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This Dilly White Bean & Cucumber Salad is crunchy, creamy, and packed with zingy, fresh flavor. The perfect vegan & gluten-free dish for a picnic!
This Dilly White Bean & Cucumber Salad is loaded with crunchy vegetables, creamy white beans, lots of fresh dill, and finished off with a simple 4-ingredient lemon & garlic dressing that just can’t be beat. Seriously…I’ve tried to top this dressing, but it is just too delicious!
Ready in 10 minutes, using only 9 ingredients, this warm weather recipe is the perfect easy-to-make dish for a sunny picnic in the park, but also perfect for when you’re stuck at home and wish you were at a picnic instead 🙂
INGREDIENTS + INSPIRATION
Did anyone else always hit the cucumber salad at family picnics and barbecues?! It was one of my favorite dishes every time, no matter how the recipe would vary. The formula always went a little something like this: cucumbers & veggies + olive oil + lemon or vinegar = the cucumber salad of your dreams!
This recipe is inspired by those backyard barbecues and family picnics I enjoyed so much as a kid. Cool Persian cucumber medallions, crisp radish matchsticks, and creamy white beans get seasoned with fresh dill, green onion, sea salt, and freshly cracked black pepper, then tossed in a tangy lemon, Dijon, and olive oil vinaigrette. This will be that cucumber salad of your dreams, I promise.
HOW TO MAKE DILLY WHITE BEAN & CUCUMBER SALAD
This Dilly White Bean & Cucumber Salad is not only tasty, but it’s also super easy to make. You can throw the entire recipe together in less than 10 minutes, which kind of makes this the perfect meal, right? It’s wholesome, it’s filling, and most importantly…it’s the “I’m back for seconds” type of delicious! 😉
- To make the dressing, add the garlic, lemon, oil, mustard, salt, and pepper to a bowl, whisk, and set aside.
- Add the beans, cucumber, radishes, dill, and green onions to a separate bowl and add the dressing. Mix well and season with additional salt and pepper.
- Enjoy immediately or store in the fridge for 15-30 minutes to allow the flavors to combine.
As a side or as a main, this Dilly White Bean & Cucumber Salad is satiating enough either way you serve it. Enjoy it on its own, over some fresh greens (I love arugula), or on a warm slice of toast for an even heartier meal! May I also suggest topping it with some Quick-Pickled Red Onions for an extra crunchy and tangy bite? This stores best in the fridge for up to 5 days. Personally, I think it’s EVEN better on day 2 because all of the flavors get to mingle overnight 😉
If you’re looking for more picnic-perfect salad recipes, you’ll also love this Vegan Macaroni Salad, this Everything Bagel Potato Salad, and this 10-Ingredient Mediterranean Chickpea Salad!
Finally, if you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I love seeing your delicious recreations 🙂
Dilly White Bean & Cucumber Salad
This Dilly White Bean & Cucumber Salad is crunchy, creamy, and packed with zingy, fresh flavor. The perfect vegan & gluten-free dish for a picnic!
- Prep Time: 10 Minutes
- Cook Time: 0 Mintues
- Total Time: 47 minute
- Yield: Serves 2 to 4 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: No-Bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- Juice of 1 small lemon; about 2 tablespoons
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Black pepper, to taste
- 2 15-ounce (225 g) can of white beans*, rinsed and drained (about 3 cups cooked)
- 2 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced (or 1/2 a large cucumber)
- 3–5 radishes, cut into matchsticks
- .75 Oz (21g) fresh dill, stems removed and finely chopped
- 2 green onions, green and white parts thinly sliced
Instructions
- Make the Vinaigrette: add the garlic, lemon juice, oil, mustard, salt, and pepper to a small bowl. Whisk well and set aside for 5 minutes while you prep the remaining ingredients; the lemon juice will mellow out the flavor of the raw garlic.
- Make the Salad: add the beans, cucumber, radishes, dill, and green onions to a large bowl. Add the dressing to the bowl and then mix well until evenly incorporated. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, if necessary.
- Serve: serve immediately, or store in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes before serving, to allow the flavors to combine. more. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
- White Beans: I made this salad with Great Northern Beans, which have a soft and creamy texture. Cannelini or Navy Beans will also give you a similar result. This salad can also be made with chickpeas, but will not be as creamy.
- Oil-Free: replace the oil with 2 tablespoons of a runny tahini for a different (but still delicious!) flavor. You may need to add 1-2 tablespoons of water to your dressing in order to thin it out, depending on the consistency of your tahini
Keywords: vegan bean salad, dill cucumber salad, vegan dill salad, dill bean salad, white bean salad with cucumber, bean salad for picnic
Quick and delicious! I needed to use up some dill and radishes and this was the perfect recipe for that. I accidentally opened a can of chickpeas along with a can of white beans but that combo worked out great as well!
★★★★★
Glad it turned out great, Cheryl!
