Let's Talk Bean Salad

[aftermidnite]

I LOVE bean salad ..

I REALLY love a bean salad that is on the Buffett at Ryan's Steakhouse here in Indiana (and may be in other states ).

I have tried for many years to copy cat the recipe but have only come kind of close ..

The fella who used to live with me thought the dressing was almost like a French dressing ..

it was close but not close enough to stop the search ..

I have a bottle of a different French type dressing I am going to try out soon for

a small batch of bean salad ..

That being said  would you wonderful cooks be willing to share your tried and true bean salad recipes ?

I like the vinegar based dressings but also have a fondness for the creamy based dressings as well ...

[Deleted]

I make my own dressing.

Italian seasoning mix.

Makes 1/2 cup dry mix

1 tablespoon garlic powder, called for garlic salt, too salty for us.
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon celery salt

Mix, store in a tight container. Old sprinkle type bottle works good because we sprinkle this on a lot of things. Ours was a cinnamon bottle.

To prepare dressing, whisk or mix together, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup canola oil, 4 tablespoons water and 2 tablespoons of the dry mix. We use a sealed bottle and shake well, we always have a bottle in the fridge, shake well before using.

We use this dressing as a marinade. Brush on when grilling meats and vegetables. Especially like to marinate rabbit and chicken overnight, bake adding a little as needed to keep meat moist. Season rice. Use as salad dressing. Good all around seasoning for potato salad, garden macaroni salad, use dry mix to season fried potatoes and a million other things.

For bean salad, I boil the beans until tender, or rinse and heat a jar of our own.

I dice celery and onion very fine, sweat it in a little butter, reduce heat, add 1 batch of the dressing to pan along with a tablespoon of honey, stir to mix and heat through, remove from heat. Stir in the hot cooked beans. Add other drained, rinsed beans, mix good. We like garbanzo and kidney beans added to our own canned green and yellow wax beans. Cool. Refrigerate. Then salt to taste. We also like to sprinkle a little of this dry Italian seasoning mix over the top, for a little extra kick....James

[calliemoonbeam]

We used to go to Ryan's in Tulsa, but I haven't been there in probably 10 years, don't even know if it's still there.  I did ask about the bean salad one time, though, and they told me they used a simple marinade made up of equal parts sugar, salad oil and apple cider vinegar.  Don't know if that helps or not, but just thought I'd mention it.  

[Deleted]

My bean salad is two cans of kidney beans (drained), a few big globs of mayo, a couple globs of pickle relish, some diced onion, chopped celery, chopped boiled egg, and some paprika.
How much of each? Till it looks right.

[aftermidnite]

Thank You all ..
I am going to mix up a batch of the seasoning mix and make some bean salad using your recipe ..

I do know Ryan's bean salad has spices in it because I was able to buy one bag of the prepared salad (it was frozen )
and you can see the spices in the bag .

I divided that gallon bag into smaller portions(about a cup per bag) and put it in the freezer and dole it out to myself
a little at a time .LOL ..since I was told they were changing suppliers and wouldn't be serving that bean salad any longer ..

It was made for Ryan's by GFS at that time and am not sure who they changed to ..

I haven't been back to Ryan's since then but intend on returning soon and will see if they have a new supplier now.

[kathyinmd]

''''equal parts sugar, salad oil and apple cider vinegar.''''
that's all i use...

[calliemoonbeam]

If you figure it out AM, let us know!     To be honest, it was so long ago that I really don't remember, but now that you said that I do kind of remember thinking they must be leaving something out, lol.  

If you search Google for "marinated seven bean salad" (saw the marinated bean salad specifically mentioned a bunch of times while looking for Ryan's), there are a bunch of different recipes with spices in the dressing, though the beans aren't always the same or even seven, but maybe one of the dressings might work?  Here are just a couple I found:

www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/marinated-bean-salad

www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/marinated-5-bean-salad-1206520

I also looked for "bean salad with French dressing", since you mentioned that, and that might be a good possibility too (not all French dressings are that orange stuff, lol).  Here's a couple:

www.bhg.com/recipe/salads/garden-three-bean-salad-with-fresh-french-dressing/

www.cooks.com/recipe/gb4o522y/3-bean-salad.html

I'd love to find a good bean salad recipe I could can.  There are others I can try, but I'd rather see if someone comes up with a close Ryan's imitation.  

[terrilynn]

My aunt makes a bean salad called Texas Caviar or Cowboy Caviar that is delicious. It has canned black eyed peas, black beans, avacado, corn, green, red, and yellow bell peppers, and tomatoes. It also calls for fresh cilantro and the dressing has raspberry vinegar in it. I can't find the same recipe online that she uses, I am going to have to call her soon to get the recipe because now I am hungry for it!

