15 Minute Herby Bean Salad with Balsamic Dressing
Filling, flavourful and SO easy to make, this chickpea and kidney bean salad is my tangy, herby take on a classic bean salad with a balsamic vinaigrette - perfect as a light meal or picnic side!
Ingredients
- 1 bunch parsley finely chopped, about 1 - 1 ½ cups
- 1 bunch dill finely chopped, about ½ - 1 cup
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved or quartered if large
- 14 ounce can chickpeas rinsed and WELL drained
- 14 ounce can kidney beans rinsed and WELL drained
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds raw or roasted
- ¼ cup finely chopped red onion about 1/4 medium onion
- ¼ cup dates sliced, I like the firmer deglet noor variety here
- 2 tablespoons capers patted dry
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil only if you're frying the capers
- 1 batch Creamy Balsamic Dressing
Instructions
- First things first: make sure your beans are well drained! You don't want a watered down salad.
- In a large salad bowl, combine the kidney beans, chickpeas and red onion with HALF of the balsamic dressing. Let this sit as you prepare the rest of the veggies!
- If you're frying the capers, here's how you do it: warm the oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add one caper to the oil. Once it starts sizzling, the oil is hot enough to add the rest of the capers.
- Let the capers sizzle and pop until they look crispy, about 3-5 minutes. Some of the capers will look like the petals are blooming. Remove to a paper towel to drain excess oil.
- Add the tomatoes, parsley, dill, sunflower seeds, and dates to the salad bowl and toss again. Sprinkle the capers over top and serve with remaining dressing on the side.
- Make ahead tip: this salad keeps SUPER well, even with the herbs, for a few days. And letting it sit for 15-30 minutes helps the beans suck up all that delicious flavour. Of course, if you are making this a day or two in advance and want the herbs to be super fresh, you can absolutely keep the herbs in a separate sealed container and add them right before serving.
Notes
I find that this salad makes 4 filling yet modest meal sized servings. As a side dish, if this is your only side, I'd say it makes 6 servings. If it's part of a full spread, I would say it makes 8 servings.