I wonder if sliced rounds of baby dill pickles
could replace the cucumbers and be just as yummy? I don’t care for cucumbers, but do love dill pickles. Thoughts?
While it’s possible to substitute sliced rounds of baby dill pickles for the cucumbers in the recipe, it’s important to note that it will significantly alter the taste and texture of the dish. Dill pickles are more tangy and briny than cucumbers and may overpower the other flavors in the salad. Additionally, cucumbers have a refreshing and crunchy texture that may be missed if they are replaced entirely by pickles.
However, if you love dill pickles and don’t care for cucumbers, it’s worth a try to see if you enjoy the new flavor profile. You may want to adjust the amount of pickles used and perhaps add a bit more of the other ingredients in the recipe to balance out the flavors. Just keep in mind that the final result may not be exactly the same as the original recipe, but that’s the beauty of experimenting in the kitchen!
Really great salad! Another recipe to add to the rotation! Thank you.
★★★★★
You’re so welcome, Amy!
Made this for a potluck and it was a hit! I multiplied the recipe by 1.5. Couldn’t find radishes at my grocery store, so I used one large carrot instead to get that crunch and a pop of color.
★★★★★
This salad is sublime. Love the flavor & texture mixtures. Consuming gave me a burst of energy.
★★★★★
Glad you liked it, Steve!
New favorite salad/side dish! Made this four times already 🙂
★★★★★
So glad you liked it! Thank you, Diana!
I just made this for what must be the 300th time since you posted the recipe in April. It’s foolproof, easy to halve for just the two of us, easy to double for a crowd. None of the carnivores realize that it’s vegan, but all of the vegans/vegetarians/gluten-frees/nut-frees seek it out. Other than cooking my own beans, I never change a thing.
★★★★★
Wow! That’s a lot of times you’ve made it! 😊 Thank you so much, Eileen!
I love this recipe! It’s been my go-to lunch all summer. I put it on top of avocado toast and top with tomatoes. I also leave the sliced cucumber and radishes out and add them right before I eat lunch so they stay super crisp. Delicious!
★★★★★
Glad you love it, Tess! This is also one of my go-tos. 😊
This salad it’s just perfect thank you so much !!
★★★★★
This recipe is everything it promises to be! I definitely see it becoming a summer meal prep favorite for a long time to come! Thank you for continuously sharing some of the most approachable, flavorful and feel-good content 🙂
★★★★★
Thanks, Maria! I agree, this one is the perfect fuss-free summer meal 🙂
Oops forgot to rate it !
★★★★★
Yum! An easy and delicious “no-cook” recipe. I have been feeling really lazy with cooking lately and this fit the bill. My grocery store was out of fresh dill, so I used dried dill and some cilantro and parsley from my garden. Also went ahead and threw in an entire cucumber, the whole bunch of green onions, and a few extra radishes that came in the bunch at the grocery store. Delicious!
I totally feel you on the no-cook recipes! And I love the added herbs you used too 🙂
I made this recipe for meal prep on Sunday night and it was delicious!! Served with some warm pita and homemade hummus to round out the meal. Will definitely make again! Perfect for a work lunch or picnic.
★★★★★
SO good! Love the simple ingredients—colorful, fresh and delicious. This is going to be a regular salad in the fridge! THANK YOU 🙂
★★★★★
Amazing! This will be my go to for picnics from now on! I only had 1 can of white beans so used a can of pinto with it and kept everything else the same, turned out perfect! This is also great for lunch meal prep! Thanks for sharing 🙂
★★★★★
LOVED THIS. So fresh, so simple. I served it all week for lunch alongside some avocado toast. This recipe will be a summer go to for sure 🙂
★★★★★
This was a great prep-ahead recipe for my WFH lunches this week! It was delicious on top of greens as a salad and as a sandwich filling.
★★★★★
When I saw this recipe, I was like…lemon, garlic, AND DILL? No way! It’s just as delicious as I’d imagined. I did the tahini swap for the oil to keep it whole foods and it seriously took on a ceasar/ranch sort of flavor. Not to mention it took like 10 min to prep. I added about 1 more lemon’s worth of juice to balance out the nutty tahini. So yummy and so fresh. This might be one of my new favorite recipes! Thanks Caitlin!!
★★★★★
This recipe is everything! Caitlin, is also, everything! Her recipes are always so delicious. I love this salad, because it tastes delicious and took no time to make ! 🙂
This recipe is phenomenal! I just made a big batch for lunches this week and had to slap my hand to stop eating it. I used tahini instead of oil (as per your suggestion for oi-free) and also cooked my own beans in the instant pot ahead of time. I had a package of black-eyed peas that I needed to use up but not nearly enough to double the recipe, so I used about 1/3 black-eyed peas and 2/3 baby lima beans (super creamy!). Really, really good. Thank you!
★★★★★