mediterranean white bean salad $5.90 recipe / $0.93 serving

mediterranean white bean salad

$5.90 recipe / $0.93 serving

After eating the cooked down, well melded flavors and textures of my pot roast all week, my palate desperately needed something fresh and bright. I wanted green, I wanted tang, I wanted fresh. I had a couple of cans of butter beans in my cabinet that I had bought with the intention of making a quick Italian garlic and parsley dish with but I soon had a much, MUCH better use for them. This Mediterranean style bean dish is very similar to tabbouleh (one of my all-time favorite salads) but uses white beans instead of bulgar wheat and the herbs and spices have been simplified. I used large butter beans for this recipe but any white bean will work (cannellini or even garbanzo). The salad turned out so freaking good that I ate almost half of it immediately after taking the pictures (I made a half batch). If you're looking for a main dish, this salad would also make an excellent bed for a piece of grilled chicken or fish!




Total Recipe cost: $5.90
Servings Per Recipe: 6
Cost per serving: $0.93
Prep time: 15 min. Cook time: 0 min. Total: 15 min.

INGREDIENTS		COST
2 cans	white beans	$1.84
1 bunch	curly leaf parsley	$0.57
1 pint	grape tomatoes	$1.75
4 cloves	garlic	$0.09
2 Tbsp	olive oil	$0.21
2 Tbsp	lemon juice	$0.10
15 cranks	fresh ground pepper	$0.05
1/4 tsp	salt	$0.05
3 oz.	feta cheese	$1.24
TOTAL		$5.90

STEP 1: Drain and rinse the beans. Rinse the parsley and chop it fairly fine but do not mince (see photo below). Rinse the tomatoes and slice them in half. Mince the garlic. Combine the beans, parsley, tomato and garlic in a bowl.

STEP 2: Add the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir to combine and taste and adjust salt pepper content to your liking. Either stir in the crumbled feta or plate up the salad and sprinkle 1/2 oz. on top of each serving.

Step By Step Photos


Here are the large butter beans that I used. I think the large size gives a nice visual contrast to the salad and their rich buttery flavor mellows out the garlic and lemon juice. (Remember, these photos are of a half batch)


Chop the parsley until it is about this fine. You want small pieces but you don't want it so fine that it loses all of its volume.


Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and taste to adjust salt and pepper. Eat up!



NOTE: You definitely want to use curly parsley for this salad because the texture that it adds is key. If you have some fresh mint around try chopping a little of that and tossing it in as well!

The flavor of this salad is so worth the garlic breath you'll get, I promise!