Chilled Corn and Green Bean Salad
Humble brag alert: here at Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we’re kinda famous when it comes to our Green Bean Recipes. Okay that wasn’t so humble, but trust us, this Green Bean Salad is one for the books! It’s a simple chilled salad made with cooked and cooled green beans and sweet corn with a salad dressing made of cider vinegar, shallot and fresh chopped basil.
I’m not fibbing when I say I am a veggie fanatic. Call me strange, but I get much more excited about this vibrant corn and green beans salad with shallot vinaigrette dressing than a scoop of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Bold statement, I know, but this green bean and corn salad is that good! This green bean salad is just perfect in every way!
Table of contents
More chilled green beans recipes for summertime include our new Italian Potato Salad with green beans, Green Bean Tomato Salad and green beans with basil vinaigrette.
Key Ingredients For This Green Bean Salad Recipe
- Green Beans: This salad is all about the green beans, so if you do not have them fresh from your garden, pick them up at the farmers’ market or farm stand. At the grocery store, make sure to pick through the pile of fresh green beans and only choose those that are bright green in color and have no brown spots or any signs of rot
- Corn Kernels: You can add any chopped seasonal veggies to a green bean salad, but today we chose sweet corn because it was available at the market today. You can sub in frozen corn but you do not need to cook it with the green beans, simply thaw it and add to the salad with the dressing.
- Optional Additions: Instead of (or in addition to) the corn a cup of diced fresh tomatoes, cherry tomatoes or diced bell peppers are also great options in a green bean salad.
Green Bean Salad Dressing Ingredients
- 1 small shallot, minced
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon chopped basil
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
See more tips about how to cook green beans and see my round-up of Healthy Green Beans Recipes too for even more info and ideas.
How To Make This Chilled Green Bean Salad
Step 1: Make The Salad Dressing
Combine the chopped fresh shallot, olive oil, cider vinegar and salt in a small ball jar. Cover and shake well and set aside at room temp until ready to serve. To make in advance refrigerate up to 4 days and bring the dressing to room temperature before serving.
Step 2: Cook green beans
Bring several inches of water to a boil in a large saucepan fitted with a steamer basket. Add green beans. Top with the corn (if using frozen corn do not add it to the steamer.) Cover and steam them until the green beans are bright green and crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Carefully remove the steamer from the saucepan and spread the green beans and corn out on a large platter to cool.
Step 3: Add Salad Dressing
Shake the dressing to blend and drizzle it over the cooled green beans and corn. Top with basil and fresh ground black pepper. Serve room temperature or chill until cold.
FAQs and Chef Katie’s Expert Tips
If you don’t have a steamer basket you can place a small colander in the saucepan with water instead and continue as instructed.
Make Ahead Instructions, Storage and Leftovers
The dressing can be made up to four days in advance. Keep refrigerated. Bring to room temperature and shake well before dressing the salad. The green beans can be cooked up to 1 day ahead. For best results do not dress more than 1 hour in advance or the vibrant green color of the beans will fade.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2 days. The color of the green beans will not be as vibrant after a few hours but the flavor will be delicious.
Serving Suggestions for Green Bean Salad
This green bean salad is a great make-ahead dish to bring to a summer cookout or barbecue party.
This salad is also great for any old weeknight dinner. In that case, you could serve this Simple Maple Chipotle Grilled Chicken alongside. I also love making this Red White and Bleu Potato Salad with this corn salad.
Variations To Try
- Use a blend of green beans and yellow wax beans for the base of this salad
- Add smoky cooked bacon, crumbled crispy baked prosciutto chips or fried chunks of pancetta to the top of the salad.
- We love goat cheese on a green bean salad too or add crumbled feta cheese on top.
- Give this recipe more Mediterranean flair with chopped black olives or capers and shaved Parmesan cheese. Cherry tomatoes would be good with this combo.
- Use our Mustard Dressing instead of the cider vinaigrette or this Red Wine Vinaigrette.
Additional Green Bean Recipes to Try
- This make-ahead recipe for Orange Ginger Green Beans is a great one for the holidays.
- This roasted green beans recipe with almonds and thyme is like a cross between Green Bean Almondine and roasted green beans.
- Classic flavors come together in these Green Beans with Walnuts and Balsamic.
- I’m always amazed how many people have made this recipe for Green Bean Casserole a tradition in their family.
At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie
Print
Corn and Green Beans Salad Recipe
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 cups 1x
Description
A Green Beans Salad recipe with fresh sweet corn and shallot cider vinegar dressing is endlessly adaptable and the perfect make-ahead side salad for summer.
