Turkish White Bean Salad is super healthy and easy to make with some simple ingredients. Packed with flavors and protein, this salad makes a wonderful vegetarian dish.

Remember Homemade Turkish Meatballs recipe I shared a while ago? They are mostly served with this amazingly tasty Turkish White Bean Salad, which is known as piyaz. They are one of the best couples in our cuisine. There are even special restaurants serving only meatballs and bean salad.

Although we mostly consider this white bean salad as a side dish, I think it makes a great main dish as well. Especially when it gets warmer outside and you crave for a light yet filling recipe. It is such a flavorsome salad that you don’t have to be vegetarian to enjoy it for lunch.

Is it still chilly in your area? Aren’t you in the mood for a salad? Make my Tuscan Bean Soup and warm your soul up! Bookmark this salad recipe and give it a try as soon as spring shows up!

How To Make Turkish White Bean Salad

What I love about this white bean salad recipe is that you can adjust the ingredients to your taste. The main ingredients for this salad are cooked white beans, hard boiled eggs, onions (preferably red), herbs, tomatoes, cucumber and green pepper. Although eggs are traditional in this salad, not everyone uses them. Personally, I love my salad with eggs.

If you don’t have dry beans or don’t feel like soaking them overnight, just use canned beans. Rinse them well and they are ready to use.

Although it’s not a must, I have a staple ingredient in white bean salad: Sumac. Okay, I might be slightly obsessed with this amazingly tangy Middle East spice. I love the tanginess it gives to salads, so I can’t think of a classic Turkish Potato Salad or this white bean salad without sumac.

Combine everything in a bowl except the eggs. Add the eggs on the top after combining everything in the bowl. That’s how I like it but traditionally eggs are combined with other ingredients too.

As for the dressing, it is a very simple one with a good quality olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Whisk them together well and pour over the salad. It balances all the flavors in the salad and you end up with the easiest yet tastiest salad ever. Feel free to add extra olive oil when eating. That’s what I mostly do.

How To Make Quick Pickled Onions

Don’t ever think of making white bean salad without onion. White or red, onion is a must in this salad to have that excellent taste. If you don’t like the taste or smell of raw onion, I have a tip for you. You can make the easiest red onion pickles just as you’re chopping the other ingredients.

Blanch chopped onion and transfer into very cold water. Drain well and pour a mixture of lemon juice, vinegar, sumac and salt over it.

As it sits, you’ll see how its color becomes even more attractive thanks to the acid in lemon and vinegar. This method removes the bitterness and the intense smell of onion. It’s truly optional and you can just toss chopped raw onion as is but it makes a great twist on your salad. The best thing is you can keep it in the refrigerator for some days and use in other salads or even in sandwiches as we do in our Feta Cheese Sandwich With Herbs.

What Goes With White Bean Salad Recipes

Besides being a wonderful side dish when paired with meatballs, chicken or fish recipes, bean salads can be served as a main dish too especially when served with a tasty bread like Rustic Crusty Bread. I wouldn’t crave for anything else if I had a few slices of rustic bread and a bowl of this bean salad.

Also, all types of pickles are perfect to serve with this salad and my favorite is pickled onions. How to make pickled onions in a quick way is included in the recipe below.

Can I Make This White Bean Salad Ahead of Time?

Another great thing about Turkish white bean salad is that it makes a perfect food for picnic or potluck parties as you can make it ahead of time. Adding the dressing on the day you want to serve may be a good idea though so that the salad won’t get too juicy.

Turkish Bean Salad ★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews A tangy white bean salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs and red onion topped with hard-boiled eggs. Author: Zerrin

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 4 servings 1 x

Category: Salad

Cuisine: Turkish Scale 1x 2x 3x Ingredients For the salad: 1 and ½ cups boiled white beans

and ½ cups boiled white beans ½ cup chopped tomatoes

chopped tomatoes ½ cup chopped cucumber

chopped cucumber 2 green peppers, chopped

green peppers, chopped ¼ cup chopped parsley

chopped parsley ¼ cup chopped fresh dill

chopped fresh dill ¼ cup of chopped green onions

of chopped green onions 4 hard boiled eggs Dressing: 2 tablespoons olive oil

olive oil 1 teaspoon vinegar

vinegar 1 tablespoon lemon juice

lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon salt

salt 1 teaspoon sumac For the quick onion pickles: 2 cups hot water

hot water 2 red onions, thinly sliced

red onions, thinly sliced 1 tablespoon lemon juice

lemon juice 1 teaspoon vinegar

vinegar 1 teaspoon salt

salt 1 teaspoon sumac Instructions In a large bowl, combine all ingredients for the salad except the eggs. If you don’t want to pickle onions, just chop the onions thinly and combine with the rest of the ingredients. If you want to pickle onions, skip the dressing and continue with the quick onion pickles below. Whisk everything for the dressing and pour it over the salad. Give it a good stir and top with sliced or halved eggs. To make the quick onion pickles: Throw sliced onions into very hot water, blanch for a minute and transfer them into very cold water to stop cooking. Let them sit in the cold water for a few minutes and drain well. Mix lemon juice, vinegar, salt and sumac and pour this over drained onion. It’s ready to use within 5 to 10 minutes. The longer it waits, the brighter color it has. Add red onions in the salad mixture and give it a good stir. Leave some extra onions for the top. Share the salad into bowls and top with some more red onions. Notes Pickling onions is optional for this recipe. Make either the dressing or quick onion pickles and combine with the salad. Keywords: white bean salad

This post was originally published in 2017 and has been updated.