theveganbeauty

This White Bean Salsa with creamy avocado, crisp corn, savory sun-dried tomatoes, fresh lemon, and sweet basil is our latest obsession! It’s perfect over grilled Pesto Chicken, quinoa, or couscous (hello crave-able vegetarian meal!), or with some good tortilla chips.

Some of our other favorite salsas include this Mango Salsa, this easy food-processor Salsa, or this simple Corn Salsa Recipe.

White Bean Salsa

This Garbanzo Bean Salad, Black Bean Corn Avocado Salad, and Cowboy Caviar are summertime staples at my home. We love grabbing a big bag of chips, one of those dips, and heading to a local park for an easy and fun picnic.

So it was about time we added a white bean dip to the mix! And while White Bean Salsa is pretty unique, we love it just as much as any of the others. It’s vibrant, fresh, and screams good summer eating!

Ingredients in White Bean Salsa

This salsa only has six ingredients, so the quality of the ingredients makes a big difference to the overall flavor and texture. Definitely go for the good stuff, here!

1. Sun-dried julienne-cut tomatoes with herbs (pictured above): The herbs in the tomatoes add lots of flavor (so we don’t need additional ingredients) and the julienne-cut saves chopping time. These tomatoes are savory, a little sweet, chewy, and a great complement to the creamy textures in this salsa.
2. White beans: There are actually four different types of white beans, and while each is slightly different, any will work great in this salsa. We typically use Great northern or cannellini white beans.
3. Fresh lemon: Fresh (not bottled) lemon makes a world of a difference. It pulls everything together and adds a zippy freshness to the salsa.
4. Ripe avocado: Wait for fully ripe avocados — a ripe avocado can add an incredible creamy texture and a far superior flavor. You can tell an avocado is ripe by gently pressing near the stem. If the avocado yields to that gentle pressure, it’s ripe and ready to be added to this White Bean Salsa!
5. Fresh basil: We love the sweet, slightly savory touch of fresh basil. It adds a nice complexity of flavor and additional freshness.
6. Fresh corn: More on this ingredient below!

Let’s talk corn

There are a few different options for preparing the corn for White Bean Salsa. In this recipe, we prefer using sweet corn that has been grilled.

• Grill the corn on an outdoor grill until lightly charred all over. See “quick tip” box below.
• Grill the corn on an indoor grill pan until lightly charred all over.

For a fresh corn alternative, I recommend one of the following preparation methods:

• Buy pre-roasted canned corn (near regular canned corn in the grocery store) and use two cans, drained.
• Buy regular canned corn and roast it for a few minutes on the stovetop. More details on how to do that here.
• Or, use frozen corn. Char it in a skillet until thawed and lightly roasted.

Let corn fully cool before adding to this White Bean Salsa.

Fun ways to serve White Bean Salsa

• With good tortilla chips
• Over pesto couscous: Cook 1 cup small (Moroccan) couscous and add 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste), 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, and 1/4 cup basil pesto). Generously spoon this white bean salsa on top and enjoy this tasty vegetarian meal!
• Alongside grilled chicken (perfect chicken marinade here)
• Inside an avocado: Scoop out avocados leaving a thick border (dice the scooped avocado for this salsa) and then serve White Bean Salsa inside that avocado! Add a few extra drizzles of fresh lemon and oil from the sun-dried tomatoes.

Tips

• Only add the avocado right before serving; otherwise it has a tendency to brown and lose texture.
• Don’t be afraid to add more salt and pepper — these two ingredients pull everything together! I occasionally add lemon pepper for a fresh flavor twist.

More recipes using white beans