For any vegetarians or omnivores who love a meaty bean, these marinated Royal Corona beans hit the spot every time! They're briny, hearty, and I love having a batch prepped for the week so I can scoop them into salads, pasta, or top toast. So satisfying in every way.
If you haven't met Royal Corona beans yet, allow me to introduce you! As someone who eats all things but enjoys vegetarian meals frequently, I'm always experimenting with beans-and these giant, creamy white beans are SO satisfying every dang time.
Royal Coronas are most easily found in dried form, so we will be cooking beans from scratch. But hear me out: The end result is SO worth it! A fresh pot of beans cooked from dried is hard to beat in terms of flavor, and it's really helpful to have some in the fridge during the week for nourishing veg meals (bean salads, beany stews, soups, salad add-ins, etc.).
But when will you cook a pot of beans?! Simmering a pot of beans on the weekend is the perfect way to go about it. You're home, you don't have to babysit the pot, and you can just let those beans simmer away for an hour or two while you do whatever you'd like.
And with this salad, it's all about marinating the beans with herby, briny, olive oil-y goodness. Let them sit in the fridge or eat some right away if you have as little patience as I do, and it's basically an olive bar in your fridge for the week! Ready to scoop in and onto your favorite meals. My kinda meal prep!
P.S. If you don't like olives... you might want to skip this one. Maybe my zippy summer chickpea salad instead?
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Cooking A Pot of Beans
If you haven't cooked a pot of dried beans before, it's really easy. To prepare the beans, you'll need to soak them for up to eight hours.
I like to do at least two hours, which works well if I'm cooking them the same day. But if you think of it the night before, you could also do an overnight soak.
After that, you'll drain, rinse, and transfer them to a big pot (I use my dutch oven every time) with fresh water, and simmer away. You don't need to use aromatics for this, but some larger carrot and onion chunks with a bay leaf or two will taste and smell incredible.
Where to Find Royal Corona Beans
I find Royal Corona beans at my local co-op and a couple other places in town that sell speciality items. The brand I love is Rancho Gordo, but feel free to use other brands if you have access to them.
If you don't have them, no biggie. You can use butter beans, lima beans, or other large white beans. Cannellini beans are smaller but still thick and soft, which is really nice for a marinated bean (I use them in my other marinated white beans recipe). You could even order the SIMPLi gigante beans online if you're looking for ease and convenience.
Step-by-Step Overview
Step 1
Soak the beans in a large bowl of water (enough water to cover beans by several inches).
Step 2
Drain the soaked beans and transfer to a dutch oven with optional aromatics (I like onion, bay leaves, carrots). Fill with water and bring to simmer for 1-2 hours, until beans are soft and cooked through.
Step 3
Drain and cool the cooked beans, then transfer to a large bowl with the salad ingredients.
Step 4
Mix it all together, then crumble feta over the top. Allow everything to marinate for at least 30 minutes in the fridge, or serve right away if you can't wait!
A Note on Using Ramps
I developed this recipe during ramp season, so I love using those in spring when they're available. But anything allium-like will work! Green onions, thinly sliced red onion, spring onions... use what you have.
Expert Tips
- If you're not using the beans right away, I recommend storing them in their cooking liquid. It keeps them nice and flavorful until you're ready to use them!
- If you have access to a Trader Joe's with the soffritto Italian seasoning, it is SO good in this recipe. I use it is so many recipes, including my spring minestrone and white bean chicken soup.
Sustainability Tip
This recipe is great for using up a lot of herbs! If you feel like you have some that are about to go to waste, finely chop them, and in this salad they go.
Serving Ideas
I love marinated bean recipes like this one because they're already in a sort of "dressing" that can transfer to other recipes. Some ideas:
- Pasta salad - Make some pasta and toss it with this salad. Add more olive oil and lemon if you'd like. A simple veg pasta salad, made!
- Toast - I love a good, thick slice of sourdough toasted with these beans spooned over the top.
- Crostini - In the same vein, crostini with a bowl of these beans is great for an appetizer.
- Salads & grain bowls - It's like going to a salad bar and combining all the yummy, ready-made salads in your bowl. The dressings and flavors spread to everything else, and it's so good!
Recommended
Made this marinated Royal Corona white bean salad? I'd love to hear how it turned out! Leave a ⭐️ rating and comment below, and follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and my newsletter for more everyday seasonal recipes.
📖 Recipe
Briny Marinated Royal Corona Beans
- Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A briny, herby marinated bean salad to make ahead for a week of meaty, delicious white beans! Eat them plain, in salads or grain bowls, or on toast.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Royal Corona beans
- Water, enough to cover beans when soaking and cooking
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4-5 ramps or green onions, sliced and greens finely chopped
- ½ cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
- ½ cup pitted castelvetrano olives, chopped
- ½ cup jarred slow-roasted tomatoes, chopped (or sun-dried tomatoes)
- 1.5-2 cups finely chopped herbs (basil, parsley, chives, cilantro, etc.)
- Juice from 2 lemons
- 2-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt (more to taste)
- A few turns of cracked black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- ½ cup crumbled feta
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Instructions
- Soak beans. Place Royal Corona beans in a large bowl and fill with enough water to cover the beans by 3 inches. Soak for 2 hours, then drain and rinse in the sink.
- Cook beans. Transfer beans to a large pot (I use a dutch oven), and fill with fresh water, enough to cover beans by 2-3 inches, plus the salt. Use aromatics if desired (see notes). Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Let the beans cook for up to 1 hour, or until they are soft, full-looking, and meaty to bite. I like to taste test several to make sure they're all ready.
- Drain, cool, and combine. Drain the cooked beans and rinse under cool water to cool them down. Transfer them to a large bowl. Add the ramps, olives, slow-roasted tomatoes, herbs, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried Italian seasoning. Stir to fully coat the beans and distribute ingredients. Crumble the feta over the top. Taste test and add more salt if needed, then tuck them away in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to marinate. Or, if you're impatient like me, enjoy a few right away! Great on their own, in salads, grain bowls, or on toast or crackers as an appetizer.
Notes
- Ingredient amounts. This makes a large batch of marinated beans! And the accompanying ingredient amounts are more guidelines than rules. If you want more of the briny goodies or feta, I encourage you to measure with the heart.
- Aromatics. If you'd like, you can simmer the beans with aromatics. I love using a couple quarters of an onion, some larger carrot chunks, and a couple bay leaves.
- Canned beans. You can absolutely sub in canned butter beans, cannellini beans, or others if you have access to larger white beans in a can. To make this as a full batch, you'll need 3-4 cans, drained and rinsed.
- Prep Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Appetizer, Lunch
- Method: Boiling
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ~1 heaping cup
- Calories: 379
- Sugar: 4.7 g
- Sodium: 507.1 mg
- Fat: 27.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 28.1 g
- Fiber: 9.2 g
- Protein: 10.6 g
- Cholesterol: 11.1 mg
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