warm three bean salad

no chopping! easy peasy!

Hi! If you’re new here, on Tuesdays I devote my newsletter to “I Love Lunch” and include an easy lunch recipe for paid subscribers. To me, lunch recipes are especially simple to make and simple to clean-up. Of course you can make the recipe for any mealtime that you’d like! I always include a number of notes following these recipes, including how to make vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free versions and other fun notes/ideas.

I love a classic three bean salad — it’s a tried-and-true picnic salad, a real hot weather favorite. But this time of year I like to do a warm version where I roast green beans together with canned white and kidney beans, plus some whole cherry tomatoes, then toss everything together with a very mustardy vinaigrette while the bean mixture is still hot. The result is a sum so much better than each of its parts and just immensely satisfying. I can happily eat this mixture for lunch on its own with some toast, but it’s also great as a side dish alongside anything from scrambled eggs to store-bought rotisserie chicken. Leftovers are great cold or warmed up in the microwave.

A few details:

• I make this in my air fryer, but you can also get great results in a regular oven. I give instructions for both in the recipe below for paid subscribers.

• If you buy pre-trimmed green beans, the only vegetable prep you need to do is mince two garlic cloves (I do that with a Microplane so there’s actually no board or knife to clean up).

• Fresh herbs are not required but very lovely to add if you have them (I had some chives in the fridge that were on their way out so I chopped them and added them to the salad at the same time as the dressing).

• This happens to be completely vegan and gluten-free if either of those details are important to you or whoever you’re cooking for.

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The full recipe for paid subscribers is below (including in a PDF version!), plus notes if you:

• No air fryer?

• Seeking additional carbs?

• Don’t have string beans?

• Don’t have sherry vinegar on hand?

• Want it as a side dish and wondering what to serve it with?

Warm Three Bean Salad

• 3/4 pound haricots vert or just regular green beans, ends trimmed