A salad this simple has no business being so delicious, but it just is. This Classic Three Bean Salad has minimal ingredients, the most basic of basic dressings, and yet I can’t seem to get enough of it. The creamy beans are the perfect contrast to the tangy-sweet dressing, and there’s just enough savory crunch from the red onion to keep the flavors grounded. It’s the perfect summer side dish for all of your BBQs and potlucks, or on those busy weeknights when you don’t want to spend a lot of time fixing dinner.
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Easy Three Bean Salad Recipe
My three bean salad has dark kidney beans, cannellini beans, and green beans. You can also try other beans like chickpeas, wax beans, purple hull peas, or black eyed peas. This recipe is really flexible, so you can swap out the beans, and you can even add more than three beans if you’d like. However, I recommend having a variety of colors, textures, and shapes. Make sure to have at least one creamy bean, too!
I also made a basic, slightly sweet vinaigrette with just enough Dijon to give it a little zing. You can easily tweak the sweetness or tang to your liking or even use your favorite bottled dressing (like Italian dressing) for a different flavor. This recipe is SO easy to make your own, so have fun with it!
Classic Three Bean Salad
Servings 5 servings (1 cup each)Ingredients
- 1 15 oz. can kidney beans ($0.94)
- 1 15 oz. can cannellini beans ($0.94)
- 1.5 cups frozen green beans (thawed, $0.59*)
- ¼ cup red onion (finely diced, $0.12)
- ¼ cup fresh parsley (chopped, $0.17)
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar ($0.24)
- ¼ cup olive oil ($0.64**)
- 2 Tbsp sugar ($0.12***)
- 1 tsp salt ($0.03)
- ¼ tsp black pepper (freshly cracked, $0.02)
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard ($0.03)
Instructions
- Rinse and drain the kidney beans and cannellini beans. Place the kidney beans, cannellini beans, and thawed green beans in a bowl.
- Slice the red onion, then soak the onion in a bowl of ice water for about five minutes before draining and finely dicing. Chop the parsley. Add the onion and parsley to the bowl with the beans.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the vinegar, sugar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and Dijon.
- Pour the dressing over the beans, onion, and parsley, then stir to combine.
- Transfer the bean salad to the refrigerator and let the beans marinate in the dressing for about 30 minutes before serving. Give the salad a good stir just before serving to redistribute the dressing.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Three Bean Salad Step-by-Step Photos
Prep the beans: Rinse and drain one 15 oz. can of kidney beans and one 15 oz. can of cannellini beans. Add them to a bowl with 1.5 cups of thawed frozen green beans.
Shock the onion: Slice some red onion and soak them for about 5 minutes in a bowl of ice water (this takes the sharp edge off their flavor). Finely dice about ¼ cup of the red onion. Chop about ¼ cup fresh parsley.
Make the dressing: Whisk together ¼ cup apple cider vinegar, ¼ cup olive oil, 2 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, ¼ tsp freshly cracked pepper, and 1 tsp Dijon mustard.
Combine: Add the onion and parsley to the bowl with the beans, then pour the dressing over top. Stir everything to combine.
Chill and serve: Refrigerate the three bean salad for about 30 minutes to let the beans marinate. Give it a good stir, and then serve!
What to Serve with Three Bean Salad
The sweet-tart flavor of this three bean salad makes it a perfect match for other sweet-savory dishes, especially anything with BBQ sauce. In the photos here, I served it with my BBQ cheddar baked chicken and a big scoop of potato salad, and the combo was incredibly satisfying. It also pairs beautifully with glazed ham steaks (the Dijon dressing goes so well with the sweet glaze), creamy pork chops for a fun contrast, or crispy air fryer drumsticks when you need a quick weeknight meal.
Storage Instructions
Three bean salad is one of those recipes that actually gets better with time in the fridge. As it refrigerates, the beans begin to absorb the flavors in the dressing, and everything gets SUPER tasty. This salad will probably stay good in the fridge for about four days (if you don’t eat it all by then).
More Easy Bean Salad Recipes
Our Classic Three Bean Salad recipe was originally published 6/21/21. It was retested, reworked, and republished to be better than ever 7/3/25.
I had forgotten about 3 bean salad! This was delicious.
Call me crazy and although I love three or four bean salad I also put in some sauerkraut.
This is one of my favorite bean salads! I made no changes to the recipe. A great lunch or dinner side!
Almost identical to the recipe I grew up eating! It’s always enjoyed by my family, too. My mother usually used all canned beans: green beans, yellow wax beans, and kidney beans. We did, however, have freshly cooked ones in the summer. Wax beans can be hard to find these days, but I sometimes use garbanzos as one of the 3 options, or even pintos, my favorite bean due to its mild taste and creamy texture–whatever is in the pantry. A spice lover, I’ve been known to add some minced jalapeno. Mom never used oil in her dressing–although I like to add dab to mellow the vinegar–or salt as the canned beans are plenty salty. Olive oil wasn’t used much in rural parts of our country back in the 1950s–probably not even available in our very small town grocery store. Hubs likes it this sweet, but I use stevia instead of sugar due to his diabetes.
Call me crazy but I also add sauerkraut to this!
It’s very sweet. Perhaps its 2 teaspoons sugar.
Beth, Could I freeze chopped/diced red onion? I also wonder would pickled red onions work? Thanks
I made this recipe in the past and loved it, but I’ve recently been cutting way back on fats and oils. So this time around it followed the recipe to the letter but I just didn’t add the oil. I was a little worried about how it would be but it turned out great! I think I might even like it better. The sugar, vinegar, and pepper really pop and the flavors are intense. I feel confident saying that you can leave out the oil if you want or need.
EVO (extra virgin olive oil) is a good fat so don’t be concerned about using it in recipes that call for it. It lowers cholesterol.
Since I found out sugar feeds cancer cells, I’ve been watching my sugar intake so I omit the sugar & salt too.
With it being summer and fresh green beans being in season, would you just blanch them for 1-2 minutes then ice bath them? I have an abundance of fresh and would rather use them while the getting is good!
Yep, that’s exactly what I’d do. :)
Beth,
How about using a can of green beans? would this work?
You can, but in my experience canned green beans have a sub-par texture and their flavor is kind of muted/salty from the canning liquid.
I just made this today using canned green beans. I usually use the canned ones & it tastes fine.
Made this two days ago & it was great!! Question: would lima beans count as a type of creamy bean?
Lima beans would be great in this. :)
Beth,
Do you cook the green beans after defrosting them?
Thanks!
Nope! They’re blanched before freezing, so they have a nice tender-crisp texture once thawed.
Frozen vegetables are considered ready-to-cook but not read-to-eat. So I’d heat them/cook them to lower risk of foodborne illness, especially if this is being served to more succeptible folks like those who are immunocompromised and young children.
For me, I think blanched and frozen beans would be very clean and preserved and not compromising.
This salad was a weekly staple last summer (2022) during my pregnancy- quick and easy, delicious, healthy and stored well. I’ll be making it a lot again this summer too!
Great recipe.
And it was happily received at the St. Vincent de Paul dinner gathering!!
I’ve made this about 10x, it is so simple and perfect as is.