Mediterranean Bean Salad Recipe
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This delicious Mediterranean bean salad is a cold bowl of Great Northern beans, grilled peppers, zucchini, and red onion folded into a shallot-basil balsamic vinaigrette. I can have this recipe ready in less than 30 minutes and I love that is smoky, tangy, and made to sit in the fridge until dinner.
This is the salad I make when the grill is already lit for something else and I want a cold side on the table that I do not have to think about. I will set it next to my three bean salad when I want two cold bowls for one cookout, put it across from a classic chef salad for a Sunday lunch, or pull it out next to my traditional Greek salad when the tomatoes at the market are not quite there yet.
Mediterranean Bean Salad
This Mediterranean bean salad is a cold vinaigrette-dressed side of great northern beans and fire grilled summer vegetables, finished with fresh basil and oregano. The bean salad itself shows up across the Italian, Greek, and Provencal sides of the Mediterranean, where cooks pair legumes with vinegar, olive oil, and whatever vegetables are at peak.
The first time I set this bowl down at home, my dad thought I was hiding pasta under the beans, and I had to tell him it was the squash and the pepper. The dressing is one I learned on a cold side station, and it is the one I still make today.
I love cooking with beans, and a cold bean salad like this one is seriously one with my favorites. I whisk the dressing first, the vegetables hit a grill for a couple minutes, the beans come straight out of the can, and everything gets folded together while the grilled vegetables are still cool from the fridge.
Give this recipe a try following my instructions below, I promise the leftovers are the easiest weekday lunch you will keep in your fridge ready to go.
Ingredients and Substitutions
These are all the ingredients I use to make this easy Mediterranean Bean Salad recipe, plus a few substitutions that work well too.
For the grilled vegetables
- Red and orange bell peppers – I use red, orange, or yellow, and I will never reach for green. Green peppers go grassy on the grill and miss the sweetness the rest of the bowl wants underneath it.
- Yellow squash and green zucchini – Sliced lengthwise into thick planks so I get long pieces off each one.
- Red onion – Peeled and sliced crosswise into thick rings. Sweet, yellow, or white onion all stand in if red is not in the basket.
- Oil, salt, and pepper – I use olive oil to coat the vegetables and of course salt and pepper too.
For the cold salad
- Great northern beans – Drained and rinsed under cold water until the foam is gone. Cannellini, boiled chickpeas, butter beans, or any mix of the three all work in the same proportion.
- Fresh basil, oregano, and parsley – Basil goes into the vinaigrette, oregano and minced parsley fold in with the beans, and a little of each gets torn over the top before serving.
- Balsamic vinaigrette – My homemade balsamic vinaigrette, the shallot-basil-Dijon version I make once a week.
- Sea salt and black pepper – I season the salad, taste it, and season it again.
How to Make Mediterranean Bean Salad
Whisk vinaigrette: First, I prep my balsamic vinaigrette from scratch and set it aside while I prepare the vegetables.
Slice the vegetables for the grill: I cut the bell peppers off the core in wide planks. I slice the zucchini and yellow squash lengthwise into 1/4 inch planks so I get 4 long pieces off each one. I cut the red onion crosswise into thick rings.
Oil and season: I lay every piece on a sheet tray lined with parchment, drizzle the olive oil over the top, and flip each piece so both sides are coated. I season the tops with sea salt and cracked black pepper, then flip and season the second side the same way.
Grill the veggies: I lay the vegetables out in a single layer on a screaming-hot grill, working in batches if the grates fill up. I cook them 2 minutes a side, just long enough to set grill marks and no longer.
Chill: I pull the vegetables off the grill onto a sheet tray and slide them into the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
Drain and rinse the beans: I open 4 cans of great northern beans, dump them into a colander, and rinse under cold water until the foam stops rising.
Dice the chilled vegetables: I pull the sheet tray out of the fridge and cut every grilled piece into a medium-to-large dice.
Fold the salad: I scrape the diced vegetables into the bowl with the beans. I scatter in the minced parsley and oregano, season with sea salt and cracked black pepper, and pour in a 1/3 cup of the vinaigrette.
