email series
Black Bean Salad with Corn, Avocado & Lime Vinaigrette
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
This make-ahead and festive black bean salad is a huge crowd-pleaser. Perfect for a summer cookout!
This black bean salad recipe was sent to me by one of my readers, Ellen Koh. It’s a huge crowd-pleaser, and it has become one of the most popular recipes on my website. Readers consistently give it rave reviews! The salad is ideal for entertaining because you can make it ahead of time — in fact, you should because it gets better and better the longer it sits. Try pairing it with my grilled tequila lime chicken and cornbread muffins for a delicious (and easy!) Southwestern-inspired cookout.
What You’ll Need To Make Black Bean Salad with Corn, Avocado & Lime Vinaigrette
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by cooking the corn in boiling salted water.
A few minutes is all it takes — you want it super crisp. Refresh the corn under cold water to stop the cooking process.
Place the corn on a clean dish towel set over a cutting board, then use a serrated knife to cut the kernels of the cobs. (The dish towel both dries the corn and prevents it from bouncing all over the place.)
Next, rinse and drain the black beans. 
Combine the corn and black beans with the remaining ingredients, except for the avocado.
Toss and chill until ready to serve.
Before serving, dice the avocado and add to the salad. It’s important to add the avocado at the last minute to keep it from turning brown.
Toss well, then taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. You may find that it needs a bit more salt or a squirt of lime juice, as the flavors tend to mellow in the fridge.
That’s all there is to it. Enjoy!
You May Also Like
- Black Bean & Corn Salad with Chipotle Vinaigrette
- Fresh Corn Salad with Scallions & Basil
- Black Bean Shrimp Salad with Corn & Pickled Onions
- Vivian Howard’s Cilantro-Lime Sweet Corn
- Grilled Mexican Street Corn (Elote)
Black Bean Salad with Corn, Avocado & Lime Vinaigrette
This make-ahead and festive black bean salad is a huge crowd-pleaser. Perfect for a summer cookout!
Ingredients
- 2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
- 3 ears fresh cooked corn, kernels cut off the cob
- 2 red bell peppers, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons minced shallots, from one medium shallot
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 9 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, best quality such as Colavita
- 1 teaspoon lime zest (be sure to zest limes before juicing them)
- 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
- 2 Hass avocados, chopped
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients except for avocados in a large bowl and mix well. Cover and chill for a few hours or overnight. Right before serving, add avocados and mix gently, being careful not to mash avocados. Garnish with a more chopped cilantro if desired. Serve at room temperature.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
Powered by 
- Per serving (8 servings)
- Serving size: 3/4 - 1 cup
- Calories: 464
- Fat: 24 g
- Saturated fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 52 g
- Sugar: 7 g
- Fiber: 15 g
- Protein: 13 g
- Sodium: 591 mg
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
This looks amazing! I am not a fan of red pepper; can I substitute tomatoes and/or yellow peppers? Thank you.
I’d substitute with yellow peppers. Enjoy!
Would this freeze well (without avocado)?
I don’t think this will freeze well — sorry!
Wow! Really good and easy to make. My son was visiting and when he saw the cans of black beans he got excited, thinking I was making the corn and black bean salad with honey chipotle dressing from your website! But he liked this one equally as well and I did find it a bit easier than dealing with the chipotle chilis. I served this as a side to grilled steak but love the idea of adding chopped, grilled chicken.
I haven’t made this yet but it seems like it would make a wonderful dip with tortilla chips! Has anyone tried it?
As usual another fabulous recipe. Goya black beans are the best. I always use Goya. Their products are so superior.
I have been using this recipe since it appeared on your web site, but recently I found another way to use it! I had leftover grilled chicken, so I decided to make chicken enchiladas. Had a little leftover black bean and corn salad, so I added just a teaspoon or so to each enchilada before I wrapped it up (minus the avocado). Made sure to get dressing in each,too! The enchiladas were amazing!! Used the regular sour cream, verde salsa and cheese on the top, but the inclusion of the leftover salad made it a very special dish. Thanks so much for your wonderful work to make these recipes so special.
