This broccoli salad recipe is a complete meal, thanks to the added white beans and rice, but can also be served as a side dish.
Very little prepping is required to make this recipe, so it can be ready in 40 minutes. Or make it the entire salad ahead and store in the refrigerator.
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Want to make this recipe perfectly? Check out this Table of Contents to see which sections of this post you need most.
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A shiny new farmer's market just opened up here in our town in Lake Tahoe. It's intimate - maybe 15 tents - with a very personal touch. One elderly farmer glanced dismissively at the plastic bag of baby kale I handed to him to be weighed, snorted that it wasn’t enough to weigh, and charged me $1.00.
It's a totally after-work, local community thing, with cars parked along the road, families strolling in knots with shopping bags, and kids racing ahead to hear the music.
My find, this week, was fresh cranberry beans. I cook a lot of dried legumes, and the opportunity to get them freshly harvested was a treat.
🫘 Fresh Cranberry Beans
Also known as Borlotti beans, Roman beans or speckled sugar beans, these are smooth, oval-shaped beans, lightly tinted a soft green, with gorgeous dark-red speckles. They cook up slightly creamy in texture, and have a mild flavor.
🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
The secret to faster and easier meals often lies in the ingredients. For example, store-bought items and ingredients you make ahead and store in the refrigerator (or freezer) can turn a 60-minute recipe into a 30-minutes meal or less.
For the all of the ingredients, measurements and directions, go to the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post.
- Fresh cranberry beans - you'll see these sometimes in the summer in the produce section of the market. If you don't have them, use any canned borlotti beans, or any white bean.
- Celery - use the leaves as well as the stalks.
- Red onion
- Dried cherries or dried cranberries
- Cooked brown rice - or white rice, if that's your preference.
- Red seedless grapes - don't substitute green grapes, as they are too tart for this dish.
- Parsley - I prefer Italian or flat leaf parsley, but curly parsley works fine.
- Broccoli florets and stems - the only stems used are the parts close to the florets. The stalk can be too fibrous for this salad.
- Parmesan cheese
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Buttermilk Ranch dressing
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📝 Instructions Overview
Detailed instructions for making this broccoli salad are in the recipe card below, but here's a quick overview!
Step 1
Cook the fresh cranberry beans and rice. If you're lucky enough to have fresh cranberry beans, cook, and drain the beans.
Cook the rice according the package directions. Use these tips for perfect rice!
Step 2
Prep the broccoli. Thinly slice the broccoli. This salad uses raw broccoli, and is easiest to eat when the broccoli pieces are small. Broccoli is a very fibrous vegetable.
Step 3
Add everything else. Combine the remaining ingredients with the broccoli and beans in a large bowl.
Toss with the dressing. Chill for at least 1 hour, or ideally overnight for the very best flavor.
Step 4
Serve. Serve at room temperature or chilled. If you want, add a sprinkling of roasted pumpkin seeds on top just before serving for a little extra protein.
👩🍳 Why This Recipe Works
- This is a classic broccoli and dried cranberry recipe, made more hearty with added cooked white beans and rice. The added grains and beans helps turn a traditional side dish into a filling, healthy main dish.
- Both broccoli and beans are fabulous when paired with a tart, creamy dressing. A homemade yogurt dressing and Buttermilk Ranch dressing and regular Ranch dressing are all great with this salad. It keeps the salad from being too earthy, especially with the addition of the rice.
- Grapes bring a burst of fruit in the salad, and this contrast is part of what makes this salad work.
⏰ Tips to Simplify and Save Time
- Use canned cranberry beans, borlotti beans, or white beans of your choice.
- Use frozen cooked rice, and cook in the microwave oven. There are a few brands, and you'll find them in the frozen vegetables section of your grocery store.
💡Ideas for Possible Variations
- These cranberry beans inspired this recipe, but you can use any white bean instead. Either cook them from dried or just open a can of Navy Beans, Cannellini or other white beans.
- Other grains work great in this recipe, such as farro, barley, or quinoa.
- Other creamy dressing can work with this salad. Buttermilk dressing, IMO, is best, but Ranch dressing is fine, if that's your personal preference.
- Add toasted almonds to the salad.
- Roasted sunflower seeds can be another option in place of the pepitas.
If you like this salad, check out this herby rice salad made with lots of fresh herbs, snap peas, and crispy rice.