Ingredients
- 1 small shallot, minced
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound green beans, stem ends trimmed
- 1 cup corn kernels
- 1 tablespoon chopped basil
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine shallot, oil, vinegar and salt in a jar and set aside.
- Bring several inches of water to a boil in a large saucepan fitted with a steamer basket. Add green beans. Top with the corn. Cover and steam until the green beans are bright green and crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Carefully remove the steamer from the saucepan and spread the vegetables out on a large platter to cool.
- Before serving, shake the dressing to blend. Drizzle the shallot dressing over the green beans. Top with basil and black pepper. Serve room temperature or chill until cold.
Notes
To Make Ahead
The dressing can be made up to four days in advance. Keep refrigerated. Bring to room temperature and shake well before dressing the salad. The green beans can be cooked up to 1 day ahead. For best results do not dress more than 1 hour in advance or the vibrant green color of the beans will fade.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes
- Category: Side dish
- Method: Stove to
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup each
- Calories: 160
- Sugar: 7 g
- Sodium: 281 mg
- Fat: 6 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 26 g
- Fiber: 9 g
- Protein: 4 g
I originally shared this recipe on May 27, 2014
Additional Corn Recipes to Try
- My Grilled Corn with Chipotle Lime Butter is a new take on a summer classic. It’s delicious.
- I love this Healthy Corn Chowder with fresh sweet corn and no roux!
- This Mexican Corn Salad is super healthy and is filled to the brim with veggie-goodies.
- This Grilled Corn and Peach Cobb Salad is a super yummy power salad and is a play on the classic Cobb.
We fell in love with your green beans salad. It’s crispy, healthy, tasty, and perfect for the summer, thanks!
Love the sweetness of these vegetables together and this makes a delicious cold dessert.
I get just as excited about a dish like this as you do! I could eat green beans every day and serving them as a salad is one of my favorite preparations!
I would do a quick grill / grill pan on the corn cob plus green beans just to char them, then prep corn kernels & green beans into this salad.
This is one gorgeous shot!!!
Thanks so much Olena. I was very inspired by the shots that Ali has been taking at Gimme Some Oven. I love her high key lighting. It blows me away.
Yes, they are very clean, bright and crisp. I know if you put something white like white linen on a surface and at the back, you achieve that glow and bright light. I think she is using white material from a fabric store…
So crisp! Yes I think you’re right about the white background. Or I was thinking even white plexiglass. I’ve worked with a few photographers who use it. It is on my list of props to buy.
Wonderful recipe! Thank you so much. Thinking about adding some cherry tomatoes and bacon next time too
That is an awesome idea Carri! I love the idea of those flavors together with the sweet corn and basil. So glad to know you liked it.
What a beautiful, simple summer side dish! This is totally making an appearance at our next backyard grill out!
Thank you Chris. I would be honored if you did. Three cheers for cookouts and warm summer weather food! Thanks for visiting.
I love this! so elegant and beautiful! Hooray for fresh, seasonal veggies!
Thank you so much Alice and for stopping by.
Definitely my kind of salad, Katie. Simplicity at its BEST!
Yes, simple is good these days. Too much sunshine to enjoy!
Salads into June? Uhm, bring it on! I love eating green beans right out of the farm – or bag – or my grocery store…but we won’t tell them, right? :)Can’t wait for more recipes!
My daughters and I love to sit in the garden and eat green beans right off the bush, they are so naturally sweet and juicy when they are summer fresh!
Love how bright and fresh this is!
Thank you so much Rachel and for coming by for a visit.
I love how simple and fresh this salad is! Now I really can’t wait for the fresh summer corn. 🙂
Thank you Eileen. I hope you enjoy it.
“Call me strange, but I get much more excited about these crisp tender green beans than a scoop of Ben and Jerry’s.” I hate you a little bit right now. Ice cream is my major weakness (right next to cheese). On the other hand, what a stunner of a salad! I can’t wait to make it.
Ha ha, I knew I would get a rile out of some of you for that one Alanna. Cheese is a big one for me, and I get my fix every day 🙂
Ok, we can still be friends.
As they say in the South…”Oh my stars”. And I mean that in a totally good way! I could really tear into this salad. I think I’m hardwired to like this kind of food as well. Great post, Katie!
I love that expression Bill. We don’t hear it up here much but I think I may have to start saying it. Thank you so much.
so lovely it makes me want to tear up a little *wink wink*
Oh my Regan, I am totally smiling. Ha ha. I keep thinking of looking over at you and seeing that you were also getting teared up so many times since Sunday. So glad we finally got to meet IRL. Can’t wait to share my post on Thursday. I have way too many pics to sort through first. Thanks for the compliment about the salad.