by 
This green olive bean salad really has it all — it’s protein-packed, fiber-rich, loaded with flavor and micronutrients, among many other things. It’s safe to say that this bean salad is living rent-free in my fridge!
This green olive bean salad is a combo of not one but two beans (both chickpea and butter beans), loads of castelvetrano olives, parsley, cilantro, aromatics, and a sweet honey dijon vinaigrette. Plus, the beauty of this chickpea salad is that it tastes better the longer it sits (within limits, of course). Making it perfect for meal prep.
Green Olive Bean Salad Ingredients
Here’s everything you’ll need for this green olive chickpea salad.
- Chickpeas
- Butter beans: I highly recommend Strianese canned butter beans (also labeled fagioli bianchi di Spagna); they taste amazing!
- Castelvetrano olives: Aka my favorite olive variety, but any green olive will work here.
- Fresh cilantro
- Fresh parsley
- Shallots: Feel free to use red onion instead or even pickled red onions if you have them on hand.
- Fresh garlic
- Lemons
- Olive oil
- Honey: If you’re vegan, swap the honey for maple syrup.
- Dijon mustard
- Spices: Including ground cumin, ground coriander, and cayenne pepper. Feel free to swap out the cayenne pepper for 1 tsp of red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper.
- Kosher salt
A Visual Guide to this Salad
Prep the salad base (beans, olives, shallots, and herbs) and add everything to a large mixing bowl. I like to chop the shallots finely — it helps them quick-pickle in the dressing faster.
To make the dressing, whisk everything together in a jar until emulsified. Taste and adjust for salt or honey as needed.
Pour all the dressing over the salad and toss together. Adjust for salt as needed and let sit at least 30 minutes before serving. Not only will the beans absorb some of the dressing, but it will also help quick-pickle the shallots, making them milder and sweeter.
Store any leftovers in an airtight glass container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Serving Suggestions
My vehicle of choice for the green olive bean salad is toasted sourdough with a generous smear of ricotta – it’s the perfect quick-and-easy lunch. However, you can enjoy the salad on its own. Because it’s just that good!
Can’t wait for you to make this green olive bean salad. Don’t forget to leave a starred rating and review — love hearing from you!
Print
Green Olive Bean Salad
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Rest Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 3–4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner, Salads
- Cuisine: American
Description
Ingredients
Salad Base
- 1 can (13.4 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (13.4 oz) butter beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup (115g) castelvetrano olives, halved
- 1 medium shallot, finely chopped (65g chopped)
- 1/2 cup finely minced cilantro
- 1/2 cup finely minced parsley
Honey Dijon Vinaigrette
- 3 tbsp (30g) lemon juice
- 3 tbsp (34g) olive oil
- 1 tbsp (12g) honey (a heaping tablespoon)
- 1 small clove garlic, finely grated
- 1 tsp (5g) dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (sub with 1 tsp red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper)
Instructions
- Prep the base. Prep the salad base (beans, olives, shallots, and herbs) and add everything to a large mixing bowl. I like to chop the shallots finely — it helps them quick-pickle in the dressing faster.
- Make the dressing. To make the dressing, whisk everything together in a jar until emulsified. Taste and adjust for salt or honey as needed.
- Toss everything together. Pour all the dressing over the salad and toss together. Adjust for salt as needed and let sit at least 30 minutes before serving. Not only will the beans absorb some of the dressing, but it will also help quick-pickle the shallots, making them milder and sweeter. Store any leftovers in an airtight glass container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Made this amazing salad and added cherry tomatoes as they are in season and I had a bounty of them . So so good . The dressing was a winner and I will make it again and again I’m sure !
Fantastic!! Love the flavors – olives with beans is absolutely magical!!
Delicious! Will make again.
easy knockout summer recipe
I discovered this recipe on Sunday. It’s now Thursday and I’ve made it 3 times already! I don’t like cilantro so I went without. I also doubled (okay, tripled) the amount of garlic. The flavors and textures are great. I might char some lemon and add it to the next batch to add a smoky element. Thank you for the recipe!
This bean dish looks delicious. We dont like the taste of cilantro. Is it possible to substitute another herb?
Absolutely, parsley would work great!
I make this like once a week for my work lunch!! It’s great sitting overnight & at room temp. If I wanna bulk it up w/ veggies I add cucumbers & radish
I can’t get enough of this and have introduced it to several friends who love it too. I add chopped celery and/or nuts for crunch. Sometimes I use maple syrup instead of honey. Sometimes I add other kinds of olives too. Everything makes this even more incredible.
I LOVE this salad and make it at least once a week. I like to add a jar of sundried tomatoes. So good.
ooo sun-dried tomatoes in this is GENIUS!!! thank you so much for leaving a review, appreciate it 🫶🏼
It was so delicious we finished it in one meal ! I didn’t find honey so I substituted with maple syrup, no fresh herbs (used dried instead) and less olives because I lacked a full jar, it was still delicious and I’ll make it again for sure!
