This three bean salad recipe is my take on the classic with a creamier apple cider vinaigrette (with tahini!) and no refined sugar. Made with pantry staples, this is ones of the easiest plant-based sides or lunches you can make. Served by itself or on top of another salad, it's perfect for weekly meal prep!
If life is feeling busy, it's about time you had a bean salad prepped in your fridge!
It comes together in 10 minutes with mostly pantry staples (thank you, beans!) and keeps beautifully in the fridge for easy lunches, side dishes, or straight-from-the-bowl snacking.
I kept the nostalgic charm of the classic but skipped the heavy sweetness. Instead, it's tossed in a tangy cider vinaigrette with just a touch of tahini for a lightly creamy balance.
Spoon it over thick-cut everything bagel avocado toast or toss it into a simple green salad (they can even share dressing!). If you're looking for a protein-packed salad to meal prep this week, this is it.
And P.S. If you love this one, you'll also want to try my easy marinated white beans.
Key Ingredients & Notes
- Three types of beans - chickpeas, kidney beans, and cannellini beans (aka white kidney beans) are what we'll use for this salad. Feel free to swap in butter beans or Great Northern beans!
- Chopped veg - Celery, red onion, and finely chopped herbs like parsley or cilantro will provide a nice flavor and crunch to this salad (plus nutrients, of course!).
- Tahini - Tahini is what's going to make the dressing a more modern take on standard modern three bean salad. We're not using a ton - just a little bit to make the vinaigrette slightly creamy (but still very light!).
How to Make Three Bean Salad
- Step 1: Drain and rinse your beans, then combine them in a large bowl.
- Step 2: Dice up your celery, red onion, and finely chop parsley.
- Step 3: Blend up or whisk together the creamy cider vinaigrette.
- Step 4: Combine beans, veggies, and vinaigrette in a bowl and gently stir together. Serve immediately or chill until ready to eat!
Make It A Complete Meal
While great on its own, I actually love to combine three bean salad with other proteins and veggies, too. It's already spiced and dressed, so it basically works as a salad dressing and salad ingredients all in one, making it perfect for adding protein to a greens or grains salad (simple quinoa salad with cucumber is perfect for this).
It's also great for heaping onto a lemon dill hummus-lined piece of sourdough toast, or filling pita pockets. Stuff some greens or microgreens in there, and YUM!
By the way, if you have leftover green beans (I hope it's from making air fryer green beans...), you can cut those into one-inch pieces and toss them in the salad too. It's sort of a nod to more traditional three bean salad, except in our case, that makes it four bean. No complaints here!
Bean Salad FAQs
You can store this salad in any airtight container for up to 5 days in the fridge.
For sure! Canned beans are convenient, but if you prefer to soak and simmer dried beans for this salad, go for it!
More Meal Prep Salads
If you loved this salad, there's more where that came from!
Did you make this three bean salad? Don't forget to leave a star rating 🌟 and comment below, and tag me on Instagram and Pinterest - I love seeing what you made!
Print📖 Recipe
Three Bean Salad with Creamy Cider Dressing
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
This three bean salad is made slightly more modern with a creamy apple cider vinaigrette with Dijon, tahini, and maple syrup! A delicious, healthy, plant-based lunch just for you!
Ingredients
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup celery, diced
- ½ cup red onion, diced
- ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- â…“ cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 cloves fresh garlic
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup (or honey)
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1-2 tablespoons tahini
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Combine ingredients: Add the chickpeas, kidney beans, cannellini beans, celery, red onion, and parsley into a large bowl. Stir to combine everything.
- Make the vinaigrette: To a blender, add olive oil, cider vinegar, garlic, maple syrup, Dijon, tahini, salt, and pepper. Blend until everything is well emulsified. Taste and add salt if desired.
- Dress salad: Pour the creamy apple cider vinaigrette over the three bean salad and toss gently to coat. Eat immediately or store in the fridge until you're ready!
Notes
- Fresh herbs: Try swapping parsley for cilantro, and even adding a tiny bit of fresh rosemary! I recommend fresh herbs for this one for optimal flavor.
- Storage: This fresh three bean salad can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to five days.
- Prep Time: 10
- Category: Lunch, Salad
- Method: Combine
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ~½ cup
- Calories: 392
- Sugar: 4.9 g
- Sodium: 552 mg
- Fat: 14.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 50.6 g
- Protein: 17 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Matt S says
I’m leaving a positive review, because this is really delicious. It’s easy to modify and play with and I’ve been looking for a marinated style bean side that’s not too difficult.
Tera Gigot says
Thank you! So glad you liked it!
Liz says
Really good. I used what I had so swapped Basil for the parsley and walnut butter for the tahini. I don’t eat chickpeas so I used kidney, cannellini, green and waxed beans. I’ll definitely make this again.
Tera Gigot says
Oh wow, amazing ideas Liz - I'm so glad you enjoyed it!