Bean Salad with Lemon Dressing & Fresh Herbs

I’ve been thinking a lot about beans lately, and I’ve come to the conclusion that they have an unfair reputation for being dull and dry. But I truly believe that it all depends on how you cook, prepare, and serve them.

Beans are incredibly versatile and can be used in so many different ways. Who would have thought that the main ingredient in the best chocolate cake ever is black beans? Or that you can make a creamy bechamel out of white beans?

Foods in general just need to be taken proper care of in order for them to blossom and show their full potential.

To celebrate the beautiful beans, I made a salad out of various beans and dressed them in a simple lemon dressing, some onion, and creamy avocado. It’s beans at their best. You won’t mistake them for anything else, and they taste great without any tricks…just as they are.

I’ve been on a bit of a bean kick lately. I almost always buy 1 kg of dried beans and cook them all at once in a big pot. Then, you can freeze them in portions and add them to various dishes without needing to go through the trouble of soaking and boiling every time you want beans (not from a can!!)

So, as you can imagine, I have a lot of beans on hand right now, both black and black-eyed, which has been a great excuse for making chocolate cake, bean salads in all kinds of variations, creamy bean hummus, and sweet snack bites.

It’s been a blast! Last night, when I had the girls over, I made a cool bean salad for them as well. It was with apples, goats cheese, parsley, avocado, and roasted hazelnuts, which we concluded were pretty cool flavor components as well :)

A new favorite bean of mine is the edamame bean, which we’ve gotten to know through various visits to sushi restaurants. Here it is often served as a side dish with freshly squeezed lemon and salt. It’s a lovely bean that originates from Japan and is now slowly becoming more popular worldwide.

It’s an immature green soybean that is picked and prepared, and it has many of the same health benefits as regular soybeans. You normally prepare them by boiling or steaming them and then removing the beans from the pod. You can also buy frozen beans that have already gone through this process, which makes it very easy to use…and they are cheap as well.

Edamame beans are rich in protein (12 g per 100g) and fibers (6 g per 100g), and they are high in vitamin K, folate, and magnesium. They have a sweet taste and a creamy texture, which makes them a perfect match to the more nutty and dry black and black-eyed beans. So please give them a shot, and preferably do it in this salad :)

So, let’s give beans the credit they deserve and start experimenting with them in new and delicious ways.

Trust me, you won’t be disappointed!

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5 from 1 vote

Bean Salad w. Lemon Dressing & Fresh Herbs

Course Main Course, Salad
Servings 4
Calories 341kcal

Ingredients

  • 150 g black beans cooked
  • 240 g black eyed beans cooked
  • 180 g edamame beans cooked
  • 1 big avocado
  • 1 red onion finely chopped
  • 4 eggs

Lemon dressing

  • 3 tbsp olive oil high quality
  • 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
  • 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

  • Make sure that you have soaked the beans for at least 10 hours and  afterwards cooked the beans tender at least an hour in advance, so that they have had time to cool.
  • Dice the avocado, cut the onion and mix everything together.
  • Make the lemon dressing by mixing lemon juice and olive oil thoroughly until it emulsifies. Add salt and herbs, season to taste.
  • Mix the dressing into the beans salad.
  • Heat a skillet with oil and fry the eggs.
  • Serve a portion of bean salad topped with a fried egg with a runny yolk, yum!!

Nutrition

Calories: 341kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Cholesterol: 164mg | Sodium: 357mg | Potassium: 604mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 249IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 93mg | Iron: 4mg