Mexican Red Bean Salad with Corn, Fried Ham and Cilantro

Mexican Red Bean Salad with Corn and Ham

☆ Rate it

We sometimes make a red bean salad that is filling enough to be not just a starter or a side salad but a proper main course. Dried red kidney beans are sometimes sold here and are easy to cook, while ready-to-eat canned ones are in every store. They are perfect for all kinds of dishes.

Red kidney beans were known to the ancient peoples of the New World and were one of their staple crops. The first European mention of them dates back to the 16th century, in the writings of the Spanish Franciscan missionary Bernardino de Sahagún. In Europe, beans came into use after Columbus’s second voyage, though at first they were grown as an ornamental plant.

When making the salad, it’s important to make sure the beans are fully cooked. Red kidney beans, more than other kinds, contain toxic proteins in their skins that can cause digestive upset. Boiling the beans for half an hour destroys these substances and makes them safe to eat.

Any dried beans need soaking before cooking. This rehydrates them, cutting the cooking time several times over, and keeps the beans whole: they won’t fall apart and the skins won’t burst. Soaking also dissolves certain substances in the beans that affect digestion, especially gas. Soak them in cold water for 8-10 hours, ideally overnight.

Beans are usually combined with other vegetables, corn, fresh herbs and fried meat, bacon or smoked chicken. The salad can be served warm, which is the tastiest option, like the salad with mussels and beans. As with most Mexican dishes, it is often hot and spicy, with cilantro, garlic and chili in the dressing. And don’t limit the list of ingredients: if any other add-in can liven up the dish, use it for your own enjoyment.

More with beans

Ingredients

2 servings

  • Cooked or canned red kidney beans 1 cup
  • Canned corn 100 g
  • Ham 150 g
  • Cherry tomato 1
  • Chili pepper 1
  • Cilantro 0.5 bunch
  • Garlic 2-3 cloves
  • Lettuce (leaf lettuce, oak leaf, romaine or arugula) 0.5 bunch
  • For the dressing
  • Olive oil or any vegetable oil 2-3 tbsp
  • Wine or balsamic vinegar 1 tsp
  • Salt, black pepper to taste
  • Dried herbs (oregano, savory, dill) 1-2 pinches

Step-by-step recipe

Preparing the ingredients

  1. If you decide to make the salad with canned beans, the job gets much easier. Canned corn comes in small and large cans. Fresh herbs and vegetables are sold year-round. Choose slightly fatty ham, as it fries better.

  2. Prepare the beans and corn. Dried beans need soaking in cold water for 8-10 hours the day before, then simmering in plenty of water until tender, for at least half an hour so the harmful substances in the skins are destroyed. It’s important that the beans stay whole, so don’t rush the cooking. Rinse canned beans, and drain all the liquid from the can of corn.

    Beans, meat and vegetables.

Ham with beans

  1. Fry the ham. If the ham has bone and rind, trim them off carefully. Dice the ham into cubes about twice the size you’d cut vegetables for a beet salad. Heat a dry frying pan and fry the ham over medium heat, stirring, until lightly browned. The fatty pork will render a little fat. Don’t overcook the meat: the ham is already cooked, it just needs browning.

    Fried ham.

  2. Add the red kidney beans and corn to the fried ham and fry everything together for 2-3 mins, stirring. Then transfer the pork, corn and beans to a bowl and let them cool a little. They should be warm, not hot.

    The base of the salad.

Herbs and dressing

  1. Prepare the herbs. Finely chop the cilantro with a knife. Peel the garlic and chop it, not too finely. Mix the cilantro and garlic, add salt and plenty of pepper. Freshly cracked black pepper is best. Add 1-2 pinches of dried herbs: oregano, savory, dill and so on.

    Herbs with garlic.

  3. Add the prepared herbs to the cooled meat with beans and corn and stir.

    Salad mix.

  4. Make the dressing: mix 2-3 tbsp of olive oil or any vegetable oil with 1 tsp of wine or balsamic vinegar and whisk with a fork. Pour it over the salad only right before serving, directly on the plate.

Serving

  1. Serve on large plates rather than in salad bowls.

  2. Put a few washed and dried lettuce leaves on each plate (leaf lettuce, oak leaf, romaine), or a handful of arugula. Pile the bean salad on top, scatter over the chili pepper sliced into rings and the cherry tomatoes cut in half, and drizzle with the dressing.

    Red kidney bean salad

    Serve the salad as a starter or as a main course. It’s quite filling thanks to the beans and meat. The proportions are very approximate and can be varied widely. If you like, make the salad without ham for a vegetarian version.

Calories and macros

455 kcal

Serving ≈ 300 g

  • Protein23 g21% of kcal
  • Fat26 g54% of kcal
  • Carbs27 g25% of kcal

100 g150 kcalProtein 7.6 gFat 8.5 gCarbs 9 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

Enjoyed the recipe? Pick me as a preferred source on Google, and you'll see my recipes more often in search. Choose on Google →
How did you like this recipe?
Thanks for rating!
Sorry you didn't like it

Leave your email and I'll write to find out what went wrong. A 1–2 rating counts only with an email. I won't publish it.

Tell us how it turned out
Made it? Tell us how it turned out — Sergey reads every review

The maximum upload file size: 10 MB. You can upload: image. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here