This easy Three Bean Cucumber Salad with Feta is the perfect no-cook recipe for hot summer days. It's made with navy beans, cannellini beans, chickpeas, crunchy cucumber, feta cheese, and a flavorful ginger dressing. Add sliced serrano pepper for a little kick, or leave it out and keep things cool. Either way, it's fresh, filling, full of flavor, and best of all—you don't have to turn on the oven!
During the summer, when it gets so hot that turning on the oven feels like a personal attack, we don't like heating up the kitchen to make dinner. And going out every night isn't exactly the answer either. I mean, who can afford to go out to dinner every night?!
That's why we came up with this easy Three Bean Cucumber Salad with Feta. It's fresh, filling, full of flavor, and best of all—there's absolutely no cooking required. Just open a few cans, chop some vegetables, add your favorite ginger dressing, and dinner is ready!
Living in Northeast Ohio, we're not exactly used to extreme heat. Let's be honest—we start complaining when the temperature gets into the 80s. Add four big dogs who absolutely hate the heat, and things get interesting around here.
Some days, we practically have to push Teddy outside to do his business when it's super hot. My trick? I put on my sandals. He immediately thinks I'm going outside to fill up the dog pool, and suddenly he's more than happy to head out. Sometimes you have to outsmart the dog.
How to Make This Three Bean Cucumber Salad
There isn't much easier to make—unless you're planning to serve a sliced cucumber for dinner!
Seriously, this salad is incredibly simple. Start by opening three cans of beans. We used navy beans, cannellini beans, and chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans). But if you have a favorite bean, go for it. This is one of those recipes that's easy to make your own.
Pour the beans into a strainer and rinse them well under cool water. Let them drain, then add them to a large serving bowl.
Chopping the onions!
Now for the hardest part of the entire recipe: chopping the onion. Don't worry—we have a shortcut!
We use a small food processor to finely chop the onion in just a few seconds. Finely chopped onion blends nicely throughout the salad, so you get a little flavor in every bite. If you love the crunch of onion, chop it into larger pieces or thinly slice it instead.
Add the onion to the bowl and sprinkle in one teaspoon of salt.
Cutting the Cucumber!
Cut the English cucumber into bite-sized pieces and add it to the bowl with the beans. We like English cucumbers because they have a mild flavor, a nice crunch, and we can find them just about everywhere. But any cucumber you like will work. The crunch of the cucumber is great in this three bean cucumber salad
Add the cucumbers to the serving bowl with the beans.
For a little heat, thinly slice one serrano pepper and add it to the bowl. Keeping the pepper in slices makes it easy for everyone to control the spice level. Grab a few slices if you like some heat, or leave them behind if you don't. It's our kind of compromise—one salad, no separate dinners!
We like to use a combination of fat-free feta and regular feta. The fat-free feta helps cut some calories, while the regular feta brings that creamy texture and flavor we love. It's one of our favorite tricks for lightening up a recipe without making it taste like we lightened up the recipe!
Give everything a good toss to finish off this three bean cucumber salad.
Next, pour in the ginger dressing. We love Makoto Ginger Dressing because it has a fresh, slightly sweet ginger flavor that works so well with the beans, cucumber, serrano pepper, and feta. You'll usually find it in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.
That's it. No sweating over dinner. Just a fresh, crunchy, filling Three Bean Cucumber Salad that's perfect for those hot summer days when even the dogs think it's too hot to go outside.
Enjoy!!!
More Fresh and Flavorful Recipes to Try
Three Bean Cucumber Salad with Feta
A Few Things We Use
Ingredients
- 1 Can Navy Beans
- 1 Can Cannellini Beans
- 1 Can Garbanzo Beans
- 1 Cucumbers
- ½ Small Onion
- 4.5 Ounces Feta Cheese
- 4 Ounces Ginger Salad Dressing We Used Makoto Ginger Dressing
- 1 Serrano Pepper Optional
Instructions
- Open the cans of navy beans, cannellini beans, and garbanzo beans. Pour the beans into a strainer and rinse well under cold water.
- Pour the beans into a strainer and rinse well under cold water.
- Let the beans drain, then add them to a large serving bowl.
- Finely chop the onion. We used a small food processor to make this quick and easy. Add the onion to the bowl.
- Cut the English cucumber into bite-sized pieces and add it to the bowl.
- Slice the serrano pepper and add it to the salad if you want a little heat. Leave it out for a mild version.
- Break up and add the feta cheese.
- Add the Ginger Salad Dressing.
- Toss everything together until well combined. Taste and add more ginger dressing if needed.
- Enjoy!
Please let us know what you think