Green Bean Salad with Tomato and Feta

Green Bean Salad with Tomato and Feta is a an all new way to enjoy those over flowing garden green beans! Just 10 minutes to put together, a quick blanch of the green beans pairs with cherry tomatoes, red onion, feta cheese and lots of fresh herbs in a tangy vinaigrette. You'll want to make this salad all summer!

Green beans are one of the most productive veggies in the garden! Easy to grow, tender and delicious, and we can hardly pick them fast enough.

We often just eat them blanched and plain, basically step 1 of this recipe, which is excellent with fresh garden beans. But, this Italian green bean salad with vinaigrette dressing is an amazingly flavorful new way to eat them! Try this Lemon Feta White Bean Green Bean Salad too!

If your garden is overflowing, try this Bacon Mushroom Green Bean Pasta or see How to Blanch and Freeze Garden Green Beans to enjoy all winter!

Save them to make Buttered Green Beans and Carrots or this Green Bean Au Gratin for the holidays!

Try these other summer side dishes:

• Panzanella Bread Salad with Cherry Tomatoes
• Lemon Orzo Pasta Salad
• Melon Prosciutto Salad
• Tomato Feta White Bean Salad
• Broccoli Salad
• Parmesan Kale Chips

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Green Beans - If you grow green beans in the garden you know, once they start coming, they don't stop coming! We eat them almost every meal just to keep up! But garden fresh green beans are amazing and we never buy them from the store in the winter! Pick your green beans when they are young and tender, or grab some from the farmers market. This recipe calls for 2 cups, which is a good handful, but you can easily use more and adjust the quantities, they don't need to be exact. The green beans are blanched in salted water for just a few minutes, which flavors them and leaves them just al dente, never mushy and overcooked. Try these 8 Ways to Use Garden Green Beans too!

• Cherry Tomatoes - Also bursting in the garden at the same time as the green beans, cherry tomatoes add a bright juicy flavor. I leave them whole because I love how they look, but you could also slice them in half.

• Feta Cheese - Feta brings this salad together! It gives a rich creaminess to balance all the fresh veggies. I recommend buying the block of feta that comes in a tub of liquid and crumbling it yourself. You could substitute goat cheese or shaved Parmesan.

• Red Onion - A few slices of red onion make this tangy green bean feta salad really vibrant. You could easily substitute a few slices of any onion, shallot, or scallions, or leave them out if you don't like onions.

• Fresh Herbs - A few fresh herbs from the garden are delicious here! Use anything you have such as basil, chives, oregano, or thyme. If you don't have fresh, just add ½ teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning or dried oregano to the salad dressing. If you're growing a lot, try How to Freeze Mixed Fresh Herbs and Garden Greens.

• Dressing - The dressing is a simple vinaigrette, shaken up in a jar in less than a minute. You can also use any store-bought vinaigrette you like.

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Step 1 - Blanch the green beans. Blanching is a simple way of quickly cooking a vegetable in boiling salted water to be still firm and "al dente" and never mushy.

Set a saucepan of water to boil over high heat. When it boils, add ½ teaspoon of salt and drop the beans in for 3 minutes, set a timer and don't overcook them!

Drain the beans and give them a quick rinse under cold water so they are still warm but not hot.

Step 2 - Shake the ingredients for the dressing in a jar with a lid, or whisk together in a small bowl.

Add all ingredients to a bowl, including a drizzle of dressing, give it a light toss and serve!

Important - Don't overcook the green beans! Set a timer for 3 minutes, taste one if you think they need to go longer. Small tender garden beans may only need 2 minutes and bigger grocery store beans may need 4 minutes. The last thing you want is mushy green beans!

How to Store and Freeze Green Beans

The first step of this recipe, blanching the green beans in boiling salted water, is an excellent way to just serve green beans plain as a side dish on their own.

At this point, you can also put them into glass jars or containers and freeze them. I like to freeze green beans in pint jars, which is a perfect serving in the winter for our family. Yes, you can freeze them in glass jars!

Check out How to Blanch and Freeze Garden Green Beans to stock your freezer for the winter!

To use, just drop them frozen or slightly thawed back into boiling water for another minute. They aren't quite as good as summer fresh, but pretty close!

Storage & Make Ahead Instructions

Storage - Store leftover green bean salad in an airtight container in the fridge and eat the next day.

Make Ahead - This salad can be made ahead any time the day you plan to serve it and kept covered in the fridge. Wait to add the dressing, which can also be made ahead, until serving. The salad can be served still warm from blanching the green beans, or cold after having be refrigerated, both are good!

What to Serve With Green Bean Salad

This tangy green bean salad is truly the perfect summer side dish, it goes with everything! Serve it with any main course such as:

• Burgers, Brats, or Grilled Chicken
• Grilled Italian Sausage with Giardiniera
• Bacon Kale Spaghetti
• Honey Mustard Dry Rub Ribs
• Grilled Steak Kabobs
• Ciabatta Steak Sandwiches with Balsamic Onions
• Garden BLT's with Pesto Aioli

If you made this recipe, I'd love to hear how you liked it! Be sure to leave a star rating by clicking the stars in the recipe card, or leave a comment below!

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