Southern Four Bean Salad Recipe

There are numerous ways to serve Southern beans, but a top pick is in a chilled bean salad. At the end of a long, hot day, this is a tasty and tangy treat.

You do have to plan ahead. The beans have to sit in the dressing/marinade for a whole day or overnight to absorb the fabulous flavors of the homemade sauce mixture.

Note that the recipe is divided. You have your beans first which are central to the recipe. Don't forget to drain them, or you will will have a watery bean salad.

The second section is the dressing. You can use a bottled dressing like an oily Italian dressing. An especially good one is Kraft Zesty. The low fat version is just fine. It does not hurt the flavor to use the reduced fat.

The onion is last. Don't get overexcited and cut that up as you are mixing the beans. The onion should be cut and made into rings right before putting the salad together.

Southern Four Bean Salad

Beans:

• 1 can kidney beans (14 – 16 oz)
• 1 can cut wax beans (14 – 16 oz)
• 1 can black eyed peas (14 – 16 oz)
• 1 can cut green beans (14 – 16 oz)

Dressing:

• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup white vinegar
• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper (fresh ground is best)
• ½ tsp dry mustard
• ½ tsp dried basil
• 2 TBS fresh parsley (cut)

• 1 medium red or purple onion (cut this right before mixing and serving)

Directions:

1. Drain the beans and place each type of bean in a separate small bowl. Tupperware bowls with lids are great, but you can cover bowls with cling wrap if you don't have bowls with seals.
2. Mix together the sugar, vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, mustard, basil and parsley. Stir well to blend in all the flavors.
3. Pour the dressing mixture over the beans. Divide it evenly so that each bowl has roughly the same amount of dressing. Toss the beans to get them all covered with the dressing. If you are using Tupperware bowls, then you can put the lids on and shake the bowls gently.
4. Chill the bowls of beans all day or overnight.
5. To put together the Southern Four Bean Salad, drain the bowls of beans.
6. In a large bowl, layer the beans with kidney, followed by wax beans. Then the black eyed peas and finally the green beans. Between each layer of beans, add some onion rings. Divide the rings evenly and save some for the top.

Other delicious Southern Salads:

Southern Seven Layer Salad

Apple Cabbage Salad

Greek Summer Salad

Easy Cucumber Salad

Watergate Salad

Beans for Four Bean Salad

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