In the world of culinary delights, few foods are as simple, budget-friendly, healthy, and overlooked as the bean. This easy cold bean salad recipe is especially simple! It can be thrown together in a minute – almost literally.
First Let’s Talk Beans…
If you don’t “know beans” about beans, here’s a quick little tutorial!
Beans are a vegetable. Beans are a protein. Which is it? The truth is, beans are both a vegetable AND a protein. Actually, they are 20% protein by weight.
Beans are seeds. Beans are what is known as a “legume,” in the same family as peas and lentils.
Beans are incredibly, unbelievably healthy foods! As in, like SO healthy you can bank your life on them.
That’s actually true. Not only are beans a good source of protein (and it’s plant-based), they also contain lots of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and complex carbs.
Someone “in the know” has said that if everyone incorporated just 1/2 cup of dry beans into their diet every day, it would combat obesity, prevent heart disease, prevent and manage diabetes, fight cancer, and increase life expectancy.
A Bad Reputation
Beans have a bad reputation as a vegetable that creates gas – the “musical fruit!”
Yes, beans contain oligosaccharides, a sugar that is not easily digested. They also contain fiber, and foods with fiber create more gas.
Foods that cause gas are often exceptionally healthy foods! Other really good foods fall into this category, too; cabbage, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts – among others. Passing gas is a sign your digestive tract is working the way it should!
But don’t worry. There are things you can do to reduce the gas-causing effect of beans, whether you buy them canned or dried.
If you buy them canned, drain the liquid off before eating them. This will help reduce the gas-causing properties. If you buy them dry, they need to be soaked overnight in cold water, then drain the water off them and cook them in fresh water.
What About Those Canned Beans?
Are they as healthy as dried beans?
The answer, very simply put, is: not quite, but a close second.
Vitamins B and C may be lost during canning, which involves some high heat. However, there are lots of other good sources of these vitamins, so maybe this is not a huge consideration – in my opinion.
Minerals, protein content and quality, fiber content – these are all preserved very well in canned beans.
The main downside of many canned beans is their sodium content. You can reduce the sodium content of canned beans by more than 1/3 by draining the liquid, and even more by rinsing the beans. These days, it’s very easy to buy “no salt added” versions of canned beans, too.
Just a word about green beans… How do they relate?
All dry beans start as the seed part of a “green bean.” The green beans that you buy are harvested before they become dry and before the seed matures. They probably fit better into the category of “green vegetables.”
Now for That Recipe…
“I thought this was a recipe, not a discussion about beans.” Well, first, you have to be convinced about how amazing the ingredients in this recipe are! But here’s the recipe! It’s almost too simple to be called a “recipe.”
Step 1:
In any container that you can seal for refrigeration, put 2-3 cups, cooked, of any of the following beans, in any ratio:
- kidney beans
- garbanzo beans
- black beans
- black-eyed peas/beans
- romano beans
- lima beans
- soybeans
- navy beans
- pinto beans
- lentils (in the bean family)
- cannellini beans
- fava beans
- red beans
- mung beans
- or any other dry bean not listed
- or any “six bean blend,” or “four bean blend” of bean varieties
Add:
- 1 can of green beans (approximately 1.5 cups)
- Caesar dressing or any other salad dressing of your choice (dill dressing, ranch dressing – ideally not a “sweet” dressing)
Mix together and eat! What you don’t eat, refrigerate to eat later.
This salad is delicious!
“Wow, Those Beans Are Just Too Expensive…”
Said no one, ever! Well, maybe someone – but somehow, in all the discussions I have read about the increasingly high cost of food, the cost of beans seems to be missing… They are incredibly cheap, especially if you buy the dry version, and soak and prepare them from scratch – but even canned beans are cheap. So this salad could be pretty much a survival food. But it’s good enough that it doesn’t have to wait for a hypothetical doomsday scenario!
Eat it to get out of debt!
Eat it to save for college!
Eat it to save for retirement!
Eat it to have money left over to give for a good cause!
Summing Up…
I’ve personally eaten some version of this salad many, many times; I made some today, in fact (see the feature image above)! I have friends who love it as well. You can’t go wrong. Actually, I can’t vouch for that; but you probably can’t go wrong, let’s say!
If you have tried any simple bean salad recipes yourself that you love, or if you have any other comments or questions related to this post, please feel free to share in the space provided below!
