Black bean salad is an easy recipe that combines simple vegetables with a refreshing and zesty cilantro lime dressing to tie all flavors together.
Expect an irresistible combination of textures. Crispy bell pepper, creamy sweet potatoes, velvety avocado, tender black beans, corn, and a juicy dressing.
Black bean salad with corn is inspired by southwestern cooking. It is a playful combination of sweet, tangy, zesty, citrusy, fresh, and herby flavors.
You can serve it as a side or main dish with added quinoa or romaine lettuce. It is excellent for summer cookouts, picnics, barbecues, potlucks, and meal prep.
Table of Contents
Dietary Note: this recipe is suitable for a vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free diet.
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Ingredients and substitutions for black bean salad
For the salad, you’ll need:
Black beans: you can use canned black beans or dried black beans cooked in water. Here’s our guide on how to cook black beans, should you need it.
Substitute chickpeas or garbanzo beans, pinto beans, black-eyed beans, or red kidney beans.
Sweet potatoes: peeled and diced into 1-inch or 2.5-cm cubes.
Substitute halved cherry tomatoes or diced vine tomatoes.
Green bell peppers: diced. You can substitute red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, but they’ll have a slightly sweeter flavor.
Canned corn kernels: drained. You can substitute defrosted frozen corn or fresh corn cooked at home by boiling it in water and cutting it off from the cob.
Red onion: finely chopped. If you want a milder flavor, substitute spring onions or shallots for red onion.
Avocado: diced.
Pickled jalapeños. Substitute fresh jalapeños, thinly sliced and soaked in 1 part water, 1 part vinegar, and a pinch of salt for 30 minutes.
For the dressing, you’ll need:
Fresh cilantro (fresh coriander outside the USA).
Substitute fresh parsley, basil, or mint. Alternatively, if you don’t like cilantro, you can make another dressing, such as an Italian vinaigrette or tahini sauce.
Extra virgin olive oil. Substitute olive oil or avocado oil.
Fresh lime juice. Substitute fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.
Maple syrup. Substitute honey, agave syrup, date syrup, or brown sugar.
Fresh garlic: chopped. Substitute garlic powder.
Fresh ginger: peeled and grated. Substitute ground ginger.
Sea salt or kosher salt.
How to make black bean salad + Nico’s tips
US cups + grams measurements are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.
1. Cook the beans if using dried ones
Rinse, then boil the dry black beans in a large pot with plenty of lightly salted water for about 1 to 1.5 hours or until tender.
If you use canned black beans, drain and rinse them.
Tip: Dry black beans don’t require soaking as they are smaller and have thinner skin than most other legumes.
Also, for salads, we recommend cooking the beans in salted water; they’ll taste much better and keep their shape.
Finally, to make the beans even tastier, cook them in vegetable broth or add aromatics such as bay leaves, onions, cumin, rosemary, carrots, and sage.
There’s no better method than tasting the beans to check for doneness.
Then, when you are happy with them, drain them and let them cool down at room temperature.
2. Roast the sweet potatoes
You can cook the sweet potatoes in the oven or the air fryer.
Preheat the oven or air fryer to 400°F or 200°C.
Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into 1-inch cubes or 2.5 cm. Toss them in olive oil, salt, and black pepper.
OVEN ROASTING: Transfer cubed sweet potatoes onto a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until fork tender and slightly browned.
AIR FRYING: Transfer the cubed sweet potatoes into the air fryer basket.
The cubes can overlap. Air fry for 15 to 18 minutes, shaking the air fryer basket every 4 minutes to ensure even cooking.
3. Make the dressing
To a food processor or blender, add fresh cilantro, lime juice, maple syrup, chopped garlic, peeled and grated ginger, salt, and olive oil.
Blend for a couple of minutes, then taste and adjust for salt.
Tip: it’s best to use a mini food processor, small blender, or immersion blender.
You can also make the dressing without a blender by chopping everything by hand and whisking in a bowl.
4. Mix the black bean salad
To a large mixing bowl, add the black beans, finely chopped onion, pickled jalapeños, roasted sweet potatoes, corn kernels, diced green bell pepper, and diced avocado.
Tip: only add the avocado if you are serving the salad within 2 hours of making it, as it will oxidize and brown. If you are meal-prepping, then add the avocado shortly before serving.
Toss the salad with the dressing.
Taste and adjust for salt, and let the flavors meld for 15 – 30 minutes before serving.
Serving suggestions
We eat this black bean salad as a main meal, usually for lunch, sometimes for breakfast or dinner.
It’s excellent to stuff a tortilla wrap next to tortilla chips or to make an easy grain bowl with added lettuce and quinoa.
Also, you can add even more goodness by topping it with:
Storage and making ahead
Make ahead: Black bean salad with corn is an excellent recipe for meal prep. It keeps well for several days, and its flavors meld and intensify with time.