Also she always serves it with tortilla chips.

[aftermidnite]

Thank You all ..

I will be looking at the links listed above and I can see now that my summer is going to be full
of small batches of bean salad ..LOL....

If I do get the Ryan's copy cat one down pat I will share it all over the place !

[wally]

Aftermidnite, one of DW cookbooks has a mixed bean salad and the dressing is called french dressing. We have not tried it, if you want give it a try. Blend 1/2 tsp dry mustard,1/4 tsp salt,1/2 cup olive oil,2 TBS vinegar,1 crushed garlic clove and fresh pepper to taste. Let stand 1 hour then serve. Hope this helps.

[aftermidnite]

Wally that one sounds good too ...

Will add it to the try list as well ..LOL

Good thing I LOVE bean salad !

[terrilynn]

I dont know if this is what your looking for but I made it today and I can't leave it alone!

Cowboy Caviar

1 red pepper-diced
1 yellow pepper-diced
1 med red onion-diced
6-7 roma tomatoes-diced
1 can black eyed peas- drained and rinsed
1 can black beans-drained and rinsed
1 can corn-drained
2 Avocados-diced
1 garlic clove-minced
1 heaping tsp dried parsley

Dressing:

6 TBL Red Wine Vinegar
6 TBL olive oil
1 TBL lemon juice

Chill 2 hours......serve with tortilla chips

[Deleted]

I found this recipe somewhere online, and although it's probably not what you were thinking of, it is delicious.

Corn and Black Bean Salad With Lime Vinaigrette

• Salad:
• 1 ear fresh sweet corn, roasted and cut into kernels
• 1 can black beans (rinsed)
• ½ red onion, finely minced (or as preferred)
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 1 can green chiles
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• Vinaigrette:
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small lime, juiced (approx 2 T.)
• 1/2 c. vegetable oil
• 2 T. red wine vinegar
• 1 pinch cumin
• 1 pinch crushed red pepper
• 1/8 t. honey
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions
1. Mix salad/salsa ingredients.
2. Mix dressing ingredients using a food processor or shake in jar. I usually let this sit at room temperature for about a half hour to let the flavors get friendly.
3. Add to salad/salsa mixture.
4. Can be served chilled or at room temperature.

This is probably more along the lines of what you are looking for:

Five Bean Salad

1 can cannellini beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can wax beans
1 can green beans
1 cup diced bell pepper (variety of colors)
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced red onion
1 T pepper
1 T onion powder
1/2 to 1 T garlic powder
1/2 T salt
1/2 T red pepper flakes
1/3 cup sugar or Splenda (or to taste)
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

Rinse and drain beans. Stir in remaining ingredients. Refrigerate.

[feather]

Now I'm hungry beyond belief, thank you for the fabulous recipes. I'm heading down to the long term pantry to get some dried beans, to cook them tomorrow. MMMMMM thank you!

[feather]

May 30, 2015 14:30:49 GMT @jwal10 said:

I make my own dressing.

Italian seasoning mix.

Makes 1/2 cup dry mix

1 tablespoon garlic powder, called for garlic salt, too salty for us.
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon celery salt

Mix, store in a tight container. Old sprinkle type bottle works good because we sprinkle this on a lot of things. Ours was a cinnamon bottle.

To prepare dressing, whisk or mix together, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup canola oil, 4 tablespoons water and 2 tablespoons of the dry mix. We use a sealed bottle and shake well, we always have a bottle in the fridge, shake well before using.

We use this dressing as a marinade. Brush on when grilling meats and vegetables. Especially like to marinate rabbit and chicken overnight, bake adding a little as needed to keep meat moist. Season rice. Use as salad dressing. Good all around seasoning for potato salad, garden macaroni salad, use dry mix to season fried potatoes and a million other things.

For bean salad, I boil the beans until tender, or rinse and heat a jar of our own.

I dice celery and onion very fine, sweat it in a little butter, reduce heat, add 1 batch of the dressing to pan along with a tablespoon of honey, stir to mix and heat through, remove from heat. Stir in the hot cooked beans. Add other drained, rinsed beans, mix good. We like garbanzo and kidney beans added to our own canned green and yellow wax beans. Cool. Refrigerate. Then salt to taste. We also like to sprinkle a little of this dry Italian seasoning mix over the top, for a little extra kick....James

I made your italian seasoning mix after I dehydrated some chopped frozen onions I had on hand. It's very good. I made a three bean salad with it, garbanzo beans, northern beans, and black beans with chopped red onion. It is very good. Thank you!