Black Bean and Corn Salad
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Published May 18, 2021, Updated Jul 31, 2023
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This colorful black bean and corn salad is loaded with veggies and takes only minutes to prepare. It’s the perfect summer side for your next cookout or BBQ.
Whether you’re having a backyard BBQ or heading to a potluck, I wanted to share one of my favorite healthy cookout dishes with you. It’s a black bean and corn salad, also known as black bean succotash, and it’s so easy to toss together.
The next time you find yourself needing a last minute BBQ dish I highly recommend trying this recipe.
Black Bean and Corn Salad = LOVE
Here’s why I love this black bean and corn salad:
- It’s sweet, fresh and delicious.
- It’s quick and easy.
- You only need 9 ingredients (and that’s counting salt and pepper).
- It’s colorful.
- It pairs well with everything from burgers to grilled chicken and seafood. <– It’s amazing as a topping for grilled salmon.
- Did I mention it’s quick and easy?
Black Bean and Corn Salad Ingredients
Here’s everything you need to make this simple salad:
- sweet frozen corn kernels – I like using frozen corn kernels for ease, but you can absolutely use fresh sweet corn as well!
- black beans – I used canned black beans, but you can totally cook them from dry beans if you’d like.
- bell pepper – red bell pepper adds the perfect pop of color, but any color works if you’re in a pinch!
- red onion – you can use yellow onion for a more mild onion flavor if you prefer, but I like the color (and flavor) that red onion adds to the salad.
- red wine vinegar – a tangy base to the dressing that pairs really well with the vegetables and olive oil.
- fresh parsley – I love the flavor that fresh herbs add to the salad. Fresh cilantro would also be delicious!
- olive oil – oil helps to balance the vinegar and adds healthy fats to the salad.
- sea salt and pepper – to season and bring all of the flavors together!
Variations
The fun thing about this salad is how many variations there are! Here are some ways to switch it up:
- Jalapeño – add in some spice with jalapeño. Just de-seed, dice and add as much as you’d like to the salad.
- Grilled corn – if you’re using fresh sweet corn you can grill it for extra flavor. Cut it from the cob and make the salad as the recipe recommends. This will take the salad to a whole other level.
- Grilled peppers – same with the peppers! Lightly char them for extra flavor.
- Cilantro – like I mentioned above, this salad would be delicious with cilantro as well!
- Beans – you can swap the black beans for a different type of bean if you’d like. Chickpeas would be delish!
- Avocado – add some healthy fats and a delicious creaminess to the salad with chopped avocado.
How to Serve Black Bean and Corn Salad
This salad is super versatile! Here’s what I like to serve it with:
- Chicken – this is the perfect side for my grilled curry chicken or this apple cider vinegar chicken.
- Burgers – this salad is delicious with any burger but I especially love it with this cilantro lime chicken burger.
- Salmon – I’m obsessed with this black bean and corn salad served over balsamic salmon.
- With chips – yep, you read that right. This salad is delicious eaten with tortilla chips like a corn salsa!
How to Store Leftovers
This salad stores super well… and honestly gets better with time as the flavors marinate together. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
More Summer Salads to Try
- Easy Fruit Salad
- Classic Broccoli Salad
- Mexican Street Corn Salad
- Mango Jicama Slaw
- Clean Eating Healthy Pasta Salad
- Healthy Potato Salad
- Asparagus Salad with Lemon and Feta
- Avocado Corn Salad
- Cowboy Caviar
Black Bean and Corn Salad
Ingredients
- 1 bag 16 oz sweet frozen corn kernels, defrosted*
- 1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 large red onion, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Toss together veggies and beans: Combine corn, black beans, bell pepper and red onion in a large bowl.
- Add dressing: Stir in the parsley, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Serve: Serve right away or chill in the fridge until ready to serve. Store leftovers in a covered dish the fridge.
Notes
- To defrost frozen corn: Run under cold water to quickly thaw and drain well.
