Black Bean Salad with Corn, Avocado & Lime Vinaigrette
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This make-ahead and festive black bean salad is a huge crowd-pleaser. Perfect for a summer cookout!
This black bean salad recipe was sent to me by one of my readers (thank you, Ellen!). It’s a huge crowd-pleaser and one of the most popular recipes on my website. The salad is ideal for entertaining because you can make it ahead of time — in fact, you should because it gets better and better the longer it sits. Try pairing it with my grilled tequila lime chicken or blackened chicken and cornbread for a delicious (and easy!) cookout. Or, for an appetizer spread, serve it tortilla chips for scooping and chicken quesadillas.
Table of Contents
“I have made this about 4 times in the last couple of weeks. My family loves it! The flavors and textures come together perfectly!”
What You’ll Need To Make Black Bean Salad with Corn, Avocado & Lime Vinaigrette
- Black Beans: Form the hearty base of the salad, providing protein and texture.
- Corn: Adds sweetness and crunch and contributes to the salad’s vibrant color.
- Red Peppers: Offer a pop of color and juicy sweetness to the salad.
- Garlic and Shallots: Infuse the salad with aromatic depth of flavor.
- Salt and Cayenne Pepper: Season the salad, balancing flavors and adding a hint of heat.
- Sugar: Balances the acidity of the lime juice and enhances the overall flavor profile of the salad.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Creates a luscious and smooth vinaigrette, binding the ingredients together.
- Lime Zest and Lime Juice: Provide brightness and tanginess, elevating the salad’s flavors.
- Fresh Cilantro: Adds a burst of freshness and herbal aroma to the salad.
- Avocados: Contribute creaminess and richness, complementing the other ingredients perfectly. If you’re unsure of the most efficient way to prepare an avocado, see my step-by-step guide on how to cut an avocado.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by cooking the corn in boiling salted water.
A few minutes is all it takes — you want it super crisp. Refresh the corn under cold water to stop the cooking process.
Place the corn on a clean dish towel set over a cutting board, then use a serrated knife to cut the kernels of the cobs. (The dish towel both dries the corn and prevents it from bouncing all over the place.)
Next, rinse and drain the black beans.
Combine the corn and black beans with the remaining ingredients, except for the avocado.
Toss and chill until ready to serve.
Before serving, dice the avocado and add to the salad. It’s important to add the avocado at the last minute to keep it from turning brown.
Toss well, then taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. You may find that it needs a bit more salt or a squirt of lime juice, as the flavors tend to mellow in the fridge.
That’s all there is to it. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Sure, I recommend chilling it for a few hours or overnight. If necessary, you can make it up to 1 day ahead. Just hold off on adding the avocado until you’re ready to serve to keep it fresh and vibrant.
This is best with fresh corn but when it’s not in season, you can use canned or frozen corn. Just drain and rinse canned corn before adding and if using frozen, ensure it’s thawed beforehand. You’ll need a total of about 2-1/4 cups of corn kernels for the salad.
To add a kick of heat, you can double the cayenne pepper or add a diced jalapeño. For the jalapeño, adjust the amount based on your preference for spiciness, keeping in mind that the heat of the peppers lies in the seeds and veins.
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Black Bean Salad with Corn, Avocado & Lime Vinaigrette
This make-ahead and festive black bean salad is a huge crowd-pleaser. Perfect for a summer cookout!
Ingredients
- 2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
- 3 ears fresh cooked corn, kernels cut off the cob
- 2 red bell peppers, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons minced shallots, from one medium shallot
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 9 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, best quality such as Colavita
- 1 teaspoon lime zest (be sure to zest limes before juicing them)
- 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
- 2 Hass avocados, chopped
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients except for avocados in a large bowl and mix well. Cover and chill for a few hours or overnight. Right before serving, add avocados and mix gently, being careful not to mash avocados. Garnish with a more chopped cilantro if desired. Serve at room temperature.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (8 servings)
- Serving size: 3/4 - 1 cup
- Calories: 464
- Fat: 24 g
- Saturated fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 52 g
- Sugar: 7 g
- Fiber: 15 g
- Protein: 13 g
- Sodium: 591 mg
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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I might add some cumin and diced red onion. The cilantro can be blended into the viniagrette. And fresh corn is only available in summer. Frozen corn is a good substitute and if one has time, the frozen or canned corn can be drained and roasted with a bit of olive oil and some kosher salt. This is a great party recipe.
Trader Joe’s has a frozen sweet white corn that is amazing– try that, as it tastes just like corn that is fresh off of the cob!
I’m snowed in and just made this salad to go along with the grilled tequila lime chicken. Although my chicken is still marinating, I just want to say how absolutely delicious this salad is!!! I made it exactly as called for except I halved it and used canned corn instead of fresh (didn’t have any fresh). It tastes amazing even before chilling! This is a winner and I can’t wait to grill up my chicken. Thank you!! Can’t wait to try more recipes!!
I am looking forward to trying the “veggie crack’ recipe. It says it uses a vinaigrette, but I do not see any vinegar in the recipe, haha. I always like a bit of vinegar, any suggestions? Thanks! Lesli
Hi Lesli, Feel free to replace some of the lime juice with red or white wine vinegar.
Don’t do it, Lesli! The lime juice is what makes this dish sublime (no pun intended). Go with it!
This is a delicious salad, it is worth every bit of effort it takes to make the recipe. I have made this many times and always to rave reviews.
I love your website! And, this salad is delicious, healthy and seriously amazing — no wonder it’s one of your most popular recipes! I can’t wait to try all of your other recipes that I’ve saved. Thank you for all of the wonderful recipes and a great website. I seriously hope a cookbook is in the works and will soon be a reality!
Thank you, Merilyn 🙂
I first pinned this salad in 2010 and gained about 3 mil followers on Pinterest afterwards. It’s THAT good. Healthy, delicious and filling.
I took this to an annual pool party last year. About a week before this year’s party, one of the guys who attended the party last year, said you are going to make the avocado black bean dish again right? I figured if he remembered it a year later, it must be great. And it is, so I took it!
Hello,
If you are making the salad the day before, do you add the avocado at the last minute? Or just put the whole thing together to make sure the flavors blend.
Thank you.
Katherine
Hi Katherine, I would definitely add it at the last minute.
This looks delicious, I can’t wait to make it. If you have to substitute frozen or canned corn for the fresh corn, do you know how many cups of corn you need to equal 3 ears of corn?
Hi Missy, I would say you’d need about 1-1/2 cups.
In spite of the preparation involved – not the least of which is 15-20 minutes to cook corn – this is a seriously fantastic dish. As mentioned, we let it set for a few hours and it paid off (we had before/after taste tests). The one thing we didn’t do was mix in the avocado. We diced a couple but let people add them separately. It just seemed like a soft-ish avocado wouldn’t withstand any mixing and would turn brown over time, in spite of the lime juice.
I couldn’t stop eating this!