One of my favourite things to do is recreate a dish or meal that I’ve enjoyed at a restaurant or purchased in a store.
I’ve recreated the Detox salad and Layered Salad with Orange Ginger Dressing from Whole Foods, the Adzuki Bean & Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad and Pink Flamingo Smoothie from Fresh restaurant, Endurance Crackers from Chocolatree Café, and the Layered Raw Taco Salad from The Naked Sprout, to name just a few.
This time, I had my sights set on a Fontaine Santé Three-Bean Salad.
In addition to hummus that rocks my face off, Fontaine Santé also makes hearty salads – and many of them are vegan. You can find these pre-made salads at Costco and various grocery stores in the refrigerator section (however, I’m not sure if they are sold in the US?). Sometimes when I’m in a crunch for dinner, I pick one up and pair it with a simple salad.
A peek inside…
It tastes better than it looks…I swear. Am I the only one who loves mushy bean salads?
Well, have no fear this version is bursting with fresh, crisp vegetables. My version has the same ingredients (with the addition of jalapeno), but the nutrition stats turned out quite a bit better with half the fat and calories per serving. Another advantage of preparing food at home – it’s often healthier without even trying. This recipe has more bite from the lemon, Dijon, and apple cider vinegar, but I countered the acidity with a bit of pure maple syrup. It’s also a better bang for your buck and you can save even more money if you make the beans from scratch. This recipe makes 5 cups worth, whereas the one I pick up from the grocery store has about three 1/2 cup servings per 350g container (granted, the salads from Costco are much larger and a better deal). Plus, who only eats 1/2 cup of bean salad anyway? Certainly not this girl.
Speedy Three-Bean Salad
Yield
5 cups
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Like many bean salads, it tastes better as it sits and is even better the next day once the dressing has mingled with the beans and veggies. If you can make it in advance I suggest doing so. It should keep for at least 3-4 days in an air-tight container or jar, perhaps longer.
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1 cup chopped green beans, stems removed
- 1 (15-oz) can chickpeas (I use Eden Organic BPA-free), or 1.5 cups cooked
- 1 (15-oz) can Red Kidney Beans (ditto above), or 1.5 cups cooked
- 1 orange bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped (optional)
- 1/3 cup packed fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 3 green onions, finely chopped
- Salt & pepper, to taste
For the dressing
- 8 tbsp fresh lemon juice (about 1.5 lemons)
- 1.5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, or more to taste
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
Directions
- Add several cups of water into a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil. Add chopped green beans and blanch for 2-3 minutes in boiling water. Drain and rinse with cold water. Place into a large bowl.
- Drain and rinse chickpeas and kidney beans and place into a large bowl along with the green beans, bell pepper, optional jalapeno, parsley, and green onion. Mix.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients until combined. Adjust to taste if needed.
- Pour on dressing over salad and mix well. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop. Season with salt and pepper and adjust dressing to taste. Salad will taste even better the next day. Store in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Next on my list? The 3-Lentil Cranberry Salad. Quite possibly my all-time fav.
What do you think I should add to my “recreate” recipe list?
BE RIGHT BACK, going to the grocery store now to buy the ingredients to make this tonight! ;)
hah – enjoy Katie!
I have to say that is the best bean salad I have ever had! Your recipes are wonderful, you are such an inspiration!
I love bean salads – and yes, I like it a little mushy too. :)
Since beginning competition training, I’ve been recreating more of my restaurant favorites at home. The sodium, sugar, and fat that is unnecessarily added to foods can be scary. There’s no reason any meal should have 1000mg+ sodium.
This sounds right up my alley!! Been chowing down on green/yellow beans by the fist full for weeks…so crisp and crunchy,,,yum! Dinner is figured out now, thank you :))
This was so good,,,I had a base of romaine,,,didn’t cook the beans, I only had basil djon, topped it with some baby tomatoes, brewers yeast and zucchini spiced chips
I love doing that too! I recreated a corn potato chowder last night that was actually better than the restaurant’s version where we tried it.
This looks great!
