Cold Green Bean Salad
Description
This Cold Green Bean Salad is the perfect summer side dish for any barbecue or picnic. Each bite is filled with crisp green beans, creamy avocado, sweet grapes and savory blue cheese. With less than 10 fresh ingredients, it's a make-ahead salad recipe that's also a crowdpleaser.
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Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed, and bias-sliced
- 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
- 2 teaspoons whole-grain or stone ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 cup halved seedless red grapes
- 1 large avocado, cubed
- 2 ounces (½ cup) crumbled blue cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Prepare an ice water bath in a large bowl.
- Heavily season water with kosher salt (at least a tablespoon). Drop 1 pound green beans into boiling water and cook until crisp-tender and vibrant in color, about 3 minutes.
- Using a slotted spoon or spider, immediately transfer green beans to ice water bath and let cool completely.
- Whisk together 2 tablespoons oil, 2 tablespoons vinegar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon chives, 2 teaspoons mustard, and 1 teaspoon honey for the vinaigrette; season with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper.
- Drain beans and dry well (either in salad spinner or with paper towels).
- Toss green beans and 1 cup grapes with vinaigrette; season to taste with additional salt and pepper. Transfer salad to a serving bowl or platter and top with 1 cubed avocado and 2 ounces crumbled blue cheese.
Notes
Storage: leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Make Ahead: the green beans, grapes and vinaigrette can all be prepped a day ahead of time. Wait to toss the salad together and top with avocado and blue cheese until ready to serve.
Lemon: most of the acid in the vinaigrette comes from red wine vinegar, but a bit of lemon juice adds a nice note of freshness. If you don’t want to purchase a lemon just for this recipe, you can use an additional tablespoon of vinegar.
Mustard: I love the pops of texture that whole grain mustard adds to the salad. Stone ground mustard is also delicious in this recipe, as is Dijon. If you opt for Dijon, use 1 ½ teaspoons instead of two.
Tips:
- Add the avocado and blue cheese right before serving. You'll want to top the salad with these when you're ready to enjoy so their textures and flavors stay as fresh as possible!
- Trim the ends of the green beans before cooking. The ends are wiring and unappetizing, so just use kitchen scissors for easy removal.
- Make sure you dry the green beans well after blanching. If they are wet, the dressing won't stick as well and the salad will not be as flavorful.
- Customize the salad with fresh herbs and other ingredients. We also love dill, parsley, and scallions in this green bean dish. You can swap the blue cheese for goat cheese or feta as well.
Nutrition
Serving: 1/4 recipeCalories: 270kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 4gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 5gSodium: 458mgFiber: 3gSugar: 6g
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