Greek White Bean Salad
Mediterranean white bean salad is the perfect light meal or healthy side dish. Made with just a few easy to find ingredients, this flavorful salad is so easy to make and only uses one bowl! Naturally gluten free, vegan, dairy free and great for parties or cookouts!
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Why you will love this recipe
- Greek white bean salad is incredibly simple to make and packed with flavor! You are going to find yourself making this salad over and over again!
- Great for meal prep! Because this salad has no lettuce or cucumbers, it’s great to make ahead! The flavors get better the next day! Make a double batch and enjoy it all week long!
- Perfect for cookouts, parties and to bring to potluck dinners! This is very crowd pleasing and won’t go bad out in the sun – great for vegans, gluten free, and dairy free diets!
Ingredients
- Red wine vinegar & lemon juice – I love this combination of red wine vinegar and lemon juice in Greek salad dressing. The lemon juice is slightly sweet and helps to compliment the tang from the red wine vinegar.
- Red onion – raw red onion can be very potent and quickly take over in salads. That is why you soak the onion in the red wine vinegar and lemon juice first to help take that bite from the onions and allow their flavor to come through without overpowering the dish!
- Olive oil – this helps to make the dressing and balance out the vinegar and lemon juice.
- Spices: Salt, garlic powder, dried oregano – this helps to round out the flavors and gives a Greek twist to the dressing.
- White beans – white beans are tender and easy to digest. You can use whatever white beans you have on hand, cannellini beans, navy beans, chickpeas or even giant lima beans.
- Tomatoes – I like to use cherry or grape tomatoes but use whatever tomatoes you have on hand. You can also omit the tomatoes and use any of the veggies listed below in place of them.
- Flat leaf parsley – the parsley helps to add freshness to the salad and provides so much flavor. See the substitutions below if you don’t have flat leaf parsley on hand.
How to make Greek white bean salad
Start by chopping the red onion. Add the red onion to the bottom of the bowl. Add the red wine vinegar and lemon juice to the onion and stir well. Let sit 3-5 minutes to help take the bite out of the onion.
While the onions are soaking, chop the tomatoes and the flat leaf parsley. Rinse and drain the white beans.
Add everything to the bowl (olive oil, spices, tomatoes, parsley and white beans) and stir well.
Allow to sit in the fridge 30 minutes – 1 hour for the best flavor.
Top tips
- To ensure the red onions don’t take over the flavor, I like to soak them in the vinegar/lemon juice ahead of time. This helps to take the punch from the onions without taking away their flavor. If you don’t love the kick from red onion, you can use green onion instead with no need to soak them ahead of time.
- Great for meal prep! Easily double the recipe for big gatherings or meal prep without much extra work!
- This salad is best if it’s allowed to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes – 1 hour before serving. Great the next day too!
To make this salad more filling
- Protein: Add balsamic tofu, hemp hearts, chicken, salmon, shrimp, canned tuna or canned salmon
- Veggies: cucumbers, bell peppers (red, yellow or orange), quick steamed green beans, cauliflower rice, artichoke hearts, heart of palm, zucchini noodles.
- Fats: olives, nuts, cheese (feta would be great if not vegan), avocado.
To add more flavor to this salad
- Herbs: You can add fresh mint, dill, oregano or basil for more flavor. You would only need 1-2 tbsp fresh of any of these options.
- Heat: You can make this salad spicy by adding pepperoncini peppers, crushed red pepper, or cayenne pepper.
Common questions
What white beans can you use in this salad
There are a number of white bean options that would all work great. Here are some great options:
- Cannellini beans
- Great Northern White Beans
- Navy beans
- Chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- Baby or large lima beans
What to serve with Mediterranean white bean salad
- Baba Ganoush (and veggies for dipping)
- Cauliflower Tabbouleh (for a Mediterranean inspired meal)
- Greek Chicken Thighs
- Greek Salmon
- Lentil Flatbreads
- Greek Veggies
Storing leftovers
Store leftovers of this Greek white bean salad in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
I would not recommend freezing this salad as the tomatoes and the beans would get mushy when defrosting.
Substitutions
- Red wine vinegar: You could also use champagne vinegar, white balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar in place of red wine vinegar. If needed, you can use all lemon juice as well.
