Green Bean Salad with Walnuts, Feta, and Lemon-mint Dressing is light, refreshing, zesty, creamy, crunchy….it’s all the flavors and textures for your warm weather gatherings.
The salad is everything you could possibly want out of green beans.
It’s zesty, tangy, crunchy, and oddly addicting.
Plus, it comes with a lemony garlicky herby dressing which will knock your socks off! You’ll positively want to drink it!
This easy green bean salad recipe will get you a standing invitation to all the summer barbecues. You’ll be the cool guy or gal with that amazing green bean salad with all the unique flavors.
During a late-night scroll through pinterest, I saw this Green Bean, Walnut, & Feta Salad from The Kitchen is My Playground.
I was immediately drawn to it like a moth to a bug zapper, and it took me all of about 5 minutes to hop in my car to go fetch the ingredients.
Let’s discuss the ingredients needed for this refreshing healthy green bean salad recipe.
Ready for some green bean salad to enjoy while you read these words in the most mobile optimized of ways? Let’s do the bean thing.
Green Bean Salad Ingredients:
For the Salad: Fresh green beans, red onion, walnuts, feta cheese. This combination of ingredients makes for a crisp, crunchy, creamy salad with plenty of tang!
For the Dressing: Avocado oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, fresh mint, garlic, sea salt. These ingredients make for a refreshing simple salad dressing that you’ll probably want to use on just about everything!
Feel free to swap the lemon juice for cider vinegar, add fresh basil, cherry tomatoes, parmesan cheese or black pepper to your heart’s delight, or use olive oil instead of avocado oil.
You can also change up the salad ingredients by adding more fresh vegetables, canned garbanzo beans or kidney beans, etc. Add blue cheese, balsamic vinegar, or dijon mustard to the mix. Really go wild!
How to Make Green Bean Salad:
Begin by rinsing and trimming the ends off the green beans on a cutting board.
Next, we blanch! If you’ve never blanched a single thing in your life, have no fear. It’s super easy, and once you go blanch, you’ll never go back. Right? Right.
All you do is FLASH cook the green beans in boiling water. To do so, bring a large pot of water to a boil then add the green beans. Cook for about 30 to 60 seconds (depending on how snappy or crisp tender you like your green beans), until the beans turn bright green, then immediately strain into a colander.
Transfer them to an ice bath, and let them chill. Literally…they chill right there in that cold water.
From here, drain and strain, throw everything in a large bowl, and toss the salad. And that’s all it takes to make them dreams happen.
The lemon-mint dressing. Make extra. Call in for reinforcements. I gave you a recipe large enough for the green bean salad and then some, because you really need to eat this dressing on everything.
Drink it down!
If you don’t think you’ll use the dressing on other salad endeavors, halve the recipe so the dressing doesn’t go to waste.
I use my Magic Bullet to make all of my salad dressings because the small little pod keeps the dressing contained and prevents it from splattering all over the inside of the blender.
No one likes blender splatter. The ingredients just get whirled up for a few seconds, and out comes good vibrations.
Pro Tip: If you like crunchy walnuts, you can roast them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 3 to 5 minutes for some added crisp.
You take this green bean salad with you wherever you go, ya hear?
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
And that’s it! A delicious simple side dish with fresh flavors and bright flavors to add to your easy dinners that goes along side any variety of main dishes. Healthy eating at its finest!
This fresh green bean salad tastes even better the next day and saves well, so don’t be afraid to double the recipe for that perfect side dish to bring to any summer potluck.
If you love fresh bean salads like this, also try my Mediterranean Chickpea Salad recipe!
My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!
If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!
More Healthy Salad Recipes:
- Black Bean Corn Salad with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing
- Greek Potato Salad
- Kale and Blueberry Salad with Vegan Buttermilk Dressing
- Broccoli Salad Recipe with Honey-Toasted Walnuts
- Zesty Fruit Salad with Coconut Milk and Basil
Blanch it like you stole it.
