This versatile Loaded Veggie Salad is EASY to make and it is packed with healthy ingredients, such as chickpeas, black beans, tomatoes and avocados. It is a delicious lunch, wrap filling, party side dish or even a topping for chicken!
Why This Recipe Works
One thing I have missed since living in our RV is counter space. Chopping veggies with little counter space is not an easy task. Which is why I love this Loaded Veggie Salad! Minimal veggie chopping is involved and most of the ingredients come from a can (with a few fresh thrown in!).
I love how easy, colorful, crunchy and versatile this yummy little salad is. It is a great recipe to have hanging out in your fridge throughout the week and it’s also great for parties. I love this salad! It is one of my favorite easy recipes on the planet.
How To Make Veggie Salad
Grab a large bowl and combine the following ingredients:
- Black beans
- Chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- Diced tomatoes
- Corn
- Diced green chiles
- Red onion
- Green bell pepper
- Jalapeño pepper (optional)
- Fresh cilantro
- Juice from 2 limes
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Mix it together, cover and refrigerate until you are ready to eat or serve it. Just before devouring and/or serving, top with chopped avocado. No oily, calorie-laden salad dressing is necessary for this one!
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Recipe Notes
- My favorite thing about salads like this one is the versatility. Here are a handful of ideas for ways to enjoy Loaded Veggie Salad: as a solo lunch salad, a topping for a leafy salad along with grilled chicken, a complement to scrambled eggs, a wrap filling and a dip for chips.
- To make the salad even more fresh, replace canned diced tomatoes with a pint of halved grape or cherry tomatoes. Or chop a big, juicy, ripe Roma or heirloom tomato!
- Cut the corn off cobs in place of the canned corn for an even fresher salad.
- For an extra touch of yum, add 1-2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar.
- Thinly sliced green onions or chopped fresh green beans would both be great additions to this recipe.
- This is a great recipe to add to your meal prep list! See my first bullet point about its versatility. I promise you’ll eat it up in various ways in just a few days!
- I typically use a green bell pepper for this salad, but feel free to use a red, orange or yellow bell pepper instead!
- A friend of mine added a tablespoon or so of dijon mustard to this salad and LOVED it. Give this a try!
- This recipe is 100% gluten free so if you love to watch nutritional facts on a recipe, at least you know this one is healthy and great for a GF diet!!
What Are The Best Vegetables To Put In a Salad
Vegetables are made for salads, so in my opinion every veggie is fair game. Seriously. Every single vegetable on the planet belongs in salad, but here are a few of my faves:
Tomatoes, avocados, onions (yellow, red or green), cucumbers, bell peppers (red, yellow, green or orange), jalapeno peppers, carrots, artichokes, celery, mushrooms, lettuce and kale. The ingredients in this Loaded Veggie Salad create the most perfect combination of flavors.
What Are Chickpeas
Chickpeas are legumes that are grown in tropical or sub-tropical climates that when mashed, turn into delicious hummus. Chickpeas are a great addition to salads, as well, because of their unique flavor and crunch.
Are Chickpeas Keto
While chickpeas are healthy and delicious, they aren’t a great option for the keto diet since a 1/2-cup serving contains approximately 13 grams of carbohydrates.
Health Benefits of Eating Chickpeas
Also known as garbanzo beans, chickpeas have a great texture, they are a little nutty in flavor and they’re smooth like butter. They are most commonly known as being the staple ingredient in hummus but they taste great in soups and salads, too. They are high in protein and fiber and contain antioxidants, as well!
How To Select A Ripe Avocado
If avocados go on sale, it’s great to pick up a handful and let them ripen at home. There are so many ways to enjoy them that they’ll never go to waste. Selecting an avocado that is ready to enjoy takes a little more knowledge, however. Try these simple tests to select your next avocado batch:
TEST 1 – A good test to check ripeness is to use your fingers and push gently into the avocado to see if it yields to pressure near the top where it was connected to the tree.
If it gives freely and feels mushy, the avocado is past its prime. If the avocado is rock-solid and there is no give to touch, the avocado needs a few more days to ripen.
TEST 2 – Pop off the stem of the avocado where the avocado separated from the tree (see step 1 below for a visual). If a dark brown color is revealed, the avocado is past its prime.
When it’s impossible to remove the stem nub, the avocado is not ripe enough to eat. If a green color is revealed, perfectly delicious avocado flesh is ready to be enjoyed!
Delicious Vegetable Recipes
- Vegetable Rice Summer Salad
- Grilled Cabbage Steaks
- Edamame Tomato Corn Salad
- Best Chopped Salad
- Refrigerator Pickles
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Loaded Veggie Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 15 oz black beans rinsed and drained
- 15 oz chickpeas drained (otherwise called garbanzo beans)
- 15 oz diced tomatoes
- 15 oz sweet corn drained
- 4 oz green chilies diced
- 1 red onion chopped
- 1 green bell pepper seeded and chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper diced, optional
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 2 limes juiced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- salt/pepper to taste
- avocado slices for topping
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients (minus avocado) in a large bowl. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Top with avocado slices just before serving.
Notes
- Here are a handful of ideas for ways to enjoy Loaded Veggie Salad: as a solo lunch salad, a topping for a leafy salad along with grilled chicken, a complement to scrambled eggs, a wrap filling and a dip for chips. It never gets old and the flavors are amazing!
- To make the salad even more fresh, replace canned diced tomatoes with a pint of halved grape or cherry tomatoes. Or chop a big, juicy, ripe Roma or heirloom tomato!
- Cut the corn off cobs in place of the canned corn for an even fresher salad.
- For an extra touch of yum, add 1-2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar.
- Thinly sliced green onions or chopped fresh green beans would both be great additions to this recipe.
- This is a great recipe to add to your meal prep list! See my first bullet point about its versatility. I promise you’ll eat it up in various ways in just a few days!
- I typically use a green bell pepper for this salad, but feel free to use a red, orange or yellow bell pepper instead!
- This recipe is 100% gluten free so if you love to watch nutritional facts on a recipe, at least you know this one is healthy and great for a GF diet!!
This is such a fresh easy recipe. I chose to use fresh grape tomatoes and fresh corn instead of canned. I used it to top a taco salad, my husband put it on top of nachos, and my son topped a hard shell taco with it. I will definitely make it again and again!
Those are all delicious sounding ways to enjoy this – thanks for sharing, Sarah!
My husband and I love this salad and we love having leftovers for work lunches. We just keep the avocado separate.
Smart! It is such a versatile recipe because you can add it to so many dishes as well as just eating on its own.