Mediterranean White Bean Salad (healthy & easy!)
Marinated Mediterranean White Bean Salad 🌿🍋🫒 is layered with texture and flavor galore! Hearty butter beans, crisp-tender asparagus, capers, green olives, garlic, lemon juice, fresh mint, and more comprise this simple yet satisfying vegetarian and gluten-free salad. EASY, HEALTHY, ready in 20 minutes, and makes a great side dish or lighter main dish! Serve it over hummus, whipped feta, or whipped ricotta to take it next-level!
Easy Mediterranean White Bean Salad Recipe
- I love a good salad and for me that means lots of textures including soft and tender meets crispy-crunchy and chewy! In this salad I love the contrast of the softer butter beans with crisp-tender asparagus, crunchy hazelnuts, and chewy dates.
- There’s flavor coming at you from every direction here which is also the only way a salad should be! There’s briney olives, bright lemon tanginess, fresh mint and parsley, along with gentle sweetness from the dates which balances the more bitter asparagus.
- This bean salad recipe is so easy to make, you only need one bowl, and it’s ready in 20 minutes! You can adjust the marinating time based on how much time you have – or don’t have.
- The recipe is extremely flexible so if you don’t have an ingredient or don’t care for an ingredient, it’s totally fine to omit or make a sensible substitution.
- Naturally vegan, gluten-free, high fiber, and filled with plant-based protein, it’s a winner for warm summer days when it’s too hot to cook and you need a quick lunch idea, or a side salad for busy weeknights or for a backyard barbecue, or just a simple yet healthy dinner option.
Ingredients in White Bean Mediterranean Salad
- Marinade: Capers, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic cloves, fresh parsley, ground sumac (a lemony bright seasoning), kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper.
- White Beans: I used two cans of drained and rinsed butter beans (or lima beans depending on where you’re from). You can instead use Great Northern Beans, cannellini beans (AKA white kidney beans), garbanzo beans, or another favorite kind of beans such as navy beans.
- Remaining Salad Ingredients: Pitted green olives (or black olives, kalamata olives), shallot, pitted dates.
- Finishing Touches: Asparagus (or green beans), hazelnuts (or sliced almonds or chopped walnuts), fresh mint, fresh basil, or other fresh herbs.
- Optional – More Fresh Veggies: It’s easy to add more veggies including English cucumber, red bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, red onion, green onions, or whatever you fancy! Or add cheese such as feta cheese.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How To Make Mediterranean Butter Bean Salad
- Marinade: In a large mixing bowl, mash the capers. Then add the remaining marinade ingredients, and stir to combine.
- Beans + Remaining Salad Ingredients: Add all of these items, toss, and let stand for at least 15 minutes at room temp to marry the flavors. To Make-Ahead – Stop here, cover, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours, before adding the finishing touches.
- Finishing Touches: Blanch and chill the asparagus and add it to the bowl. Then add the hazelnuts, mint, toss to combine, taste and check for seasoning balance, and make desired flavor adjustments, making sure to add more salt if it necessary.
- Serving: Serve as-is or with any of the suggestions belows. You can also chill it for 30-60 minutes before serving, if desired.
what to serve with white bean salad
Enjoy the butter bean salad with Greek yogurt, hummus, or either of the whipped cheese options below. You can serve it alongside toasted baguette slices or crackers, if desired.
Whipped Ricotta: If you’d like to serve it with whipped ricotta (as shown), simply add 2 cups of whole milk ricotta to a small food processor with 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt. Puree for 1–2 minutes until creamy and smooth.
Whipped Feta: See my Whipped Feta recipe if you prefer feta to ricotta.
Storage & Make-Ahead Meal Prep
In the Refrigerator: This recipe will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Do not freeze.
Prep Ahead: Make the dressing and marinate the beans, olives, shallots, and dates up to a day in advance. Add the asparagus, mint, and hazelnuts just before serving to keep them fresh.
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 1 garlic clove, finely minced or grated
- 2 pitted Medjool dates, diced small (use 3 dates if they’re small or you want a bit more sweetness)
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely minced
- 2 teaspoons ground sumac, (paprika or smoked paprika is the closest substitute)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 15- ounce can butter beans, drained and rinsed (butter beans are lima beans; other white beans like Great Northern, cannellini, or garbanzo beans may be substituted)
- ½ cup pitted green olives, roughly chopped if desired
- ¼ cup thinly sliced shallot
- 1 cup asparagus, chopped into 1-inch segments; blanched and chilled in an ice bath (green beans are a good sub)
- ¼ cup mint leaves, freshly torn or minced
- ¼ cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped; toasted if desired in a dry skillet (sliced almonds are a great substitution)
- To a large mixing bowl, add the capers, and mash them with a fork. Add the garlic, dates, parsley, sumac, salt, pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, and whisk to combine.
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Add the butter beans, olives, shallot and toss with the dressing. Let sit at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes to meld flavors. If you have more time, you can let stand longer. Make-Ahead Tip – You can stop now, cover, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours; then carry on with the rest of the recipe.
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While the beans are marinating, blanch the asparagus. I find it easiest to add the asparagus to a microwave safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it come up to just boiling in my microwave, about 3 minutes on high; all microwaves differ as do preferences for doneness so cook as long as desired noting that in general asparagus cooks very quickly. If you prefer to do this on the stove with a pot of water, go for it.Drain immediately when done, and have an ice bath waiting, and plop the asparagus into it to stop the cooking process. Tip – For a fancier presentation, use only asparagus tips. If using just the tips, they cook quicker than the stalks so be careful you don’t overcook them.
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Add the cooled and drained asparagus to the mixing bowl along with the mint, nuts (if you’re toasting them in a dry skillet, do so over medium-high heat for just a couple minutes while shaking the skillet nearly constantly so they don’t burn), stir to combine, and taste to check for seasoning balance. Flavor Tips – If it tastes at all flat, boring, or dull, it likely needs more salt so don’t be afraid to add it. If you want it to have a tiny pop of heat, red pepper flakes are great. If you want it to have some smokiness, a sprinkle of smoked paprika is nice. If you’re a fan of lemon, add more lemon juice. If you want more mint, parsley, extra nuts, etc. feel free to add them. If you want to add crumbled feta or your favorite grated or shredded cheese, go for it.
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Serve immediately; or if desired, cover, and chill in the fridge for about 1 hour before serving. Optionally serve with:Whipped Ricotta: If you’d like to serve it with whipped ricotta (as shown), simply add 2 cups of whole milk ricotta to a small food processor with 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt. Puree for 1–2 minutes until creamy and smooth.Whipped Feta: See my Whipped Feta recipe if you prefer feta to ricotta.
Storage: Recipe will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. Do not freeze.
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 304kcal, Carbohydrates: 32g, Protein: 8g, Fat: 18g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 13g, Sodium: 971mg, Potassium: 525mg, Fiber: 9g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 549IU, Vitamin C: 6mg, Calcium: 74mg, Iron: 4mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
