Easy 5 Bean Salad

A bowl of mixed bean salad with kidney beans, black beans, corn, green bell peppers, and onions being served with wooden utensils.

4.58 from 7 votes

🫘🙌🏻🥗 The BEST bean salad with 5 types of beans, artichoke hearts, red onions, veggies, and takes just 10 MINUTES to prepare! Everything is tossed in a tangy, savory yet slightly sweet vinaigrette that ties everything together perfectly. Serve this as a protein-packed side dish for dinner, at picnics and potlucks, or as a stand-alone healthy lunch option. The recipe is EXTREMELY flexible, too!

For the beans: I select no-salt added or low-salt varieties when possible. Rinsing not only removes the canning residue but some of the salt, too. Can sizes are approximate and if you find cans that range from 14 to 16 ounces, it's perfectly fine.

Prep Time10

Cook Time0

For Chiling1

Total Time1 10

Course: Sides, Salads & Vegetables

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bean salad

Servings:

Calories: 321cal

Ingredients

Salad

14.5 ounce can kidney beans drained and rinsed (light red or dark red)
14.5 ounce can black beans drained and rinsed
14.5 ounce can garbanzo beans drained and rinsed
14.5 ounce white beans such as great northern beans or cannellini beans
14.5 ounce can green beans drained and rinsed
14.5 ounce can artichoke hearts drained, rinsed, and roughly chopped (See Notes for other options)
1 medium green bell pepper seeded and diced small (or your favorite color bell pepper)
½ small red onion thinly sliced
1 stalk celery diced small

Vinaigrette

2 cloves garlic finely minced
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons granulated sugar or to taste
1 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt or to taste
½ to 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to taste

Instructions

To a large bowl, add all the drained and rinsed beans, and then all the remaining ingredients.
Toss very well to combine and taste the bean salad and make sure it's properly seasoned. Seasoning Tips - If the salad tastes at all flat, boring, or like it's missing something, it probably needs more salt. You're flavoring about 5 pounds!! worth of plain ingredients and it all needs salt to bring out the best flavor. I easily add 2-3 teaspoons salt total, but it is personal preference and depends on how salty the beans were you purchased. Consider adding additional pepper, too. However, salt tends to be more crucial than pepper. For a touch of heat, a sprinkle of dried red chili flakes is great or a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper. The sugar is necessary to balance the acidity of the vinegar so I do not recommend skipping it. If you are very concerned, start with 1 tablespoon at first, and then go from there. You can sub with honey or agave syrup, (or maple syrup but that adds its own flavor) rather than sugar if desired although I prefer just plain white sugar.
Cover the bowl tightly and chill for at least 1 hour prior to serving. Give a good toss before serving.
Storage - Salad will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days and I find actually tastes best on the second day after the flavors have marries. While I haven't personally froze leftovers, I think it would be fine frozen for up to 2-3 months.
Make Ahead - You can make this salad up to 24-36 hours in advance. Cover it tightly, pop it in your fridge, and let the flavors marry and meld. Since I think it tastes better on the second day, if you’re making this for an event like a party, a summer holiday, game day party, or holiday entertaining, and want to get a jump on things, this is an easy choice to knock out ahead of time.

Notes

Artichokes - Any type is fine. The cheapest/healthiest is either using a can of them OR buying a bag of frozen artichoke hearts from Trader Joe’s (if you have one in your area), thawing, and dicing. If you want to use artichoke hearts packed in oil from a jar, that’s fine. Just make sure to drain them and then give them a rough chop. I am not a fan of artichokes packed in oil because they are just TOO greasy for me, but it's up to you.

Want to add other ingredients/veggies/herbs/cheese or make substitutions? - Read the FAQs, it's likely just fine, this is a very flexible recipe so you can mix and match as desired.

Nutrition