Look for beans canned without added sodium if possible. If you can’t find yellow or wax beans you can use a can of carrots instead. This makes the salad very pretty. If you know your family will never eat this much 3-bean salad, then look for canned 3-bean salad in the vegetable section of your supermarket. Each can holds about 3 to 4 servings, and there’s no prep-work involved.
Classic Three Bean Salad
Ingredients
- 15 ounce can green beans
- 15 ounce can yellow or wax beans
- 15 ounce can kidney beans
- 1 fresh onion, coarsely chopped OR 2 tablespoons dry onion flakes
- 3/4 cup vinegar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- Black pepper to taste
Directions
First drain and rinse all of the canned beans. I do this by dumping them all into a colander and running cold water over them. After draining off the rinse water, transfer the beans to a large bowl. Add the thinly sliced onions or onion flakes. Meanwhile, in a quart-sized saucepan combine the vinegar, sugar and oil. Bring it to a boil on the stove. Remove it immediately, and pour it over the beans and onions. Add a bit of black pepper if you like. Chill and serve. This recipe makes about 8 servings. It keeps for several weeks in the fridge, so serve it once a week for a month if desired. It’s also great for picnics because it won’t go bad in the heat.
To make a Vegetarian Main Dish Salad, you can replace the yellow wax beans with canned Chickpeas or Black Beans. In this case it serves 6 as an entrée.