient Vegan Parmesan
You can also check out my full list of vegan side dishes.
Full recipe
Vegan Three-Bean Salad with Lemon, Mint and Parsley
Ingredients
- 1 red onion, finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or minced
- 2 lemons, juiced
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1x 14 oz (400 g) tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1x 14 oz (400 g) tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1x 14 oz (400 g) tin black beans, drained and rinsed
- ½ large cucumber, diced
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
- Small handful fresh parsley, chopped (leaves and stems)
- Small handful fresh mint, chopped (remove the leaves first and discard the stems)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- To a small bowl, add the chopped onion and garlic. Mix in around three quarters of the lemon juice (i.e. 1½ lemons) and season with salt and pepper. The lemon juice will help to mellow the flavour of the onion and garlic.
- Once the chickpeas and beans have been drained and well rinsed (I use a colander for this), add these to a large bowl along with the diced cucumber, red pepper, parsley, and mint. Mix well.
- To the smaller bowl, add the olive oil and give it a stir. Pour this dressing into the larger bowl and mix everything thoroughly.
- Adjust the seasoning if necessary, adding any extra lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, or herbs. Mix well, scooping some of the dressing to the top, and serve.
Notes
- Mediterranean-Style Couscous Salad
- Moroccan Couscous with Chickpeas and Roasted Veg
- Vegan Slaw with Sesame Ginger Dressing
- Courgette Salad with Peanut Dressing
- Roasted Cauliflower with Cumin
- Chickpea Stir-Fry
- Crispy Baked Potato Wedges
- 4-Ingredient Vegan Parmesan
Nutrition
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Susanna D
Without the amount of servings the recipe makes, the nutritional information is essentially useless. I found this too bland and added 3 T apple cider vinegar. Otherwise, good.
The Pesky Vegan
Hi there, thanks for your comment. All my recipes state the number of servings in two places – 1) next to the prep time info in the recipe card and 2) in a sentence right above the nutrition info itself. In this case, 6 servings (which may prove to be quite large depending on what else you have with it). Hope this helps to make the nutrition information a bit less useless in future!
Janet
Amazing! Thank you for sharing. I love how you can add as much or as little if different veggies as you like.
The Pesky Vegan
Cheers Janet, glad you enjoyed this one!
John
I'm usually not the biggest fan of bean salads but I really enjoyed this one!
I'm likely gonna make it frequently from now on!
The Pesky Vegan
Great to hear, thanks very much for leaving a review!
Nora Grudis
Hello Alistair,
This was Yummolicious. I make a similar salad with 5 beans, salsa, tomatoes, onion, green pepper, balsamic vinegar and cilantro. Sometimes I put other veggies in like celery, corn, avocado and others.
We eat it cold as is, heated as a soup. Layered in a tortilla with lettuce, vegan shredded cheese and vegan sour cream or vegan plain yogurt.
On a bed of vegan chips and lettuce with
vegan shredded cheese and sour cream for a taco salad. Heated on top of pasta. In a layered salad. It's a really versatile and easy dish. I've been making this for 20+ years, way before I became a vegan. It's my most requested pot luck/covered dish for family and friends. In Texas they add corn and different herbs or spices and call it Cowboy Caviar. Thanks for posting this variation.
The Pesky Vegan
Thanks, lots of great suggestions here!
Erika
Ooh definitely going to be trying this one!
The Pesky Vegan
Good stuff, let me know how you get on!