by Holly
This Old Fashioned Bean Salad has been a family staple for years. 4 kinds of beans and a hint of white onion all dressed in a sweet tangy vinaigrette dressing.
This is the perfect make ahead side salad for any get together or BBQ!
A Sweet Return
I truly have the most amazing Mother-In-Law, I don’t think I could’ve hand-picked a better one myself. Sometimes when my mother-in-law comes for a big turkey dinner, I send her home with leftovers in containers. Last week I was so excited to see that she had brought back my containers because when she returned them they sometimes come back full of food too! Bran muffins (and my kids totally love them too), sometimes her amazing baked beans and one day, this amazing bean salad.
I’d been sneaking spoonfuls out of the fridge all day long when I finally phoned her and asked for the recipe! She originally found this recipe in an old cookbook called “Women in Uniform” and it’s a great version of a classic bean salad.
How to Make Bean Salad
Bean salad couldn’t be easier. This version starts with canned beans for an easy make ahead salad. You want the beans to marinate in the dressing for at least 12 hours, but up to 48 hours is even better!
- Drain beans and place in a bowl with green pepper and onion.
- Boil dressing ingredients.
- Pour dressing over the beans and refrigerate overnight mixing occasionally.
Pick Your Favorite Beans
- BEANS: This uses a mixture of canned green and yellow beans along with lima beans and red kidney beans. Really, any kind of beans would be great in this recipe so feel free to change them up based on what you have on hand (or whatever kind of beans you like).
- Great bean options include navy beans, chickpeas/garbanzo beans, cannellini among others.
- ONIONS: When purchasing onion for this recipe, you’ll want to use the white onions with the white papery skin (not the yellow skin) as they’re milder and add great flavor to this recipe!
- DRESSING: If you don’t have celery seed (I use them in my favorite coleslaw dressing too), it’s worth getting some, it makes a big difference in this recipe (I also use celery seed in my favorite cole slaw recipe). You can usually buy it in the bulk spices area so you can just buy a little bit at a time. Note that celery seed is not the same as celery salt.
More Classic Summer Salads
- Famous Dill Pickle Pasta Salad – BEST. EVER.
- Creamy Cucumber Salad – Summer classic!
- The Best Potato Salad Recipe – Easy make ahead recipe.
- Italian Pasta Salad – Potluck perfect and full of flavor!
- Cucumber Onion Salad– Cool, creamy and refreshing!
Bean Salad
Prep Time 5 minutes
Servings 12 servings
Ingredients
- 14 ounces green beans
- 14 ounces yellow beans
- 14 ounces red kidney beans
- 14 ounces lima beans
- ½ cup green pepper thinly sliced
- ¾ cup white onion thinly sliced
- ¾ cup celery chopped
DRESSING
- ½ cup white vinegar
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ⅔ cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon celery seeds
Instructions
- Drain all of the beans well. Combine beans, green pepper, celery and onion in a bowl.
- Heat all dressing ingredients in a small saucepan until sugar is dissolved and mixture is hot.
- Pour the hot dressing mixture over the beans and toss to coat. Refrigerate overnight.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
Made exactly as written. My first reaction was that it tasted netter than anything I’ve found in a grocery store deli. 2nd reaction was it may be better than anything from a potluck.
One change I may try – a little less oil. I’m a northerner and we tend to use less oil and butter than some southerners.
Thanks for the recipe share.
So happy to hear that Amy, you’re welcome!
When I first stirred this up, I thought there looked to be more oil than necessary. By the next morning, the oil amount was perfect as written.
I’ve put this in my “good enough for company” collection of recipes. Even good enough for a church pot luck.
Used a 6 bean blend and with red pepper instead of green, perfect!
Thanks for this and allowing me to print this cold bean salad recipe. Your site has been usefull to me in comparison to some online which were just an exercise in frustration. I really needed this recipe and I will mark your website as a favorite and come back and check it out (after i have been to the store and made the recipe which I needed for tomorrow)
Thanks James, so happy to hear you are enjoying our site! Have fun cooking.
Really good bean salad I did only add 1/2 C SPLENDA I like it on the tart side enjoyed by all! Thank You
Great idea MZ! Glad everyone enjoyed it :)
This bean salad was excellent! I used garbanzo, canellini, kidney, and French cut green beans. Next time I will use a little less sugar. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Hi hi, I love beans, all kind of beans, I love your combination and it looks yummy
You will love this salad then! Enjoy!
I have been trying for years to try to find a bean salad recipe like my mom used to make with no luck, but this one is it !!!
Sweet but a little tangy , mm m mmm , delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Happy we could help Rick! Enjoy!
Have a few questions. What is the serving size? Are calories for the whole dish or per serving?
This makes approximately twelve servings, 1/2 cup each. The calories are per serving.
I’m thinking I would like to use fresh beans in the salad. Should I just blanch them or?
I’d cook them to your desired doneness, then pop them into an ice bath to stop them cooking further. Enjoy Lynn!
Love bean salad and cowboy caveat..as well as others…thank you very much!!!
You’re welcome Marilene! Enjoy!
I am not a fan of lima beans, so I substituted a can of garbanzo beans. Very good recipe, one I’ll keep.
I use garbanzo beans inplace of the Lima beans and I use apple cider vinegar and red/purple onion