This vibrant Mexican Bean Salad is a fresh, zesty side dish that’s perfect for potlucks, barbecues, or easy meal prep. With a colorful mix of beans, corn, and bell peppers tossed in a tangy dressing, it’s as flavorful as it is versatile.
This gorgeous, Mexican-inspired mixture of beans and veggies is a fun twist on my classic Three Bean Salad recipe.
It’s made with three varieties of canned beans, sweet corn, colorful bell peppers, and jalapeño for just a touch of heat. The vinegar-based dressing adds a slightly sweet, citrusy tang with a hint of warm cumin to tie it all together.
You can call it a salad, call it a dip, or call it a condiment — or just grab a fork and dig in!
Ingredient Notes
- Canned beans: The recipe calls for black beans, white beans, and chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans). Feel free to switch it up and add your favorites – kidney, pinto, or cannellini beans would all work well.
- Vegetables: Diced bell peppers (I use both red and green for color), red onion, frozen yellow corn, and a jalapeño.
- For the dressing: Olive oil is combined with apple cider vinegar, the juice of a lime, minced garlic, a little granulated sugar, cumin, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
- Herbs: Cilantro really drives home the Mexican flavor profile and pairs perfectly with the dressing, but you can opt for fresh Italian parsley for an herby boost if you’ve got cilantro objectors on your hands.
How to Make Mexican Bean Salad
- For the dressing, shake or whisk together all of the ingredients in a small mason jar or bowl. Add all the salad ingredients, except the cilantro to a large bowl.
- Add the dressing and toss the salad.
- Finish by adding a little fresh cilantro or parsley and toss again until everyting is well combined.
Serving Suggestions
Mexican Bean Salad is exceptionally versatile! Here are some of my favorite ways to serve it.
- As a side dish with grilled chicken, steak, or seafood for an easy, wholesome dinner.
- As an appetizer, served with tortilla chips for scooping.
- Tossed into a green salad and drizzled with Ranch dressing for extra texture and flavor.
- Stuffed into wraps with grilled chicken or shrimp. Add chopped tomato and avocado for a quick and easy lunch or dinner.
Storage Tips
Chill Before Serving: This salad tastes best after marinating in the tangy, slightly sweet dressing for a couple of hours.
Refrigerate Leftovers: Transfer any leftovers to an airtight container and refrigerate for 4 to 5 days. The beans and veggies hold up well, though the cilantro may begin to wilt slightly toward the end of that time. Give it a quick toss before serving to redistribute the dressing.
Make Ahead: This is a great make-ahead recipe — the flavors only get better as it sits! Prepare it a day in advance and chill until you’re ready to serve.
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This post was originally published on May 2, 2019. It has been udpated with new text and images.
Mexican Three Bean Salad
Ingredients
- 15 ounce can white beans, rinsed and drained
- 15 ounce can chickpeas, (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
- 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup frozen yellow corn, thawed and drained
- 1 cup diced red onion
- 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
- ⅓ cup chopped cilantro or fresh Italian parsley
For the Dressing
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 lime, juiced
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, for a sweeter dressing use 3 tablespoons
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon salt, plus additional to taste
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the beans, corn, onion, bell peppers, and jalapeño.
- Add all of the dressing ingredients to a small mason jar or bowl and either shake or whisk until combined. Add as much of the dressing as desired to the salad (it should be well saturated) and toss to coat the ingredients well. Sprinkle with the cilantro or parsley and toss again.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. It will keep well for 4 to 5 days if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
More Canned Bean Recipes
Flexable lovely salad!!!!
Thank you
You’re welcome. So glad you enjoyed it!
We’ve made this 3x and it gets better every time!!
The only difference we made was using red kidney beans instead of white beans. The first time we added an avocado as well but it was eaten all in one day. The second time we didn’t because there weren’t as many people, so we ate it for 3 days straight. Unless you plan on consuming it all in the same day (it makes a lot) I would avoid adding the avocado. Its a great go to recipe for any event, gathering or dinner.
How long can this be stored and have you tried freezing it? We are empty nesters and with 3 cans of beans this sounds like a large amount of food for two …
I have tried freezing it. The vinegary dressing should keep it fresh for well over a week if stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
We made it on a Saturday evening for 3 people when we were out of town staying at a family members house.
It lasted 3 days (9 meals total as a side dish) and there was still some left over when we had to leave on Tuesday. But it was so good that she asked us to leave the rest there 🙂
P.S She has a special diet and is a picky eater too.
Added dried parsley*
This was unexpectedly delicious! I didn’t have black beans, cilantro or peppers though. I subbed the peppers with cucumber, used the other two beans and added cucumber. Followed the dressing per recipe and it was absolutely delicious!
I think cucumber is a fabulous addition! So glad it worked out for you, Kassie. 🙂