White Bean & Feta Salad

This is a nutrient dense Mediterranean salad, high in fibre, and protein rich with the combination of white beans, feta and the toasted walnuts and hazelnuts. This is a great meat free vegetarian salad, and if you swap to a plant based feta cheese, it's dairy free and vegan too.

You can enjoy this salad as a lunch of dinner main, or serve it as a versatile salad side. It pairs really well with grilled chicken, steak or pork, roasted salmon, or with simple pasta dishes.

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• Why you'll love this recipe
• Recipe ingredients
• How to make White Bean & feta salad
• Recipe variations
• Serving suggestions
• Useful tips & tricks
• FAQs
• Pin the recipe
• Additional recipe suggestions
• White Bean & Feta Salad Recipe

Recipe ingredients

Find the full list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card below.

• Beans - I used 2 x 400g (14oz) tins of cannellini beans, but you can substitute with any other beans.
• Feta cheese - I use feta cheese in this salad as it has a great crumbly texture and adds a salty flavour to the salad.
• Salad vegetables - I like to use a combination of crunchy sweet gem lettuce, celery and cucumber in this recipe.
• Olives - use any colour of olives in this recipe, I opted for a mixture of green and black.
• Apple - I like to add Granny Smith apples as they have great acidity.
• Fresh herbs - I add freshly chopped mint and parsley to the salad, plus extra for garnish.
• Nuts - I like to add toasted walnuts and hazelnuts to this salad, which add great flavour and texture.
• Salad dressing - I've opted to make a quick apple cider vinaigrette which works well with this salad.
• Pickled red onions - I've chosen to make my own quick pickled red onion, but you can buy store-bought pickles for convenience if you prefer.

How to make White Bean & feta salad

• To make the quick pickled red onions, pour the red wine, water, sugar and salt into a bowl or jar, and stir to until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Finely slice the onion and add to the jar or bowl and stir to combine.
• If necessary, top up with extra vinegar to completely cover the onion. Cover with a lid then set aside for 30 minutes in the fridge until ready to use.
• Place all the ingredients into a jar. Place the lid on the jar and give it a good shake to combine all the ingredients together. [You can also place all the ingredients into a small bowl and whisk to emulsify.]

• Place the walnuts and hazelnuts into a dry non-stick frying pan, place over a medium heat and toast the nuts. Shake the pan regularly to avoid the nuts from burning. Remove the nuts from the pan and set aside.
• Place all the remaining salad ingredients into a bowl and stir to combine. 

• Pour over the salad dressing and stir again until the dressing coats the salad ingredients.
• Divide the salad into bowls and scatter over some pickled red onions, and the toasted nuts. Garnish with some freshly chopped herbs before serving.

Recipe variations

• Beans - I opted to use cannellini beans, but you can use any variety of canned bean in this recipe, or swap the beans for chickpeas.
• Cheese - swap the feta cheese for a crumbly white stilton, Cheshire or Wensleydale cheese. Or for something a little different, try a soft and creamy blue cheese.
• Salad vegetables - use any combination of salad vegetables that you enjoy eating.
• Apple - I like the sourness of a green Granny Smith apple, but you could also use a sweeter eating apple like a Fiji, pink lady or gala.
• Nuts - you can use any toasted nuts in this recipe. Swap the hazelnuts and walnuts for whole almonds, flaked almonds, pecan nuts; or try seeds like pumpkin or sunflower seeds.
• Fresh herbs - you can use any variety of freshly chopped herbs, try basil, parsley, chives, savoury, coriander (cilantro) or mint.
• Mustard - I've used Dijon mustard but you could also use wholegrain mustard in the dressing. Don't use English or yellow mustard as it has too strong a flavour which will overpower the other ingredients in the dressing.
• Vinegar - you can use any variety of vinegar in this recipe, red wine, white wine, sherry or cider vinegar.

Serving suggestions

This salad serves 4 as a main meal, or 8-10 as a side salad. If you have friends for dinner you can serve this salad as a simple starter if you are planning a heavier main course.

Served as a side salad, salad works great with a simple steak, grilled lamb or pork chop, or pan fried chicken dish.

Useful tips & tricks

1. Apples oxidise really quickly, turning brown. So, prepare the apple last and when you are ready to dress the salad. The acid in the vinegar will stop the apple from oxidising.
2. If time allows I recommend making and dressing this salad 1-2 hours before you plan to eat, that will allow the flavours in the dressing to soak into the raw salad ingredients.
3. Once made the red onion pickles can be stored in sealed container, in the fridge, for 2 weeks.
4. Always check salad dressing for seasoning before you dress the salad, and adjust with vinegar, salt and pepper, if required. Remember the dressing might taste a little salty but that's ok as you will be using it to season your salad.
5. I recommend using a jam jar when making salad dressing as it makes it really easy to mix the dressing, place the lid on and give it a good shake. The lidded jar also keeps the salad dressing fresh when being stored in the fridge.
6. For nut allergies leave the toasted walnuts and hazelnuts off the salad.
7. For dairy free and vegan diners swap feta cheese for plant based feta cheese.
8. Allergy advice: gluten free, egg free, soya free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.

FAQs

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Additional recipe suggestions

If you like this recipe then try some of my other easy salad recipes that combine fruits and vegetables with cheese:

• Blackberry & Goat Cheese Salad
• Pear, Walnut & Blue Cheese Salad
• Peach & Burrata Salad with Candied Pecans
• Grilled Vegetables with Halloumi & Herb Dressing
• Ham, Fig & Blue Cheese Salad

Love salad? Then head to my Best Salad Recipes post where you will find links to all my favourite salads in one place.