Go Back
Super-Easy 4 Bean Salad with a Lemon Dressing
Victoria Haneveer

Super-Easy 4 Bean Salad with a Lemon Dressing

This delicious 4 bean salad recipe combines kidney beans, cannellini beans, garbanzo beans and green beans for a colorful and flavorful result. If you want to use fresh green beans rather than canned ones, that is fine. Just simmer them in salted water for a few minutes until they are crisp-tender, then drain them and let them cool a bit. The garlic and lemon juice dressing is tangy and delicious and goes beautifully with the bean mixture. This is not a complicated bean salad recipe at all. Some bean salads feature vegetables, herbs and other ingredients but this one sticks with the four kinds of beans plus the dressing, to keep the flavors clean and simple. It is best to make this one in advance and leave it in the refrigerator for a few hours to let the beans soak up the dressing. This really boosts the overall flavor and you will be glad you let it marinate. Beans often feature in hot dishes such as chili con carne or bean stew recipes. They are also popular with vegetarians. Whether or not you are a vegetarian, you will find that a bean salad recipe makes a great lunch, appetizer or side dish. You can also serve such a recipe for the main course. There are many different recipes for bean salad so you can mix and match components from different ones (perhaps the salad from one and the dressing from another) to achieve the perfect combination.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Servings: 6
Course: Salad
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
 

  • 15 oz (425g) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • 15 oz (425g) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 15 oz (425g) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
  • 15 oz (425g) can chopped green beans, drained and rinsed
  • 3 minced garlic cloves
  • 2/3 teaspoon salt
  • ΒΌ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice

Method
 

  1. Combine the beans in a big bowl.
  2. In another bowl whisk the garlic, salt, pepper, extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice together to make the dressing.
  3. Pour the dressing over the bean mixture and toss to coat.
  4. Chill for several hours in the refrigerator, so the beans can soak up the flavor of the lemon dressing.

Notes

  • This appealing bean salad recipe combines four sorts of beans with a lemon and garlic dressing for maximum flavor without the complexity of a more complicated bean salad recipe.
  • Some people like to add sundried tomatoes, anchovies, olives, lettuce, onions and more to their bean salad recipes but this one relies solely on the beans and the dressing, to give a pure-tasting result.
  • Make this a few hours in advance so it can marinate to perfection in the refrigerator.
  • If you like, you can swap one of the varieties of beans for another variety. Any kind of beans will be nice in this simple bean salad recipe.