And here you thought you can’t can salad! This bean salad is a time-honoured crowd pleaser.
When you serve it, drain, then toss with a tablespoon of oil.
Easily doubled and tripled. This really is great to have on hand as a salad to take to parties, etc., at the last minute.
The recipe
Jar size: Half-litre (1 US pint / 500 ml/ 16 oz)
Processing method: Water bath or steam canning
Yield: 5 x half-litre (US pint) jars
Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)
Processing time: 15 minutes (all jar sizes)
Four Bean Salad
Ingredients
- 750 ml white vinegar (5% acidity or higher. (3 cups / 24 oz)
- 550 g sugar (white. 2 ½ cups / 20 oz)
- 1 tablespoon mustard seed
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 4 teaspoons pickling salt
- 300 ml water ( 1 ¼ cups / 10 oz)
- 700 g green beans (4 ½ cups / 1 ½ lbs. Cut into 4 cm / 1 ½ inch slices. Measurements after prep.)
- 700 g yellow beans (4 ½ cups / 1 ½ lbs. Cut into 4 cm / 1 ½ inch slices. Measurements after prep.)
- 200 g celery (About 2 cups, 7 oz in weight. About 3 stalks. Cut into 2 cm / ¾ inch pieces. Measurements after prep.)
- 250 g onion (sliced thinly. 1 ⅔ cups, ½ lb, 1 large. Measurements after prep.)
- 150 g red bell pepper (diced. 1 medium / 1 cup / 5 oz. Measured after seeding, coring.)
- 250 g kidney beans (cooked, drained. 1 ½ cups / ½ lb)
- 250 g chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans. Cooked, drained. 1 ½ cups / ½ lb)
- Pickle Crisp (optional)
- bay leaves (optional)
Instructions
- Make the picking solution by combining in a large pot everything from the vinegar down to and including the water. Set aside.
- Prep the green beans, yellow beans, celery, onion and bell pepper. You can combine all in a large pot. Set aside.
- Put a large kettle or pot of water on to boil.
- Put the brine on a low burner to start simmering.
- Pour the water that you boiled over the veggies in their pot. Bring the veggie pot to a boil over medium high heat, then add the kidney and garbanzo beans and reduce to a gentler boil for 5 minutes.
- Drain the veggies.
- Divvy the drained veg mixture out among the jars.
- Leave 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
- In each jar, also tuck a bay leaf (optional) and put ⅛th teaspoon Pickle Crisp (optional).
- Bring pickling mixture to a full boil, then turn off heat.
- Divvy the pickling solution out amongst the jars, leaving 2 cm (½ inch) headspace. If you are short of pickling solution, add a bit of heated white vinegar (not water) directly to the jars that need it. (Quick zap in microwave for the heated vinegar; mind the surge as you remove it.)
- Debubble, adjust headspace.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Process in a water bath or steam canner.
- Process jars for 15 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.
- Best after at least a month of jar time.
Nutrition
Reference information
How to water bath process.
How to steam can.
When water-bath canning or steam canning, you must adjust the processing time for your altitude.
Australia and New Zealand vinegar strength special notes.
What is the shelf life of home canned goods?
Recipe notes
- Instead of the salt, you can use a non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub. We have found Herbamare Sodium-Free performs well in that regard.
- You can reduce the sugar, or use the same volume amount of granulated Splenda®, or use 3 teaspoons of liquid stevia. For stevia, we’d recommend Better Stevia liquid stevia.
- Instead of the kidney beans and chickpeas, you could use fresh shelled Lima beans.
Recipe source
Pickled Three Bean Salad. In: Ball Blue Book. Muncie, Indiana: Healthmark LLC / Jarden Home Brands. Edition 37. 2014. Page 136.
Kingry, Judi and Lauren Devine. Ball / Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving. Toronto: Robert Rose. 2015. Page 310.
Modifications made:
- Swapped out 500 g (1 lb) lima beans and swapped in 250 g (½ lb) each of kidney and garbanzo beans
See also Pickled Three Bean Salad from the USDA at the National Center, which uses kidney and garbanzo beans, and adds oil.
Nutrition information
Serving size: 250 g / 1 cup
Sugar and salt-free version
Per 250 g / 1 cup: 226 calories, 220 mg sodium
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
* Better Stevia ® is a registered trademark of the NOW Foods Company.
* Herbamare ® is a registered trademark of the A. Vogel Corporation.
* Pickle Crisp ® is a registered trademark of the Newell Corporation.
Caroline
Im the bean salad recipe – which are the ingredient needed for safe processing? Is it just the vinegar? Is so, could i put beans in the jar and add 750 ml vinegar mixed with the 300ml water and pour over beans and then can?
Healthy Canning
The main critical control factors for safety are (A) the acidity and (B) the heat processing. So, nope, the heat processing can’t be skipped.
Caroline
Hi. I don’t think I was clear in my above comment -sorry. I meant “could i just can green beans with the vinegar and water solution only. Then water bath can. Or does it require the salt and sugar to be preserved?
Healthy Canning
Hi Caroline, the salt and sugar here are seasonings and can be omitted, or swapped for a salt sub and an alterative sweetener, as in the Recipe Notes above.