Please, please, please create a vegan pad thai! My most favourite and unhealthiest (from the restaurant) meal! I’ve stopped eating it because of how heavy the Thai Express version feels in my stomach – and the nutritional stats, yikes. I know you can work your magic and make a delicious, vegan and healthy version!
I have that on my list – great minds think alike! I’ve thought about making one that is zucchini noodle based (had one at a restaurant that was great), but I need to get a julienne peeler first.
Vegan pad thai – that’s a great suggestion!
I have a super pad thai recipe here. I just omit the eggs for me. Because I don’t eat pasta, I sub kelp noodles. (I have found zucchini noodles not to work as well… and I also tried a quinoa version, too).
To get that authentic flavour, do not skip the tamarind concentrate. That’s the secret. Plus, love. :)
Recipe here: http://www.freepantsonline.com/?p=97
Gosh, I should really post my version. ;)
Totally had this salad at Organic Garage a few weeks ago!! Yours looks way better, obviously. :)
Oh yum! I’m always looking for more ways to eat beans. Thanks, Angela
I’m in the mushy bean salad club too!! :) This looks great Ange. I’ve been boiling the raw beans lately since I know a lot of canned ones have tons of sodium in them (so it’s either that, or rinsing really well). It does take a lot of time though! I love your cute little bowls! And really, really can’t wait until Saturday! :)
I love bean salad too, Angela! I have this white bean salad that’s a mix between pico de gallo and guacamole (the avocados are chopped, not mushed) and it’s amazing! I’ll have to try your bean salad recipe, because I’ve never been a fan of green beans, but I have 4 cans of them in my pantry! I have to do something delicious with them! :) Your recipe looks delicious!
I made the detox salad on Sunday and have been enjoying it at lunch (and sometimes breakfast – like right now) all week. I have added a tahini dressing some days too. Thanks for the great recipe!
Love the brightly colored bowls and top down shots and oh yes, the bean salad in the bowls doesn’t look too shabby :)
oo yum! I need to try this.. I love bean salads!
Yumm!!!! I am obsessed with Eden’s beans, their texture is amazing and I love that they are BPA free. I never knew my love for beans was unusual, I assumed everyone wrote sonnets about chickpeas!!
I love bean salads!! Thanks for the recipe! I also love all your restaurant re-creations! :)
Love this! Bean salads are so quick & easy in a pinch and I love that they keep well so that you can make it on the weekend and enjoy it throughout the week!
There’s one salad at Costco that I absolutely love but I can’t remember exactly what it’s called — it some sort of ancient grain salad that you get in the refrigerated salads area. TO DIE FOR – I never buy it because it’s a little higher in fat than I like and it’s one of those things you can eat with a fork right out of the container! I need a healthier version!
I love bean salad! this looks great!
omgg i love this salad! i dont get that brand but they have a diff one in the costco by me and its delish i eat the whole thing in a few days not gonna lie haha cant wait to make this!!
That dressing looks killer! There are so many Whole Foods salads I love. I don’t usually do soy, but they have this spicy peanut butter tempeh that, as you aptly stated, ‘rocks my face off’. I could definitely get down with a recreated version of that!
Vegan pho!
oooh that sounds lovely! i love a good bean salad!
As much as I don’t like eating out at restos, I always get inspired to make something better at home. :) I urge you to go to Saravanaa Bhavan, get the onion uttapam, and then tell me how to make it. :) That one is on my “recreate” recipe list right now. :)
Btw, I love how the lemon juice totally dominates the other dressing ingredients – that’s my kind of salad dressing! :)
This looks delicious! I have a get-together this weekend that I need a dish for…and I think this might be a winner!
And I’m all about mushy salads — they’re just too great that way. I should start soaking some beans now…I’ve got a craving.
I would love you to recreate Fontaine Santé’s Tofu spread!! It’s SO delicious!
This looks amazing! I seriously LOVE beans but I don’t know if I have ever made a three bean salad. I wonder why? Looks like I need to get on this ASAP! Thanks for another great recipe!
I am eagerly awaiting the lentil cranberry!!
I wish my copycat recipe skills were better. Working on it! :)
I love bean salads and I haven’t made one in a very long time, I can’t wait to try this one. Live Food Bar has a delicious Raw Mediterranean Tart; I would love to see a recipe for a non raw version that can be made in the over rather than in a dehydrator.
