Zesty Bean Salad

An Easy Delicious Side

This Zesty Bean Salad is a throwback recipe from my days working in the deli of a local grocery store. This is a very easy salad to make using canned beans, diced bell peppers, red onions, and your favorite zesty Italian dressing.

You can make this a day in advance of serving, as it tastes better as it sits. This salad is also a great meal prep option as it lasts in the fridge for up to one week.

The full, printable recipe is at the end of this post, but there are some vital tips you’ll want to see first. Feel free to hit the print button to print or screen shot as a one page recipe for your phone.

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All The Veggies and All The Beans

This Zesty Bean Salad is very easy to make with canned beans. I use the beans from Aldi.

I love the texture of their canned beans. The measurements of the cans are 14.5 ounces in my recipe but the beans from Aldi tend to be 15 ounces. The measurement doesn’t have to be exact for this.

You can also swap the types of beans you use. I personally love this mix of beans for the taste and texture.

The vegetables in this salad are simple and colorful. I love the addition of red and yellow bell peppers, plus you can also throw in some orange bell peppers. The sweetness of these peppers adds to the salad flavor.

I also use a beautiful red onion and crunchy green celery. You add sugar to this mix of vegetables, as this allows the veggies to “marinate” in their own juices. This simple process adds flavor to your simple salad.

The Dressing

Everyone is welcome to use whatever Italian salad dressing you prefer. I love the one from Aldi. It is affordable and delicious.

I do recommended using a sweet and herbed vinaigrette like this Zesty Italian. I love how affordable this one but I have been known to splurge on Garlic Expressions.

My recipe calls for using the whole bottle but you can reduce the amount of dressing for your preference and rely more on the juice from your veggies to flavor this salad.

Yield: 12 to 15 Servings

Zesty Bean Salad

Print

This Zesty Bean Salad is a throwback recipe from my days working in the deli of a local grocery store. This is a very easy salad to make using canned beans, diced bell peppers, red onions and your favorite zesty Italian dressing. You can make this a day in advance of serving, as it tastes better as it sits. This salad is also a great meal prep option as it lasts in the fridge for up to one week.

Ingredients

• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 1 yellow and 1 red bell pepper, diced
• Approximately 1 Cup of Diced celery
• 1 16 ounce bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing
• 1 14.5 ounce can of cut green beans
• 1 14.5 ounce can of pinto beans
• 1 14.5 ounce can of kidney beans
• 1 14.5 ounce can of great northern beans
• 1 14.5 ounce can of cannellini beans
• 1 tablespoon of white sugar
• 1 tablespoon of dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon of celery seed

Instructions

1. Open and drain each can of beans. Additionally, I add the beans to a mesh strainer and rinse them well with cold water. Let them drain. This removes most of the excess salt used in canning.
2. Add your onions, celery and peppers to a large bowl. Sprinkle the onions and peppers with the sugar, parsley and celery seeds. Let this sit for about 30 minutes on the counter. It will make its own juice. Then add the entire bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing. Stir well to combine.
3. Once the beans are drained and rinsed add them to the bowl with the pepper and onions. Toss well to combine.
4. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or ideally overnight.
5. These beans make a great side dish or add some grilled chicken for a complete meal.

Beans and Burgers

This Zesty Bean Salad is the perfect side to serve with my Secret Ingredient Hamburgers. These burgers are juicy and flavorful. These beans and these burgers are the PERFECT summer meal.