Black Bean Edamame Salad with Avocado

This easy Black Bean Edamame Salad recipe features sweet corn, creamy avocado, and just 8 simple ingredients! It's packed with hearty plant-based protein and fresh, vibrant veggies. (Vegan, gluten-free, oil-free.)

This vibrant Black Bean Edamame Salad comes together with just 8 simple ingredients! It's packed with plant-based protein and fresh, bright flavors.

It features a hearty combination of black beans, edamame, avocado, sweet corn, and red onion. Then it's tossed in a zesty cilantro lime dressing for a refreshing, flavorful bite.

Best of all, it's quick and easy to prepare and perfect as a side dish or main dish. So it's great for meal prep, take-along lunches, summer gatherings, picnics, or potlucks.

I especially love it in the summertime when tomatoes and sweet corn are at their peak, but it's a delicious, nourishing dish all year round!

Ingredients for Black Bean Edamame Salad

For this recipe, you'll toss together in a large bowl:

• Black beans: You'll need one 15-ounce can of black beans for this recipe. (Or if you cook your own from scratch, use about 1.5 cups cooked beans.)
• Edamame: These are green soybeans. Most often I purchase organic frozen edamame beans and then defrost them according to package instructions. I've seen frozen edamame either in the pods or shelled, so find whatever's available in your area and shell them if needed.
• Roma tomatoes: Or substitute grape tomato, cherry tomatoes, or other garden tomato if desired. Just be sure they're ripe and flavorful!
• Sweet corn: Either cooked fresh, canned corn kernels, fire-roasted, or thawed frozen corn.
• Red onion: I like this variety of onion best, but you can substitute green onion for a milder flavor.
• Fresh cilantro
• Fresh lime juice: Or you can swap in fresh lemon juice instead if needed.
• Avocado: You'll need one large avocado. I try to find ones that are ripe yet still mostly firm with a little softness. This helps prevent them from becoming too mushy in the salad. (Or if you're not a fan of avocado, simply leave it out!)
• Salt: I use fine grain salt for this recipe. You can also include black pepper to taste if desired.

Customizing

Flavors: Expand this salad however you see fit! Add a dash of ground cumin, one clove minced garlic (or garlic powder), lime zest, cayenne pepper for a little spice, or agave for some sweetness.

Dressing: I prepare the dressing oil-free, but you can toss in a tablespoon of good quality extra-virgin olive oil if you wish. You can also reduce the lime juice and add apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar as well.

Vegetables: Include red bell peppers, roasted bell pepper, jalapeno, cucumber, or whatever else sounds good.

Serving

This is a fantastic make-ahead dish because the flavors intensify after it chills in the fridge. So it's a great option for picnics, potlucks, take along lunches, meal prep, etc. I find it keeps for about 2-3 days stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Making ahead of time: Feel free to save the avocado to cut and add right before serving. This helps keep it fresh.

Try it as a dip! You can also serve this as a dip with your favorite tortilla chips.

For more inspiration, also browse all vegan salad recipes or avocado recipes.

If you're enjoying this Black Bean Avocado Edamame Salad recipe, also check out:

• Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad
• Mexican Sweet Potato Bowl
• Cilantro Lime Brown Rice

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