Kale White Bean Salad with Charred Green Onion Vinaigrette
This bountiful Kale White Bean Salad is packed with colorful vegetables and hearty white beans, then dressed in a charred green onion vinaigrette. It's a simple summer salad you can make in advance for work lunches, backyard BBQs and potlucks.
Ingredients
Kale White Bean Salad
- 1 bunch kale stems removed, leaves torn into bite-sized pieces
- 1 can cannellini beans drained and rinsed
- 2 ears corn
- 1 zucchini diced
- 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes halved
- ½ medium red onion diced (approximately 1 cup), small dice
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
- ¾ teaspoon salt or to taste
Charred Green Onion Vinaigrette
- 3-4 green onions (scallions) cut lengthwise from green tip to white tip, drizzled in a teaspoon or two of oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper or to taste
- 1 teaspoon cane sugar or honey, to taste
Instructions
- Grill corn and scallions. Get a grill going - you want your grill to be hot (or, at the very least, 450F-500F). Your corn will take 10-12 minutes to cook and the scallions will only take 5 minutes or so. You’ll want a pair of grilling tongs you can use to rotate veggies. The corn doesn’t need to be babied quite so much, but you’ll want to flip the scallions a couple of minutes in. For each of these, there’s no real recipe for doneness - it’s more about personal preference. See NOTES if you don’t have a grill. Remove once cooked through and turn off the grill.
- Massage your kale! Spritz with a bit of lemon juice and drizzle with a teaspoon or two of olive oil and use your hands to help soften it up. It makes all the difference!
- Make the dressing. Finely mince the scallions and add to a small bowl. Add the 2 tablespoons lime juice, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard, and 1 tablespoon mayonnaise to a bowl and whisk to combine. Gradually whisk in 6 tablespoons olive oil. Season to taste.
- Make the salad. Once cool enough to handle, remove the corn from the cob. Add it a to a large serving bowl. To the same bowl, add 2 cans cannellini beans, 1 diced avocado, 1 diced zucchini, 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes (halved), ½ of a diced red onion, and ¼ cup cilantro. Toss with salad tongs. Pour charred green onion dressing over the salad. Taste, and adjust as needed with more salt, vinegar, or oil to taste.
- Serve immediately or let sit for up to 3 days! This salad gets better as the flavors meld together. Even 30 minutes is enough to make a noticeable difference. I often pair this with salmon, so I’ll prepare this first and set it aside while I prep and bake the salmon.
Notes
How to char green onions on your stove top:
You'll still want to toss the onions in a bit of olive oil. Meanwhile, heat a frying pan. Place the onions directly in the hot pan. When the spring onions have softened and started to blacken, take off the heat and set aside until ready to add to your vinaigrette.
What goes with this salad?
- This lemony dill sheet pan chicken and broccoli.
- Or perhaps these Easy Cuban Sliders.
- And finally, they'd really brighten up these 4 ingredient pork chops!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!