This looks delicious but adding avocado at the last minute won’t work. Also there are plenty of good black bean (organic) brands that don’t come with the politics of Goya, unless you support them yourself.
I prepared this dish and it was delicious, my family wants the recipe, great for a pot luck.
Has anyone made this and added fresh cooked shrimp? I made the dressing and love it! Tastes to me like it would compliment the shrimp. Also, I have grape tomatoes on hand that I need to use, so thinking of using those instead of red bell peppers. Planning to serve tomorrow night, so I thought I would add the tomatoes and avocados just before serving. I’ll add the shrimp tomorrow morning so that they can soak up some of the dressing!
It is wonderful with shrimp. I like to add grilled chipotle shrimp and mango.
This salad is amazing, I’ve made it several times. Just a tip: if you use pretty firm (but still ripe) avocados, they don’t go brown and the salad will hold in the fridge really well for a few days!
The Black Bean Salad has always been a favorite of my son. It gets better every day, though it doesn’t last long. The fresh corn is an extra step but so tasty. I used infused lime olive oil (5 Tblsp) and infused chili olive oil for a bit of heat (2 Tblsp) and then extra oil as needed. I love the lime zest and lime juice. I did add infused vinegar, also,(espresso is my favorite, but I was all out, so grapefruit fit well with a touch of fig.) Because the infused oils are sweeter, I left out the sugar. The proportions are excellent, though. I don’t mean to change the recipe because this recipe is perfect as it is- I just use what I have on hand, and this recipe has all the right spices and ingredients for a perfect Black Bean salad. This recipe is a keeper.
Made this for a party. Guests raved about it, it was absolutely delicious!
Just made this! Excellent flavor, bite and texture! My granddaughter helped and will have a great recipe in the future. I had to swap out the cilantro for parsley as my daughter says cilantro tastes like soap.(I used to taste that before moving to San Diego) worked perfectly. Healthy summer salad.
This was good. I added a whole jalapeño, 1/2 t. cumin (may increase to 1 t.) and only 1 T of sugar.
I plan to serve this with your Peruvian chicken and Mexican rice recipes (with a fish) for 10-13 people. Should I double this and the rice recipe (I haven’t made these before and plan to practice with my family as we’ve only had the restaurant version before). Thank you!
Hi Phyllis, You could probably get away with making 1.5 times both of the recipes. Hope everyone enjoys the meal!
Wow, thank you so much for your quick reply, I really appreciate it! And Happy Mother’s Day!
🙂
Hope you had a great Mother’s Day!
Would this work on top of lettuce for a hearty salad? Wondering if this dressing would be good if I made a little extra as well if the lettuce needs it? Possibly adding the tequila chicken as well.
Thanks!
Sure, Jill, all of that should work. Just use a hearty lettuce so that it doesn’t get too soggy under the weight of the black bean salad. I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Could I use frozen corn?
Sure – enjoy!
Wow, 2 *tablespoons* of sugar? Seriously? I’ve travelled all over Mexico and cooked MEexican for years and I’ve never had (or seen) any salad with sugar in it. I have no idea why you think it needs it, the corn and red pepper should be sweet enough. Adding sugar is also sad as you’re pretty much spoiling the otherwise very good nutritional value in this salad.
I guess it’s an American thing – everything has to have sugar in it or melted cheese on top of in the good ‘ol USA, home to some of the highest rates of obesity and diabeties in the world.
You might enjoy her Black Bean & Corn Salad with Chipotle-Honey Vinaigrette from her 1st cookbook, but also available online. It is sweetened naturally with honey and it is out of this world like all of her recipes I have personally tried.
I made a smaller batch of this, halved everything, turned out great! My gluten free guests were happy to eat this with fresh corn tortilla chips. I like the idea of adding a jalapeño to this, too! Jenn’s recipes are always my go-to – I have her books and have gifted them to fellow cooks. They really are tried and true!
…. This is comment is a misleading review and nonsense. It’s an amazing salad and just leave the sugar out and replace with another sweetener.
Agreed. Can’t believe anyone would take the time to make snarky comments about obesity – ok…so he’s expressing his opinion – great…but not helpful. So omit the sugar!