Mexican Four Bean Salad
Our delicious homemade Mexican Bean Salad Recipe is a simple side dish with tons of flavor! It is made with 4 types of beans including black beans and pinto beans, sweet corn, cilantro and creamy avocado dressing. Serve it at a picnic or bring it to a pot luck party.
Table of contents
Why We Love This Recipe For Mexican Bean Salad with Avocado
This Mexican bean salad recipe is a great recipe to serve at a Mexican food party or to make as a quick 15-minute lunch. The method is simple: just open cans of beans, thaw out some corn and edamame, add in cherry tomatoes and cilantro and toss it together with an easy avocado dressing. Done!
Mexican Bean Salad Ingredients
- Beans: For this four bean salad I used black beans, chickpeas, pinto beans and edamame. If you prefer to swap any of them out you can either use more of another, or use a different bean like white cannelloni beans. I use canned beans for efficiency.
- Avocado
- Fresh cilantro
- Corn
- Cherry tomatoes
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Lime juice: you can use either freshly squeezed lime juice or red wine vinegar.
- Seasoning: minced garlic, ground cumin, salt, ground chipotle pepper, or to taste, freshly ground pepper
How to Make This Mexican Bean Salad
Step 1: Make dressing
Puree ½ avocado, ¼ cup cilantro, ¼ cup cold water, oil, vinegar, garlic, cumin, salt, chipotle and pepper in a food processor or mini prep until smooth.
Step 2: Assemble salad
Combine black beans, chickpeas, pinto beans, edamame, and corn in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the bean mixture and stir to coat.
Step 3: Add cilantro & tomatoes
Chop the remaining 1 ½ avocado and add to the beans. Add the remaining ¼ cup chopped cilantro and the cherry tomatoes. Gently fold in and serve.
Do you love this creamy avocado dressing? Try our Chickpea Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing. It is flavored with lemon and basil and another great summer salad to try!
FAQs and Chef Katie’s Expert Tips
IF you don’t have a food process you can use a smoothie blender. If you don’t have that either you could mash the avocado with a fork until it is completely smooth and finely chop the cilantro. The dressing won’t be as creamy but the flavors will still be good.
Make the dressing ahead and store in an airtight container until ready to serve. You can also assemble the salad ahead and pour the dressing over before serving. Wait to add the diced avocado so it stays fresh.
Keep any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.
Serve this salad as a lunch or dinner over a bed of lettuce or it can be paired paired with our Mexican Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps. For a Mexican Party, pair with an make-ahead casserole like our Layered Chicken Enchiladas or Mexican Chicken Casserole.
Additional Mexican Salads To Try
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
PrintMexican Four Bean Salad
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
Description
Mexican bean salad is a simple side dish with tons of flavor! It is made with 4 types of beans, corn, cilantro and creamy avocado dressing. Serve it at a picnic or bring it to a pot luck party.
Ingredients
- 2 ripe avocados, divided
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, divided
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or lime juice
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 2 fourteen-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 fourteen-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 fourteen-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed
- 1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen and thawed
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Instructions
- Puree ½ avocado, ¼ cup cilantro, ¼ cup cold water, oil, vinegar, garlic, cumin, salt, chipotle and pepper in a food processor or mini prep until smooth.
- Combine black beans, chickpeas, pinto beans, edamame, and corn in a large bowl. Pour dressing over the bean mixture, and stir to coat.
- Chop the remaining 1 ½ avocado and add to the beans. Add the remaining ¼ cup chopped cilantro and the cherry tomatoes, and gently fold in.
Notes
Cooking Tip:
If you don’t have a food processor don’t panic! One option is to use a smoothie blender instead. If you don’t have that either you could mash the avocado with a fork and finely chop the cilantro.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Category: side dish
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2/3 cup
- Calories: 169
- Sugar: 3
- Fat: 6
- Saturated Fat: 1
- Carbohydrates: 21
- Fiber: 6
- Protein: 6
This salad is always a hit! Awesome side dish!
I am glad you discovered this recipe Ashley!
Everyone at my house really loved this salad! It was a huge hit!
Thank you so much, Toni! I appreciate hearing back from you.
This salad just screams summer with all its color and flavor! I love the dressing, so creamy and so much flavor!
Thanks Julie!
The salad has all the good stuff! Delicious!
Happy to hear you like it!
This is such a great recipe for pot lucks!
I am glad you think so too!
So many of my favorite ingredients plus such a tasty salad dressing! The whole family loved this salad!!
I am happy you liked the salad Liz
We had this for a meatless dinner, served on a bed of beautiful Bibb lettuce. Love, love love the recipe! Thanks Katie
I will definately include it in our next Potluck.Salad Looks beautiful 🙂 However, just one question, How long does this stay fresh for?
We are in a hotel room looking at our phones for a place to eat nearby. Oh gosh, I’m wish I could be heading out toward this salad instead. I can’t wait to get home to make this. Thank you Katie.
Ha ha! Love that. I am sure you found something equally as yummy! You’ll have to make it when you get home. Safe travels!
This looks delicious! I love all the colours in this bowl, perfect for summer.
PS Nature shows always makes me want to quit my job and go save the environment!
Thank you Carmy. Aren’t nature shows the best?!
This salad looks so fresh and delicious!!
Thank you very much Jessica.
Mmmm This mexican four bean salad is perfect for cinco de mayo!! YUMMY!!!
Ah yes, this would be a healthy addition to a Mexican feast on Cinco de Mayo this year! Great idea.
this is so pretty and vibrant! i absolutely love easy salads like this one, perfect for weekday lunches!
Thank you so much Georgie. We love having this in the fridge for a healthy easy lunch option.
Love love this tasty salad! I bet the addition of cumin makes it so tasty and delicious! I would love to make a big batch of this and have it through the week!
The spices in the dressing really make it a special salad in my opinion. Yes- the left-overs are great all week long!
I love the idea of chopping one avocado and pureeing the other for the dressing. Great side dish for a picnic, yes, but I think I’ll be adding this to my regular Meatless Monday rotation as a one-bowl meal!
Ah glad to hear you like this idea so much Julie! I hope you enjoy it.