The first time I ate three bean salad was in a restaurant on a family vacation.  The next time I encountered it was on a salad bar in a pizza parlor.  Stores sell it in jars and cans, but I have never tried to make it myself until today.  Probably, the best way to make this salad would be to cook the beans from scratch, but I wanted to make this as simple as possible.

The only real work that was needed was to thinly slice some red onion and bell pepper.  We used half of a small-medium red onion.  This measured about a cup.  Then 1/2 of a small bell pepper was thinly sliced.  This was about 1/2-3/4 of a cup.Once the vegetables were sliced, cans of cut green beans, cut yellow wax beans, and kidney beans were drained and rinsed.    Rinsing helps to remove some of the salt, and in the case of the kidney beans, removes the canning liquid which can muddy up the appearance of the salad. The beans and vegetables were then tossed together in a bowl with about 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, and Italian dressing.  We like a lot of black pepper.  If you don’t, you may want to use less.   Like my mother said.  You can always add more pepper later when you serve it, but you can’t take it out.

For best flavor, the three bean salad should be chilled in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving.

It’s simple and delicious.  Here’s the printable recipe.  Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Thanks for Visiting Patty Cake’s Pantry.