Green Bean Salad with Walnuts and Feta
Ingredients
Green Bean Salad:
- 1 1/2 pounds green beans trimmed and cut into 1.5” pieces
- 1 cup raw walnuts chopped
- 2/3 cup feta cheese crumbled
- 2/3 cup red onion chopped
Lemon-Mint Vinaigrette:
- 1 cup grapeseed or olive oil
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 lemon zested
- ½ cup fresh mint leaves roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt or to taste
Instructions
To prepare the lemon-mint dressing:
- Add the salad dressing ingredients to a small blender and blend until smooth. Keep sealed in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
To prepare the Walnut Salad:
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the chopped green beans. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Immediately transfer the green beans to an ice bath in order to stop the cooking. Once cooled, strain the beans into a colander and pat dry.
- Add the blanched green beans, walnuts, feta, and red onion to a large serving bowl. Mix in desired amount of lemon-mint dressing and add salt to taste.
- Serve alongside your favorite entrée.
Nutrition
Your site looks lovely! And this salad looks so yummy! I love feta and green beans.
Love green beans salad. You’ve inspired me to whip up a batch soon 😉
Beautiful. A friend of mine made something very similar years ago, and I’d completely forgotten that she gave me the recipe. Although it might take a year to find it. So thank you for the inspiration! And reminder…
The website looks fabulous and please don’t stop sharing these delicious summer salads! I seriously can’t get enough salad in the summer. I love everything about this green bean salad, especially the feta! Pinned!
Great site updates and great salad! Oh my goodness, you can just never go wrong with walnuts and feta! Thank you for sharing, my friend!
Never apologize for your glorious salads, m’lady. They make me drool like a cavewoman more than many cakes and cookies and ice cream do, for realsies. Especially this one! Y to the UM.
I want to eat this salad while laying out in my bikini and then rub the extra dressing all over my body. Is that weird?
p.s. I’m so jealous of you right now. I hope you’re having the best time ever!
Yuuum I’m digging everything about this not boring at all bean salad, and I looove salads, so post all the tasty salads that your little heart desires and I won’t tire of them!
I love your recipes and have made several since I signed up for your blog. Wonderful, fresh, delicious food ideas! I will definitely try this recipe but not wiht walnuts. For some reason those just don’t pass with me. Maybe hazlenuts… Keep those great recipes coming.
1. I’m reading this on my phone as we speak- well done, optimizer! and 2. who doesn’t love a standing ovation?!! jelly of your beachbabeness!
wait, yum. green beans are all the rage this summer. and feta was buy 1 get 1 freeeee at kroger when i went yesterday. so basically, this is happening. i can’t wait to be super popular at all the summer gatherings and look good in a ‘kini (*no guarantees on that last part). you healthy, sassy food bloggers – just tell me what you eat and ill do everything you do, cool? iloveit.
This looks amaaaaazing! And summer is made for salads; please don’t stop showing them to us. Especially when they look as good as this one and include nuts and cheese. That’s dinner in a bowl 🙂
GOD, if I could have this and a vacation and a cocktail on the beach I would think I’d have died and gone to heaven. You can keep serving up salad any time you like. I’m diggin it.
I use my magic bullet for everythanggggg! I think it’s fate that I have a wee bit of mint left just ASKING to put into this beautifulness. Weee!
I love green bean salad. And feta. And such-not. And I want to be the popular person at the barbecue, but I don’t go to those. So, I’ll make this and try to be popular with Jerry. Maybe I’ll even be his favorite wife. And thanks a lot for reminding me that you are on the beach. Remember your sunscreen and have a drink for me. Preferably with the fruit, because you know if you eat the fruit, it cancels out the calories in the drink. I went to college to learn that, you know. 😉
i feel bad now for underestimating green beans. thanks for sharing this amazing salad, i need to give it a try for sure.