Mexican green bean salad with fresh green beans, cilantro, jalapeno, red onion, cotija cheese, avocado, tomato, olive oil and lime juice.
Make sure to use the freshest green beans you can find. Good green beans should feel firm and should snap in half, not bend, when you try to bend them.
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh green beans, strings removed, ends snapped off, cut in half into about 1 1/2 inch length pieces
- 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
- 2 Tbsp lime juice or white vinegar
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (Mexican oregano if you can get it)
- 3/4 cup packed, chopped cilantro
- 1/3 cup canned, pickled jalapeño chili peppers, sliced
- 1/3 cup chopped red onion
- 1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese (salty Mexican cheese that resembles feta)
- 1/2 avocado, sliced or cut into inch long pieces
- 1 medium tomato, cut into 8 wedges, or a cup of halved cherry tomatoes
Method
1 Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the beans and simmer until just crisp tender, about 5 minutes. Drain the beans and run cold water over them to cool them quickly. Drain completely.
2 Place beans in a large bowl. Gently mix in the the lime juice or vinegar, olive oil, 1/4 cup onion, sliced pickled jalapeños, sea salt, oregano and cilantro. Let sit for half an hour.
3 When ready to serve, gently mix in the chopped red onion and cotija cheese. Serve the avocado slices and tomato wedges on the side or mixed into the salad.
Yield: Serves 4.
Green beans are exceptionally great in a salad. I love these types of fresh salads. Makes a change to the usual.
Wonderful! Flavorful, healthy and light on the carbs. I’m doing this one this weekend…I wonder if it would be too much to add toasted pepitas?
A great big thanks for this idea. We like green beans around our house — but often get tired of the same old preparations. This is a great idea to have in our “arsenal” :)
I made this salad on the weekend and it turned out great. I substituted fresh oregano for the dried, fresh jalapeno pepper for the canned and I used feta cheese (couldn’t find the mexican cheese). The cilantro and avocado really make this dish special. Thanks for the recipe!
Just wanted to let you know what a huge hit these are for my husband and me. We’ve already made this twice (!) and we are not into repeats. Perfect summer side!
I am so glad I found your site….I love green beans, and mexican food. YUMMMM!
Elise,
I made this salad 2 times in 1 weeks time- 1 for a tex-mex BBQ and the other for my husbands work potluck. Both times the salad was devoured! A few alterations to the recipe:
*Added an entire bunch of cilantro (YUM!)
*Omitted the cheese (for my vegan friends)
*I added 2 avacados, cubed, on top (with 1 entire lime juiced on them to stop the browning. Total limes used in the salad- 2)
*Only used diced red onion
Thank you for the recipe. It is amazing!
OMG!!! I am eating this for dinner and for the first time am happy the rest of my family doesn’t like green beans because that means it’s all for MEMEMEME! I left out the cheese and jalapenos and only used red onions. I will be making this often!
Thank you for sharing so many delicious recipes with us. When I don’t know “what’s for dinner”, I can always count on all these ideas. Keep up the good work and I thank you again.
Could you recommend another cheese to use instead of Cotija? Perhaps Halloumi or Feta? I live in Qatar and am pretty sure cotija cheese is NOT available here… Or would it be better to just leave the Cheese out? Thanks :)
You can substitute the cotija with feta, or another salty, relatively dry, crumbly cheese. ~Elise