Four Bean Salad

Four bean salad is the workhorse bean salad of the American picnic table, a slightly sweet, properly tangy potluck staple that gets better as it sits in the fridge. The mix is right there in the name: chickpeas, red kidney beans, green beans, and yellow wax beans, each bringing its own color, shape, and texture to the bowl.

The dressing is essentially a quick sweet-pickle brine. Apple cider vinegar and honey go in equal parts (a full cup of each), with a tablespoon of olive oil to round out the bite. As the salad sits, the beans absorb that sharp-sweet liquid and turn deeply flavorful. The minimum four-hour chill is non-skippable; eight hours or overnight is even better.

Thin-sliced onion and chopped scallions soften in the dressing as it marinates, losing their raw bite while keeping their crunch.

Pro Tips

• Drain and rinse the canned beans thoroughly. Canned bean liquid is starchy and salty, and it dilutes the dressing and turns the salad cloudy.
• Slice the onion as thin as you possibly can, almost transparent. Thick onion slices stay sharp even after marinating; paper-thin ones mellow into something almost candied.
• Stir the salad gently a few times during the chill to redistribute the dressing. Beans at the top dry out otherwise.
• Use apple cider vinegar, not white. White vinegar tastes harsh and one-dimensional in this kind of marinade; apple cider has the rounded sweetness that plays right.

Variations

• Add a finely diced red bell pepper or chopped celery for crunch and color.
• Swap honey for maple syrup for a deeper, less floral sweetness.
• Add a teaspoon of celery seed or a small amount of yellow mustard to the dressing for an old-fashioned American picnic flavor.