- Lemon juice: You could also use white wine vinegar or lime juice in place of lemon juice. If needed, you can use all red wine vinegar as well.
- Red onion: If you soak the onion first, you won’t get an overpowering flavor from the onions. If you cannot tolerate red onion or don’t like it, you can use green onions (the green tops only), shallots or omit the onions and use one of the veggies listed above.
- Extra virgin olive oil: you can use avocado oil in place of olive oil if needed.
- Garlic powder: I like to use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic as fresh garlic can quickly overpower a dish. If you love fresh garlic, use 1-2 cloves finely chopped. If you cannot tolerate garlic, use garlic olive oil in place of the olive oil above.
- Dried oregano: This helps to create that “Greek” salad dressing. You could also use fresh but fresh oregano can quickly overpower a dish. You only need 1-2 tbsp. finely chopped. You could also use Italian seasoning in place of dried oregano if needed.
- Salt: salt helps all the different flavors to pop and brings all the flavors together. I don’t recommend omitting the salt but if you need a low sodium salad, replace the salt with whatever your favorite “no added salt” seasoning is.
- Tomatoes: The tomatoes are optional, check out the list of veggies above to get substitutes.
- Flat leaf parsley: I do not recommend curly parsley as a substitute for flat leaf parsley. I would use one of the herbs listed above instead (mint, dill, basil).
- White beans: Use whatever white beans you have on hand (cannellini, great northern white beans, navy beans, chickpeas, lima beans). You can also make this with cooked lentils or even with roasted cauliflower to make it Whole30 and low carb friendly.
If you love this recipe, you should try
- Greek Salad with Kalamata Olive Dressing
- Chopped Greek Salad
- Tuscan White Bean Skillet
- Mediterranean Cauliflower Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing
- Mexican White Bean Soup
- Hummus Pasta Salad
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Greek White Bean Salad
$4.94 Recipe/$1.24 ServingMediterranean white bean salad is the perfect light dinner or lunch! Easy to make, only 1 bowl and 5 minutes to make this healthy flavorful salad that is vegan, gluten free and dairy free!
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Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1/2 medium red onion, chopped - $0.17
- 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar - $0.38
- 1/2 large lemon, juiced - $0.21
- 1 tbsp. olive oil - $0.22
- 1/2 tsp sea salt - $0.03
- 1 tsp garlic powder - $0.10
- 1 tsp dried oregano - $0.10
- 1 cup chopped tomatoes - $1.00
- 1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley (about 1/2 bunch) - $0.75
- 2 cans white beans (cannellini, great northern white beans) - $1.98
Instructions
- Start by chopping the red onion into small pieces.
- Add the onion to the mixing bowl. Add the red wine vinegar and lemon juice to the onion and let sit 3-5 minutes.
- While onions are soaking, cut the tomatoes, chop the parsley and rinse and drain the beans.
- Add all the ingredients (olive oil, salt, garlic powder, oregano, tomatoes, parsley and white beans) to the bowl and stir well.
- If time allows, let salad sit in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour to allow flavors to incorporate.
Notes
To make this salad more filling
- Protein: Add balsamic tofu, hemp hearts, chicken, salmon, shrimp, canned tuna or canned salmon
- Veggies: cucumbers, bell peppers (red, yellow or orange), quick steamed green beans, cauliflower rice, artichoke hearts, heart of palm, zucchini noodles.
- Fats: olives, nuts, cheese (feta would be great if not vegan), avocado.
- Herbs: You can add fresh mint, dill, oregano or basil for more flavor. You would only need 1-2 tbsp fresh of any of these options.
- Heat: You can make this salad spicy by adding pepperoncini peppers, crushed red pepper, or cayenne pepper.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition Facts
Amount per Serving
Calories
310
Fat
5
g
Carbohydrates
53
g
Fiber
12
g
Sugar
3
g
Protein
17
g
Where does nutrition info come from? Nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy, sourced from the USDA Food Database.
DID YOU LOVE THIS RECIPE?Let others know by rating and leaving a comment below!
This was amazing! I used great northern beans instead, i don’t use white kidney beans. recipe was. wonderful I ate it throughout the day on toast, with crackers & extra nooch
So glad you enjoyed this! I love that you were able to enjoy it so many different ways throughout the day!
Thanks for sharing greek white bean salad recipe. I like this recipe very much.