This summer black bean peas rice salad is an ideal fulfilling and light meal idea. Fluffy rice is combined with black beans, green peas and sweet corn and tossed with a fresh lemony dressing. It’s a great crowd-pleaser, without heating up your kitchen. Enjoy it as a main meal or serve it at your BBQ party alongside meat, fish or eggs.
Summer days call for quick, healthy and refreshing food. Salads are most of the time the best idea. Now, besides green salads, tomato salads, coleslaw and so on, you can prepare pasta, quinoa or rice salad, too. Salads with grains and pasta are amazing. In fact, they are healthy, delicious, fulfilling and easy to make.
For more summer meal ideas, you might check these salad recipes: healthy pasta salad, almost a classic Greek watermelon Feta salad, coriander cucumber-melon salad, a gorgeous golden zucchini salad or this peppery raspberry arugula salad.
A couple of ingredients are tossed together to create a gorgeous healthy meal, with minimal cooking. Cooking rice is quick and it won’t heat up your kitchen that much. Other, you can still cook it in the evening when the air cools a bit down. Wink.
This colourful rice salad really screams “summer”. Rice pairs great with anything. Just check my combo with legumes, pulses and sweet corn. Is it just me or do I see Jamaican colours? Black, green and yellow. Wink. Additionally, a grain salad is a benefit for a busy person as it elevates energy levels and prevents indulging in unhealthy snacks.
A zesty lemon-chives dressing gives this black bean peas rice salad a great kick. This dressing is easy and quick to prepare. I love the combination of lemony and mild-onion flavour. It adds freshness and lightness to the dish.
Black beans, rice, frozen peas and corn are also all economical and create a filling dish. More, this grain salad is high in fiber and protein content, low in fat and packed with complex carbohydrates.
Black beans
Black beans are just amazing. They can help you stay full for a longer time and fight your hunger. Also, they can help you with your weight loss as they reduce the number of calories that you enjoy throughout the day.
The black bean peas rice salad is another tasty way to add more black beans to your meals. You can either use canned or dry beans. I used dry beans. They need to be soaked for about 5 hours and then cooked for 30-45 minutes. These black beans do not overcook, which is just perfect for a rice salad.
Choose a variety of colourful, vibrant ingredients, to create a playful combo of textures. I picked black beans, green peas and sweet corn. However, be free to swap the ingredients or add more of them to the salad. As this salad is very adaptable, you can add tomatoes, peppers, pickles, and fruits, such as mango, berries, and grapes. Mix it up and make a great summer dish, such as this nutritious mango-avocado salad.
This delicious and easy rice salad can be made in advance. Kept in the fridge it can last for 3 to 4 days and makes a wonderful mid-week lunch or dinner. Besides being a gorgeous meal, it is a great side dish, too. You can pair it with fish, poultry, shrimps, BBQ or eggs. And for sure it will make your picnic table look more summerish. Wink.
Keep it refrigerated in an airtight container until ready to serve.
Ingredients for 4-5 portions of black bean peas rice salad:
- 300 g rice
- 200 g black beans (cooked or canned)
- 250 g frozen green peas
- 280 g corn (canned)
- salt and pepper
- 1 lemon (juice and zest)
- 2 Tbsp of olive oil
- 1 Tbsp of apple vinegar
- fresh chives (as much as desired)
Start with cooking the rice. Once the rice is “al dente”, transfer it into a sieve to drain. Put in a bowl. At this point, stir the frozen peas directly into the warm rice. Allow to chill off.
In the meantime, prepare the dressing. Wash the lemon under warm water and grate the lemon zest. Then, roll the lemon, cut it in half and squeeze the juice out of it. Wash and drain the chives. In a glass, combine lemon juice, apple vinegar, olive oil, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Chop the chives and stir it into the dressing.
Afterwards, add sweet corn and beans to the rice and peas, season with salt and pepper and add the dressing. Toss to combine, cover with transparent cling film foil and refrigerate for at least one hour.
Finally, fill up the bowls with this delicious summer black bean peas rice salad. A perfect meatless meal on a summer day to keep you fit, healthy and full.
Enjoy.