However, when making ahead, keep the avocado out until you are ready to serve it, and add some extra dressing the next day, as the salad can dry out in the fridge.
Refrigerator: Store the salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Remove from the refrigerator 15 minutes before serving.
Freezer: we do not recommend freezing this recipe.
Black bean salad variations
High-protein black bean salad
You have several options to increase the protein content of the salad based on your dietary requirements:
- Vegan diet: Double the amount of black beans or add one can of chickpeas. For even more protein, add tofu. You can use air-fried tofu, grilled tofu, pan-fried tofu, or baked tofu.
- Vegetarian diet: All of the above. In addition, you can mix in 1 hard-boiled egg per serving or serve it next to a dollop or two of cottage cheese or yogurt tahini sauce.
- Omnivore and flexitarian diet: All of the above. In addition, you can mix in grilled or pan-fried chicken.
Black bean and quinoa salad
Add boiled quinoa to make this black bean salad even more nutritious. It’ll keep you healthy and satiated for the whole day.
It’s the perfect meal prep recipe for lunch, dinner, and post-workout meals, as the ingredients in the salad are packed with nutrition, wholesome plant protein, healthy carbs, vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber.
You’ll need 1/2 cup of dry quinoa boiled in 1 cup of water and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
Cook the quinoa as per package instructions, let it cool down for 15 minutes, then add it to the black bean salad.
Substitute brown rice, farro, buckwheat, amaranth, or millet for quinoa.
Black bean mango salad
Black bean salad with mango and quinoa is sweet, juicy, creamy, and refreshing.
It’s an original spin on classic black bean salad, and it’s perfect for hot summer days as a light lunch or as a side for barbecues and potlucks.
Here’s our black bean mango salad recipe.
Questions
Yes, our black bean salad is gluten-free and vegan.
According to Karen Page’s “The vegetarian flavor bible” and our testing, black beans pair perfectly with bell peppers, jalapeños, chipotles, chipotle sauce, cilantro, avocado, corn, cumin, garlic, lime, red onion, oregano, quinoa, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, and olive oil.
Black beans are a great ingredient in salads thanks to their firm texture, earthy notes, creamy texture, and pleasant taste.
They pair well with various ingredients that make great-tasting and nutritious salads, like our black bean and sweet potato salad or mango quinoa salad.
Make a mango salad with black beans. Juicy, sweet mangoes are delicious with nutty black beans. Add avocado, quinoa, red onion, and a simple tangy dressing.
Canned black beans are ready to eat and don’t require cooking. Drain and rinse them from their liquid, and you are ready.
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Black Bean Salad
Ingredients
FOR THE SALAD
- 1 can (15 ounces) black beans or 1½ cups / 230 grams cooked black beans, or ½ cup / 100 grams dried black beans
- 1½ pounds sweet potatoes peeled and chopped into 1-Inch or 2½ cm cubes
- 1 cup green bell pepper diced
- ½ cup canned corn kernels
- ½ cup red onion chopped
- ¼ cup pickled jalapeños add more or less to taste
- 1 avocado diced
FOR THE CILANTRO LIME DRESSING
- 1 cup cilantro use parsley if you don't like cilantro
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
Instructions
PREPARE THE BLACK BEANS
- Canned black beans: drain and rinse 1 can (15 ounces) black beans.Dried black beans: boil ½ cup dried beans in a pot with lightly salted water for 1 to 1½ hours or until tender.
ROAST THE SWEET POTATOES
- Preheat oven or air fryer to 400°F or 200°C.Peel and chop 1½ pounds sweet potatoes into 1-Inch cubes or 2½ cm. Toss them in 1 tablespoon olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and 2 twists black pepper.Oven: arrange on a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, or until fork tender and slightly browned.
- Air fryer: transfer into air fryer basket. The cubes can overlap.Air fry at 400°F or 200°C for 15 to 18 minutes, shaking the air fryer basket every 4 minutes to allow for even cooking.
MAKE THE DRESSING
- Blend 1 cup cilantro, ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, ¼ cup lime juice, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 1 clove garlic, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, and 1 teaspoon salt.To make it without a blender, finely chop ingredients and whisk them in a bowl.
TOSS THE SALAD
- To a large mixing bowl, add the black beans, 1 cup green bell pepper (diced), ½ cup canned corn kernels, ½ cup red onion (chopped), ¼ cup pickled jalapeños, and 1 avocado (diced).Tip: only add the avocado if you are serving the salad within 2 hours of making it. If you are meal-prepping, then add the avocado shortly before serving.
- Toss with the dressing then taste and adjust for salt before serving.
- Optionally, you can mix in about 1 cup of boiled quinoa.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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I have EVERYTHING to make this. What a wonderful collection of ingredients—can’t wait for dinner tomorrow! This is going to be fabulous!
After seeing the video and how simple it was, I decided to make it. Fabulous!! Delicious!! I will make it again!
Delicious! One of my favorites now 🙂