4-Minute Four-Bean Salad
Apr 30, 2012, Updated Dec 16, 2023
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a Food Bloggers Los Angeles meetup, hosted by Two Broads Abroad. It’s always a casual affair, in which local food bloggers friends get together for a potluck meal and to discuss a particular aspect of blogging. (Yesterdays topic? Pinterest.)
It’s always a fun time that goes by way too quickly; food bloggers are such lovely, enthusiastic, and supportive folks. (And I’m ever-grateful for Erika, Patti, and Dorothy for leading the charge on all things FBLA.)
Since Mother’s Day is just around the corner, we were asked to bring a dish honoring our mothers. You know, something mom used to make.
So I flipped open the three-ring binder my mom gave me a few years back, filled with the recipes she’s collected over the years. I love thumbing through the various recipes — and seeing where many of them came from (“Grandma Martha’s Sewing Class” is my favorite). It gives a perfect hint of a rich history and tradition. There are even a couple of recipes that just say “Andrew” beneath the title — a clue that I’ve long enjoyed spending time with mom in the kitchen.
It’s funny, with all the cookbooks we have in our kitchen, that’s the one I go to most often. And if you scan through many of my posts, you’ll probably notice that there are a lot of “Thanks, Mom!” parentheticals peppered throughout. When I pause to think about how much I know in the kitchen, a heck of a lot of it came from her.
So, thank you mom, for teaching me so much, for your inspiration and guidance, and for your Rule-of-Three.* Also, for this super-simple four bean salad recipe, which takes just about four minutes to make. I love you.
4-Minute Four-Bean Salad
Ingredients
- 1 can yellow (wax) beans
- 2 cans green beans
- 1 can red kidney beans
- 1 can garbanzo beans, (chickpeas)
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 1/4 cup unrefined sugar, optional
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup vinegar, distilled white, or apple cider
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Open all the cans and empty the beans into a colander in the sink. Rinse.
- Add all ingredients to a large container, ideally one that has a leak-proof lid. Attach the lid and roll or flip the container to mix the ingredients.
- Refrigerate for at least a few hours (overnight is better). Roll or flip the container occasionally to help it marinate. Serve cold.
Nutrition
* Mom always insisted I try something at least three times before giving it up. Soccer practice, piano lessons, whatever. I had to go three times before I was allowed to quit (which often didn’t happen after that third time). Smart woman, that one.
Andrew, I am on a low-sodium medically mandated diet. Your recipes and tips are interesting BUT WITHOUT NUTRITION VALUES THEY ARE USELESS FOR MY SITUATION. Any chance of getting nutrition info?
Thank you.
Hi Pju — I don’t include detailed nutritional info, because it’s probably going to be inaccurate anyway. For example, on this particular recipe, it calls for canned beans — and the sodium quantity in those beans is going to vary significantly based on the specific brand and variety you purchase (and, in this case the beans are the only significant source of sodium).
You can figure out nutrition calculations for specific recipes using this website https://nutritiondata.self.com/ — and this way you can enter in exactly what you’re using for a given recipe, and also use the nutrition info provided on any product labels.
Hope that helps!