Broccoli Salad with White Beans
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups fresh cranberry beans or 1 can white beans
- 1 cup thinly sliced celery
- ¼ cup diced red onion
- ⅓ cup dried cherries or dried cranberries
- 1 cup cooked brown rice or white rice
- ¾ cup halved grapes
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- 4 cups thinly sliced broccoli florets and stems
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan or asiago cheese
- 1 cup Buttermilk Ranch dressing or to taste
- ¼ cup pepitas (roasted pumpkin seeds)
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a simmer and add the cranberry beans. Simmer until tender: about 20 minutes at sea level; about 50 minutes at 7000 feet. Drain and place the beans in a medium bowl.
- Cook the rice. Combine in the bowl with the beans.
- Add the celery, red onion, dried cherries, cooked rice, grapes, parsley, broccoli, and cheese.
- Add the Buttermilk Ranch Dressing and refrigerate for at least one hour. Overnight is even better for the best flavor. This is a salad that only gets better over time.
- (Optional) Serve with a sprinkle of pepitas on top.
Cookin Canuck
That sounds like a wonderful market! And fresh beans are hard to come by...it looks as though you made good use of them with this pretty salad.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks so much! It's such a sweet market. I went again yesterday and got an impromptu tutorial from another farmer on which peaches to purchase for various uses. It was great!
Rita
Love it! So good-for-you too. I never would had considered a yogurt dressing for a salad of this type. Very creative.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
The lemony-garlicky-yogurt and the broccoli are really good together - and it just gets better over time.
apuginthekitchen
Going to the farmers market is so much fun, your little market sounds so nice and my guess is it will quickly expanc and attract more farmers. The salad sounds so good, I love cranberry beans and the creamy yogurt dressing sounds perfect.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I love the small personal nature of this little farmer's market. When I went the second time, the selection was a little different, which made me feel like we were seeing what was best that week in the fields.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Oh, I should add, Suzanne, that Myles kept asking if there was any left - long after it was gone. So it was a hit even with him!
laurasmess
I've never heard of a cranberry bean. They look similar to what we call 'borlotti beans' over here... do you have that variety where you are? I equally adore farmer's markets. It definitely feels like such a treat to have a bean fresh out of the pod rather than canned or dried. I love the look of your salad. The gorgeous soft, creamy beans, the crunch of the seeds (those pepitas look divine!), vegetables and rice, the tangy dressing and sweet dried cherries. Ah, this is pretty much my perfect meal (I can easily eat a big bowl of salad for a meal, any day of the week!). Thanks for this Susan. Yum!!! xx
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I can get borlotti beans dried, but I've yet to see them fresh. Can you get them fresh where you are? And thanks sooo much for your kind comment about this salad. I had it 3 days in a row, and my husband is still asking when I'm making it again :-). And he's a tough sell on healthy dishes...
lizthechef
I adore small farmers market - the smallest one I visit here is in Coronado on Tuesday afternoons. It is all produce, nuts, flowers - no prepared foods. Your salad is lovely - I have never seen fresh cranberry beans.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I don't see them very often, Liz. That's why when I saw them, I grabbed them. When I went back to the same farmer's market this week, they didn't have any. But they had some great wax beans, so it was a nice consolation prize 🙂
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks so much Marie!!
Norma Chang
Wonderful that you found fresh cranberry bean pods. Healthy and delicious salad, book marking.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks Norma! I'm making it again for a pot luck I'm going to 🙂
Shikha
This looks STELLAR. I'm struggling to find good salad recipes that aren't just mounds of lettuce and will keep me full and I think I found it! I don't know where I can find cranberry beans, though 😛
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks so much Shkha!! When I don't see them fresh at the market (which means usually), I buy dried ones at my market. But really any white bean will work great in this salad: cannellini, navy white beans, all good here.
Yvonne @ bitter baker
I really have to start making more yoghurt dressings - every time I see a recipe for one, I'm reminded of how much I like them! And I do have parsley in my garden, so I really have no excuse now 🙂
And this bean salad looks delicious, I never knew that cranberry beans even existed!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks Yvonne! I make an extra batch of this dressing now and add it to all kinds of things. I made a broccoli and brown rice casserole a couple of nights ago and added it and it was really wonderful. Usually I just see the cranberry beans in the dried form, but every once in awhile, I get lucky and see them at the market. If you can't find them, any white bean will do great in this salad 🙂
Food to Fitness
Looks just delicious. Thanks for the recipe.