- Fresh corn can be used here as well. You’ll probably need 4-5 ears of corn to get 4 cups!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
GRRREAT potluck dish for Easter (or anytime)!!
we had a rock’n weekend – and i hope you enjoyed yours as well!
i’m fo ‘sho gonna have to give your black bean succotash a try! i loooooove me some butter beans & red bell pepper – two of my favorites! mmmmmmmmmm! thanks for the recipe!
I have never had succotash – sounds great!
Delish! I love bean salads.
That IS really easy. And the ingredients are easy to have on hand all the time. Thanks!
That looks amazing — I love bean aslad!
oh that photo of the black bean succotash looks scrumptious! i love the veggies!
Wow that looks SO great!!
that looks delicious! thanks so much for posting the recipe 😀
have a great day <3
This looks amazing! Thanks for sharing.
zesty
Mmm, that reminds me of a dish my mom makes! I think it’s time I did it myself. 🙂
Yum! I bet that tastes better each day!
that looks and sounds amazing! thanks for the recipe!
Mmmm, super colorful. Looks delicious!
Looks amazing!!
Yum! I love black bean and corn together–I call it “bumble bee” salad.
looks delish! and SO easy! Thanks for sharing 😉
That’s it? Wow, so easy and sounds delicious. Definitely bookmarking this one. Thanks!
Bean salads are the best. High protein and high fiber means we get full on only a little. And they are even better after a few days in the fridge. I am thinking I would go with green peas instead of the corn as I don’t do corn.
Great dish – thanks for sharing!
Oh yum! Dishes like these are my favorite!
always love to eat a colourful dish!!! yumm
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I love side dishes like this, as they can easily be made ahead of time and they get better with “age.” Happy weekend to you!
These look so delicious! I love the look of the succotash and that sweet potato salad mmm!
I am making this this weekend! Thank you!
What a great looking recipe! That sounds great. I think my family would love this. thanks for sharing.
My SIL makes that and it is delish! Hope you had a great Memorial Day!
emma
What a great looking recipe! I am so making that next week!! One pan, healthy, tasty, easy! This sounds great! Thanks for the recipe!
I LOVE a one pot meal. This looks and sounds great. We will be having this!
Approximately how many portions are in this recipe? I’m planning to make that beautiful looking salad for my family and I’m expecting quite generous group of people, so I would like to make enough for all of us in one go. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Hi Lola. The portions will depend on how you’re serving the dish. If you’re serving it as the main meal it should probably serve about 4 people. If you’re serving it as a side item, it should serve 6-8. It all depends on how big your servings are. 🙂 Hope this helps.
Thanks Brittany,
I’m planning to serve it as a side dish, with some grilled meat, so I think that should be enough, because I’m planning to do second salad as well. Thank you for your prompt replay.
can’t wait to try this one! On the cold versus hot note – I have had another version that was dressed in a thyme vinaigrette, meant to be eaten cold/room temp as a salad, it was also pretty yummy.
I LOVE the succotash too! I love it even more when it’s as beautiful as this dish looks!
I love making cookies, breads and anything the kids want to help me with.
Delish – absolutely delish! Made this for dinner tonight and I cannot wait to enjoy leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Thanks for a great-tasting crockpot recipe!!
Ahh yay!! I’m so glad you enjoyed this salad, Hannah. Thanks so much for trying it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. 🙂
Made this today for a quick and easy lunch salad. Delicious!
I’m so glad this recipe was a hit, Laura! Thanks so much for the review. I really appreciate it!
Here in MN I’ve seen this same salad called cowboy caviar.it is SO good! I decided I’m going to bring it to our church picnic on Sunday.
That’s so great, Debbie! Glad you’re enjoying it 🙂
Love it!
Yay!! So glad this recipe was a hit, Lori! Thanks so much for making it and coming back to leave a review. It means the world to me!
I did not have parsley instead used cilantro leaves spice delicious. Would definitely make again
So glad you enjoyed this salad, Cathy! Thanks for making it. I appreciate it. 🙂
This is delicious and so quick and easy to make. I lightly grilled the red pepper & as I didn’t have parsley I used cilantro.