Taste, adjust, and finish: I taste a spoonful with a piece of vegetable and a couple of beans. Most of the time it needs another pinch of salt, a crack of pepper, and a splash more dressing. I adjust, fold once more, and either serve right away or hold it cold. I tear fresh basil and oregano over the top right before the bowl goes to the table.
CHET TIP + NOTES
If I had to pin this whole salad on one thing, it would be the temperature of the grill before the vegetables hit it. A grill that has not pulled past 450 F is the fastest way to ruin this bowl, because the squash steams instead of grilling, the peppers go limp without color, and what I end up with is a soggy bean salad that tastes nothing like the Mediterranean. I highly recommend to push the grates past 500 F before the first plank of zucchini hits them.
- Plank-cut for the grill, not the plate: I cut lengthwise planks on the squash, wide flat planks on the peppers, and thick rings on the onion. Long flat surfaces grill in a single move and dice into sharp cubes once they are cold. Rounds and chunks roll around on the grates and leave me with raw sides.
- Mark the vegetables, do not cook them through: I give them 2 minutes a side at 450 to 550°F, and that is the whole window. I pull every piece as soon as the grill marks set.
- Chill before I cut: Hot vegetables shred under my knife, weep into the cutting board, and water down the dressing. 15 minutes in the fridge firms everything back up so my dice is square and the vinaigrette stays where I put it.
- Season once, taste twice: Cold dulls seasoning on the tongue, so I season once with the dressing, taste after the fold, then taste again after the bowl has sat 10 minutes. Almost every time, I add a second pass of salt and another splash of dressing before the bowl goes to the table.
Serving Suggestions
This is the salad I plate alongside something else off the grill, because the same fire that is cooking dinner is what gave the vegetables in the bowl their flavor. I set a platter of Greek chicken souvlaki next to it on a Saturday afternoon. On the days my wife want a lighter dish, a piece of grilled salmon and a delicious grilled romaine with this beside it makes a quick summer dinner.
When I want to feed a bigger table, I add warm homemade pita bread torn into pieces so my family can scoop the salad straight out of the bowl. The other day, I had a BBQ chicken on the grill and couldn’t resist grilling a few extra vegetables to make this salad. So good!
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: I grill the vegetables and whisk the balsamic vinaigrette up to 1 day ahead and hold them in separate containers in the fridge. I fold the salad together a few hours before serving so the beans have time to drink in the dressing without the herbs going dull.
How to Store: I cover and refrigerate the bowl for up to 5 days.
How to Reheat: I serve this salad cold or at room temperature, every time. If the bowl has been in the fridge a few hours, I set it on the counter for about 20 minutes before serving so the olive oil in the dressing loosens back up.
How to Freeze: I skip the freezer for this one.
More Salad Recipes
Video
Mediterranean Bean Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 seeded red bell pepper
- 1 seeded orange bell pepper
- 1 thickly sliced yellow squash
- 1 thickly sliced green zucchini
- ½ peeled and thickly sliced red onion
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 4 15- ounce cans drained and rinses great northern beans
- 3 tablespoons finely minced fresh parsley
- 1/3 cup balsamic vinaigrette
- Chopped fresh oregano and basil for garnish
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Make the balsamic vinaigrette and set it to the side.
- Next, slice the bell peppers into large sides, see video.
- Place the cut vegetables on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and coat in olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Add the vegetables to a hot grill (450° to 550°) and cook for 2 minutes per side or just until grill marks are formed but the vegetables still have a crunch to it.
- Chill the vegetables completely in the refrigerator, which takes about 15 minutes.
- Drain the beans and rinse under cold water in a colander and then add them to a large bowl.
- Once the vegetables are cooled, medium to large dice them and add them to the bowl with the beans.
- Add in the parsley, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinaigrette and mix until combine.
- Serve with a garnish of fresh basil and oregano.
your recipes ChefBilly so tasty thank you 😀😋