I have a rather large recreate list. It’s insane. I love the idea of adding the cranberry dish to the list, anything with cranberry is delicious! I also adore mushy bean salads, no judgement being passed here!
If you could recreate the Sweets from the Earth carrot cake it would be amazing! :)
My wallet and belly would both be so happy!
I’m in the US and I’ll keep my eye out for this brand next time I’m at Costco. However, if I can’t find it, I know where to get the recipe. :-) I love the looks of this for a quick and easy Summer side.
I love, love, love bean salads! Thanks for the new recipe!
3-Lentil Cranberry salad sounds YUM! Can’t wait to see the recipe!
This salad sounds fabulous! Yum!
Delicious looking dish, and stunning pictures as always Angela! It always looks so colorful and beautiful :)
A question regarding beans: I put some garbanzo beans to soak yesterday morning before I left for work, intending to use some for a salad and sprout the rest. Unfortunately, when I got home from work yesterday, I became inexplicably dizzy. I could not even sit up without the room spinning. Thankfully that has passed, but it led to me completely forgetting about the beans soaking (at room temperature) until I was already at work today. By the time I get home they will have been soaking for probably about 36 hours. Does anybody have any experience with this? How can I tell if they’re bad…just the smell? I would hate to throw away good beans I wanted to sprout anyway!
Hey Ana,
I’ve definitely forgot about soaking chickpeas before and I figured if they smelled ok it was fine. I just rinsed them well and cooked as usual…I think they were soaking for a good day and a half. Not sure if thats bad to cook them anyways or not though! Hope you feel better soon!
I ran into the kitchen and made this right away since I have so many green beans from my garden! I subbed red pepper for yellow and basil for parsley as it’s also plentiful in my yard… Yummy! My daughters LOVE it. Thanks!
I LOVE 3 bean salads by I have never made them myself and stoped buying them years ago due to them being quite high in fat and calories.
Im so excited that now they can be back in my life!
Thanks xx
My Mom makes the best 3-bean salad, but it has a lot of sugar in the dressing. I have become sensitive to peppers and citrus, so I may try an altered version of this. I absolutely love 3-bean salad and yours looks great!
love that you used orange pepper rather than the hard-to-digest unripe green ones! ^_^ i fell in love with bean salads after some time in quebec this summer ^_^
3 bean salad is always one of my favourite dishes at BBQs! I’m sad I haven’t encountered it yet this summer though. I guess it’s a good thing you posted this recipe! ;)
I love bean salads.. one of my go to salads in the summer. I have tried to recreate many different things. There are two that I just haven’t been able to nail yet. Maybe you will be more successful. 1. Renee’s Gourmet Poppy Seed dressing 2. New York Flatbreads ~ Everything. Looking forward to what you will make next. Cheers!
yep i too make my chickpeas and kidney beans at home from scratch …they have a far better taste . this one is on for my dinner menu tonite .i’ll probably add some tomatoes chopped in too . thanks fr the inspiration
This salad looks great! It reminds me of one I used to make from Ingrid Hoffman (Food Network) called the Red Bean Beach Salad. Check it out, it’s a little different, but very yummy too. Hint: it includes sweet pickles! Would just need a little tweaking to substitute for the tsp of Worcestershire.
oh, please, pleaaase recreate the pasta shell and vegetable salad from the same company !
I dont think I’ve had that one before, I’ll have to check it out. Do you know if it’s vegan?
yes it is ! and with the royal couscous salad, it’s my favorite fontaine santé product.
I love bean salads, so I am definitely going to try this! :)
Yummy! I think yours looks even better then the store bought one!
And I totally understand – always when I am eating at a restaurant I think about how to recreate the meal… it’s so much fun!
Mmmm one of my face things to pick up at loblaws when I’m on a speedy lunch break.
You should try the Tangled Thai Salad from Fresh!!
I looove that salad :)
This looks so good! I might have to re-do my menu planning for the week now!
Yum – I love bean salads. So cheap and easy to put together.
I love bean salad! It’s so easy to throw together!! Yours look super delish!!