I had this with EBF Easy Quinoa Salad, some grilled chicken & burgers. It was perfect!
Ahh yay!! So glad you enjoyed this salad, Susannah! Thanks for trying it and for the review. I so appreciate it!
Meals like this have been saving my hide this summer with baseball every night! Love the addition of the beans! Pinned 🙂
Yay! So pumped this black bean and corn salad has been a hit, Harold! Thanks for the review 🙂
Easy, delicious and nutritious! I accompanied it with brown rice a some vegetables.Save me a lot of time!!!
Easy, delicious and nutritious! I accompanied it with brown rice a some vegetables.
Woo!! So glad this black bean and corn salad was a hit, Micaela! Love that you served it with brown rice and veggies- sounds delish. Thanks for the review!!
These look so delicious I love meatballs! I love that you made these with ground turkey too.
Thanks, Ashley! Let me know if you make them and how they turn out 🙂
Wow, you have such stunning photos! And these stuffed bell pepers – YUM! These have been on my bucket list for so long – thanks for pushing me to finally give it a try.
Ah yay! This makes me so happy to hear! So glad this recipe was a success, Joseph. Thanks for the review 🙂
So yummy and fresh!! Thanks for such a simple, quick and satisfying recipe!
So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Shweta! Thanks for making it and coming back to leave a review. I really appreciate it!
Fantastic recipe!!! Did not change anything in recipe. Tastes wonderful!! This is my new go-to chicken recipe! Thanks!
Ah yay!! So pumped this recipe was a hit, Kelly! Thanks for trying it out and coming back to leave a review and star rating. It means so much to me!
I need more recipes like this in my back pocket for when it’s a crazy night and we have no groceries and i don’t know what else to make.
This is a great tip! I am writing 31 days of creative homemaking and I have a slow cooker tips post coming up! Will definitely link over to this post! Gotta love that slow cooker…such a miracle worker!
Using this recipe was a huge A++! It is amazing. I’ll be making this often. Thank you so much!
Ah yay! This makes me so happy to hear. Thanks for the review, Nikki. I really appreciate it!
YUMM! This salad is bursting with flavor and is the perfect side for grilling out. Will DEFINITELY make again. Thank you 🙂
I’m so happy to hear this, Cristina! Thanks for making it and coming back to leave a review. It means so much to me.
That looks so good. I may try this out.
Thanks, Beatrice. Let me know how it turns out for you! 🙂
Excellent salad..easy to make, healthy and delicious!
So glad you liked this recipe, Melanie! Thank you for leaving a comment + review, I appreciate it!
This is delicious!!!
Yay! So glad you liked this one, Rhonda!
Made a huge batch of this salad for the family to celebrate the 4th of July. It was a hit! Love it!
I’m so glad this salad was a hit. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + review. I so appreciate it!
Long should I let salad marinate before serving
You can serve it right away or let it marinate in the fridge for a few hours before serving. Either works!
How long should I let this salad marinate before serving can I marinate it overnight before serving
I have a similar recipe but see several different ingredients. Looks and sounds delicious.
Thanks so much! Hope you enjoy this recipe!
Beautiful and delicious. I marinated the onions in the vinegar and salt for few minutes to reduce the bite.
WOO! Sounds delicious, glad you are loving this salad, Sharon. Thank you for sharing your review + star rating, I really appreciate it!
So quick and delicious! My family Loves this!
Yay! I am so glad this recipe is a hit for you and your whole family, Kim. Thank you for sharing your review + star rating, it means so much to me!
This was so delicious! I forgot to get parsley at the store (dang it!) but had some cilantro in the fridge – so I substituted that in and it turned out great! Whew! My family LOVED this dish (& a great way to sneak in veggies and fiber too!) Thank you for this fantastic recipe! ツ
WOO! This is such a win, Gina. I am so glad you and your family are loving this salad and it turned out fabulous for you. Thank you for coming back and sharing your review & star rating, I really appreciate it!