Black Beans and Corn Salad is an easy-to-make summer salad with diced garden vegetables, black beans, and Italian dressing. It is full of colorful garden vegetables!
Colorful Black Beans and Corn Salad
This crunchy salad is pretty with its fresh, healthy, colorful medley of chopped vegetables. But the best part is that it tastes as good as it looks! The secret to making a great salad is to chop all the vegetables by hand, avoiding an electric chopper because it will extract too much water from the vegetables. The salad is finished with Italian dressing, more or less than the recipe lists to suit your taste.
Drain and Rinse the Black Beans
This recipe starts with canned black beans, drained and rinsed to wash away some sodium from the canning process. After rinsing the beans, let them drain for a few minutes while you work on the rest of the ingredients.
Add Lots of Vegetables
This salad uses lots of vegetables. If there is one you don’t like, leave it out or replace it with something you do like. Also, if you want to add another vegetable not listed in the recipe, go ahead and add it.
I use small bell peppers because you can buy bags with red, orange, and yellow peppers. I like all three colors in this salad to make it more colorful.
Small Tomatoes
When I make a salad, I prefer to use small tomatoes like grapes or cherries because they are easier to work with than big tomatoes. There is no need to core them or remove the seeds as you do with larger tomatoes.
Use Fresh or Frozen Corn in Black Beans and Corn Salad
This salad is tasty with both fresh and frozen corn. You will need to cook it in a teaspoon of olive oil and then let it cool while preparing the other vegetables. If you only have canned corn on hand, go ahead and use it. Drain it and put it in the salad without heating it.
Cilantro
This salad is delicious with cilantro. However, I know that not everyone loves cilantro, and some associate the taste with soap. You can substitute another fresh herb such as chopped basil or oregano. Or leave off the herbs altogether.
Dress Black Beans and Corn Salad
Add 1/4 cup of your favorite Italian dressing to this salad and toss it so the dressing coats it. Or serve it on the side and let others add it to their salad. By the way, Ranch dressing also tastes great with this salad. Enjoy!
Other Recipes You Might Like
Click on each name to link to the recipe.
- Texas Caviar (Cowboy Caviar)
- Black Beans and Corn Bake
- Coconut Black-Eyed Peas
- Black Bean and Corn Salsa
- Veggie Nachos
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 3 minutes |
| Servings |
|
- (1) 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup fresh or frozen corn
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
- 1/2 cup red onion, chopped
- 1 cup bell pepper, chopped
- 1 large jalapeno, chopped fine
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup Italian salad dressing
Ingredients
|
Rate this recipe!
|
- Let the black beans drain after rinsing. In the meantime, add the corn and olive oil to a skillet and heat on medium. Cook the corn for 3-4 minutes or until cooked. Set it aside to cool.
- Chop all the vegetables and add them to a medium bowl. Add the black beans and corn. Stir to mix well.
- Add the Italian dressing and stir to coat the vegetables with it. Keep leftovers in the refrigerator.
Substitution
You can use ranch dressing instead of Italian in this recipe.
Gluten-Free
To make this a gluten-free salad use gluten-free dressing.