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.
Video
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 salad is good enough to eat anytime! Even my 14 year old loves it. I add a little garlic salt and chopped cucumbers (minus the seeds).
It’s a win when picky teens like it too! I love the garlic salt tip – thank you for sharing!
Absolutely delicious!
Thank you! I could eat this one every.single.day. Thanks for sharing!
Oh My this looks fabulous!! The ingredient list is perfect. I am going to add it to the list now but I bet it will be even better in the summer when the garden is ready. Thanks for sharing
Kara, you won’t be disappointed! Fresh veggies from the garden or the Farmers Market are even better. Let me know how you enjoy it once you’ve made it! I eat it as a meal often during the summer!
LOVE this recipe! at first i thought the tomatoes would throw it off but the whole lot is DESLISH! thank you!
I’m so glad to hear it! Thank you for sharing.
Do you drain the tomatoes?
No, I did not. I popped the whole can in!
Awesome recipe, Megan. I made this last night for my family and they loved it!
That’s great to hear!
Looks incredible! Wondering how it keeps in the fridge i.e. could I make a large batch to have every day for a week?
Hi Ashleigh, I don’t think this one will last a full week because you have fresh veggies in it like the avocado and tomatoes. But you could make it and enjoy it a day later – the olive oil will help keep it preserved a day or two!
Any idea how many calories are in this dish? It looks delicious, and I’m going mostly vegan and need calories, to maintain weight. Thanks
That’s a good question. There are many ways to calculate the nutritional value of recipes made at home. I like this one at https://www.eatracker.ca/recipe_analyzer.aspx but if you google "calculate nutrition of a recipe", there are many options.
An excellent salad, a whole meal in the salad, although I prepared without beans and added sweet red pepper, the end result is simply wonderful
Isn’t that the beauty of cooking at home? Getting to eat the meal exactly the way you want to. Glad you enjoyed it! Sounds delicious!
Is this salad served warm or cold?
Hi Amanda! This is a cold salad. I hope you enjoy it!
Megan
I made this for my lunches this week and really enjoyed it! I left out the olive oil and onions but everything else I kept. I also added a little garlic salt. It was also ridiculously easy to make! Thanks for the recipe!
So glad to hear it, Kelly! This is one of our absolute favorites, too!
Megan
I have been making "Bean Salsa", which is this salad, for a couple of years. I use diced tomatoes with chilis, no olive oil, and 1 Tablespoon brown sugar with the lime juice. Everyone loves this stuff with tortilla chips, and in all the alternative ways you have mentioned.
Hi Paula! I love your addition of just a touch of brown sugar. I’ll have to give that a try next time! Thanks so much for the comment!
Megan
I love everything in this salas except for cilantro . Any suggestion as to what I could use instead ?
Hi Susan! Try flat-leaf parsley as a replacement (the flavor isn’t nearly as strong) or just leave it out entirely. Enjoy!
Megan
What about celery leaves? I was thinking they might make a flavorful substitution.
GREAT idea, Christina!!
M
I made it and it is amaaaaaaaazing! Thank you very much for this fresh, colorful and happy salad! Not to mention how easy and simple it is! Definitely a great addition to a family gathering!
I want to take these to work for lunches during the week. How long will the salad keep in the fridge, minus the avocado of course.
Hi Bobbie! I keep this salad refrigerated (minus avocado) for 4 consecutive days and it’s stays fresh. ENJOY!
Megan
Thanks!
What is the calories per serving.
Hi Jeanette! Sorry I don’t provide nutritional data at this time, but feel free to Google "nutrition info calculator" and use a calculator such as this one: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator
I hope this helps!
Megan
Do you know the nitrition info for this?
Hi Michelle! Sorry I don’t provide nutritional data at this time, but feel free to Google "nutrition info calculator" and use a calculator such as this one: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator
I hope this helps!
Megan
This salad looks so good! I love all of the fresh colors! Can’t wait to try this recipe. I will be sharing a link to your recipe in my upcoming post, Easy Healthy Lunch Ideas (on a Budget). I am sure my readers will love your recipe too!
Awesome, Tina! Thanks for sharing! I LOVE this for a healthy little lunch.
Megan
I just made this and it is yummy! Thank you for the healthy, delicious recipe.
This look beautiful and scrumptious! It will be salad that will help me as I STAY ON TRACK!