Wow this was very tasty. Will definitely make again.
This was a perfect light side!!!!!!! Thank you so much! I paired mine with filet mignon and it was absolutely a crowd pleaser!
So delicious and unique. It lasted in the fridge for days and days. I served it on a bed of romaine.
Ah so happy to hear – thank you so much for leaving a review!! 🙂
Incredible! Just made it for the first time today and I can’t get enough! Thank you for this new staple 🙂
This salad is easy to make the flavors are wonderful
Hubs loves bean salads and loves heat! I used cayenne infused olive oil, double the dressing, and add 5 sliced jalapeños & one whole chopped cucumber. Granddaughter added another tablespoon of red pepper flakes (knows Papa well!)- hands down his favorite bean salad recipe!
So tasty, it goes well with lots of main dishes.
I make a double batch to last the week. I use the olive oil that comes with the olives it has a great toasted flavor and left over olive oil for salads.
This recipe is perfection! I did no change a thing. So
Good!
Since discovering your recipe two weeks ago, I’ve made this salad six times! It’s absolutely so delicious! When I first read through the recipe, I thought, “cilantro with a honey-dijon vinaigrette? How strange!” But it was fantastic! The flavors burst and make so much sense! Then at one point I made the mistake of running out of cilantro. I figured it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but boy, was I wrong! The salad completely changed and it just didn’t taste even close to the same. Anyway, I’m absolutely obsessed. Thank you so much for such a brilliant salad with such simple ingredients ❤️
This salad is amazing!! Super filling and beyond quick to make!
So happy you liked it! Thank you SO much for leaving a review 🫶🏼
This is delicious. It’s the dressing which makes it, although I did increase the cumin and red pepper flakes. Not a fan of Lima beans so swapped for edamame-perfect!I also followed reviewers comments and added sun-dried tomatoes and celery…both great additions!Will make again
One of my favorite salads to make! Super simple but so flavorful and filling. I used basil & mint from my garden this past time & loved it. Thanks for the great recipe!
I looooove this salad! Green olives are my favorite, and the honey dijon dressing is so flavorful — enhances all the ingredients. I added toasted pine nuts for added nutty crunch. So good!
I had a thought the other night, apropos of nothing much besides noticing I had bought too many cans of white beans – hmm, wouldn’t castelvetrano olives go wonderfully with white beans and mushrooms? I wonder if there’s a recipe out there somewhere that I can browse to get a little additional inspiration from – and lo and behold, I found this wonderful, wonderful collection of cozy, healthful, delicious, beautiful foods! I want to eat all of them! (Well, nearly all: I’m a vegan and so appreciate that you so often provide vegan subs for non-vegan recipes.) Anyway, on to this dish! I started by making it as written, except tripling the garlic (I love garlic!) and subbing in a vegan honey and less than a heaping spoonful, because I know I don’t like dressings too sweet. It was delicious made nearly as written, although still a tad too sweet for me personally. Then I added in mint chiffonade, which was fantastic. From there I added fresh cherry tomatoes, as another reviewer had suggested – those were sweet enough that if I made this again, I’d just omit sweetener and include either fresh or sundried tomatoes. Because my original inspiration was to include mushrooms, I lightly sauteed some quartered baby bellas with garlic and tossed those in, and I decided to add some chopped artichoke hearts as well, which, with the mint, kind of made it a cross between this and your za’atar bean salad. Because of my additions, I needed a bit more dressing, so I added more olive oil, lemon, cayanne, cumin, dijon, and coriander, and then to even out the sweetness, I added a few splashes of red wine vinegar.
*ridiculously good*
I decided to serve per your suggestion on crusty sourdough toast. I ran out of vegan ricotta (if you haven’t tried Treeline, that’s another favorite of mine besides Kitehill) so I sprinkled with vegan parmesan (I used Rebel – they ship nationwide! – but Violife is delish too, just in case anyone reading needs vegan cheese recc’s) and then – and this next part, besides wanting to compliment this entire site, was the main reason for my comment – to add a little creaminess that ricotta would have given (the parm covered the sharpness), I drizzled with tahini. HOLY TASTEBUDS. So the point of my long musing is 1) YOU’RE GREAT AND THIS SITE IS GREAT and 2) try adding tahini on top!!!!
I love someone else’s suggestion to add toasted pine nuts, and I might do that next time, or, if I’m feeling very indulgent, marcona almonds, which are to almonds what castelvetrano are to olives (so, Italian, buttery, and indulgent). But the tahini might have already served the same-ish purpose.
Next up I’m going to make your sundried tomato pesto eggy sourdough sandwiches except with vegan eggs. And that tangerine ginger passionfruit kombucha refresher because I have too many tangerines. And the zucchini farro. Thank you for this really unique and intentional site. I want to eat everything you eat.