Colorful, crunchy and fresh, this deliciously easy Old Fashioned Kidney Bean Salad makes a perfect cold side dish and takes just a few minutes to make. 
This easy bean salad has such a fond place in my memories. When I was a little girl you could be certain you’d find a bowl of this tangy, crunchy cold salad at the little country church potlucks I attended with my grandma.
Check out my other church potluck favorites:
Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad
Kidney bean salad takes just a handful of ingredients and transforms them into such a colorful and filling side dish. And it’s a great way to use up those hardboiled eggs you might have leftover from Easter. (Note my pretty shiny Easter eggs!)
To make Old Fashioned Kidney Bean Salad you’ll need:
2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup sweet pickles, chopped
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1/2 cup of Miracle Whip or mayo
Now let’s talk about some of these ingredients, substitutions and additions.
1) It doesn’t matter what color kidney beans you use. Dark red, light red, whatever your preference is fine! Shoot, you could even substitute in black beans or whatever canned bean you’ve got and it would probably still be tasty.
2) I like chopping up sweet pickles for my kidney bean salad because I like getting an actual bite of pickle in my salad. Feel free to substitute sweet pickle relish instead and make things even easier.
3) The dressing. You can use your preference of Miracle Whip or mayo. I know a lot of people feel very strongly about this one. Use what your taste buds like. Whatever you use, it’s going to mix in with the egg yolks and will give the salad a dressing that has a taste similar to a deviled egg. So I suggest using whatever you use to make your deviled eggs. I like both, but I think Miracle Whip tastes the best in this salad.
4) Sometimes I also add about 1/2 cup cubed cheddar cheese to this salad. It makes a great addition.
This cold salad goes great with sandwiches, burgers, like my Juicy Burger loose meat sandwiches, and leftover Easter ham! Hope you’ll enjoy this old fashioned blast from the past as much as I do.
Old Fashioned Kidney Bean Salad
Colorful, crunchy and fresh, this deliciously easy Old Fashioned Kidney Bean Salad makes a perfect cold side dish and takes just a few minutes to make.
Ingredients
- 2 (15 ounce) cans of kidney beans
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
- 1/4 cup chopped sweet pickle
- 3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
- 1/2 cup Miracle Whip or Mayo
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- First drain and rinse off your kidney beans.
- Add the kidney beans to a medium sized bowl along with the chopped celery, onion, sweet pickles, hard boiled eggs, and Miracle Whip.
- Stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Will stay fresh in the fridge for several days. Just cover tightly with plastic wrap.
Notes
- Use whatever color kidney beans you have on hand, light red or dark red.
- Sweet pickle relish may be substituted for the chopped sweet pickles.
- Either Miracle Whip or mayo can be used for the dressing, use your preference.
Cheryl
Thursday 2nd of March 2023
I think my mom must have made a variation of this. First of all, I don't remember any eggs in it, but most importantly, it had cucumber chunks! She only put in celery if we had it. I'm thinking that maybe it was because this kidney bean salad was tied in my mind together with cucumber season when they were plentiful and she used them in so many things. So, I'm going to make it WITH eggs, and cucumbers.
Philip
Monday 27th of February 2023
Instead of making it sweet use some chilies and cucumbers instead in Asia they add cabbage alsođź‘Ś
Patti
Thursday 9th of February 2023
Good morning… thanks for such a tasty salad. Remember having this on all the salad bars years ago at the local super clubs… the only thing I changed was I added dill dip that I had on hand in place of the miracle whip. Thanks for your obvious hard work..
Ian
Friday 3rd of February 2023
My grandma turns 99 on the 10th of February and we are having a meal for her and of all the amazing things she made, this simple little salad is such a core memory for me and yet something I rarely make for myself. I even teared up a bit when you said leftover Easter eggs because that is exactly when I remember it the most. Anyway, for that 99th birthday celebration this is on the menu for sure! Thank you for posting the recipe. I had it right in my head but wanted to see if there was anything glaringly obvious I was missing.
Amy D
Monday 6th of February 2023
I am so glad that you found this recipe and that you're going to be able to celebrate your Grandma this way. What a blessing you have to have had so many great memories with her. Birthday blessings to her! Amy D.
Debra
Wednesday 25th of January 2023
My grandmother always made this for potlucks, I make it often.