Three Bean Salad: A Simple & Healthy Recipe

Three Bean Salad. Green beans, yellow beans, and kidney beans combined with sweet peppers and Italian dressing. Served cold as a salad topping or for appetizer. A simple and healthy vegetarian recipe.

I grew a lot of green beans this year in the garden, so I have been looking for ways to incorporate them into recipes. I really enjoy three bean salad and use it as a topping in side salads almost every week. I decided to make it myself and as fortune would have it, I grew yellow beans for the first time this year to go along with my flat Italian green beans.

This three bean salad recipe was very easy to make and only has 5 ingredients, unless you decide to make your own dressing, then that adds a half dozen more.

What Type of Beans to Use?

You will notice from the pictures of the finished three bean salad that there are two types of beans you might not be able to find in the grocery store, flat green beans and yellow bush beans. You might find yellow beans at the farmers market but the flat beans will be hard to find.

Both of those beans I grow in my garden. The flat Italian green beans as from Burpee seeds and the variety is called Early Bush Italian . The yellow beans are also from Burpee seeds and the variety is called Gold Mine.

Both of these beans are bush type plants, meaning the bean plant will grow to about 18 inches high then bush out with beans. There are also pole, or runner, type beans which grow like a vine and would need an arbor or trellis for support.

I love to grow the flat Italian green beans. It has such a wonderful sweet flavor and provides a unique shape and texture for many of my favorite recipes.

How to Make Three Bean Salad

Cooking the Beans for the the Three Bean Salad:

• Begin by trimming the ends off of the green and yellow beans. Next, cut or break the beans into 1 inch pieces and place in a large pot.
• Cover the beans with water, bring to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Next, drain the water from the beans and place the beans in a large mixing bowl.
• Finally, set the beans aside to cool for about 1 hour.

Brining the Three Bean Salad Together:

• After the beans have cooled, add in the kidney beans, diced sweet peppers, and the Italian dressing.
• Mix well to incorporate all ingredients and place in the refrigerator to cool for 2 hours. For best results, let the three bean salad cool in the refrigerator overnight.
• The below picture is what the dish will look like when it is ready to cool in the refrigerator.

How to Serve Three Bean Salad

• Use the three bean salad as a topping in a house salad or serve as a cold antipasto with crusty Italian bread.
• Alternatively, eat this three bean salad by itself for a healthy snack or small meal.

Invent Your Recipe:

In this three bean salad recipe, I am using store bought Italian dressing to season this salad. As an alternative you can make your own dressing. I recommend using 1/3 cup red wine vinegar, 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and 1/4 tsp onion powder. Mix everything well in a bowl and use in place of the Italian dressing in this recipe.

Like I mentioned above already, I am using flat green beans for this recipe. I grew the flat beans myself In the garden. If you can not find them, or do not grow them, use a standard green bean for this recipe.

If yellow beans are hard to find for this three bean salad, you can use any other type of bean as a substitute. I would recommend garbanzo, cannellini, or snow peas (which I guess is not a bean, but will work well).

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