Arugula, Spinach, and White Bean Salad with Olive Dressing

Jeff the Chef

Intro

Arugula, Spinach, and White Bean Salad with Olive Dressing it hearty and delicious. Its ingredients are easily available all year long, but it feels a lot like a winter salad. Works beautifully as a wrap!

Arugula, Spinach, and White Bean Salad with Olive Dressing
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Arugula, Spinach, and White Bean Salad with Olive Dressing

Recipe by Make It Like a Man!Course: Dinner
Makes

4-6

main-dish servings

While the beans are cooking, skip ahead and make the dressing.

Ingredients

  • For the salad:

  • 6½ oz. dried Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

  • 3 cups water

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 2 cups (10 oz.) pear, grape, or cherry tomatoes, halved

  • 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

  • 3 Tbs finely chopped parsley

  • 10 oz. arugula-spinach mix

  • 1 can (12 oz.) tuna, drained (optional)

  • For the dressing:

  • 1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives

  • 1/4 cup water

  • 1 garlic clove

  • 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves

  • 2 tsp sherry vinegar

  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin

  • 3 Tbs lemon-infused olive oil

Directions

  • Place the white beans, water, and salt into an Instant Pot and stir. Set the Instant Pot’s function to BEAN/CHILI, high (pressure), normal (25 minutes); natural release 15 minutes. Strain.
  • Meanwhile, make the dressing: Combine the olives and the water in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Precess until the olives are finely chopped. Add the garlic, basil, vinegar, and cumin; process until the mixture is very finely chopped, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. With the processor running, drizzle in the oil.
  • In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, red onion, half the parsley, and at least half of the dressing. Toss. Add the beans and gently toss. Add more dressing, to taste. (You may not use it all.) To serve, divide the greens among 4-6 plates, mound the bean mixture on top, (tuck in chunks of tuna), and garnish with remaining parsley.

Notes

  • Substitutions: a 15-oz. can of beans for the dried (in which case you can skip the first direction), white wine vinegar for the sherry vinegar, all arugula instead of an arugula-spinach mix
"Arugula, Spinach, and White Bean Salad," from Make It Like a Man!

I love this salad. It’s unusual and extremely flavorful. It’s obviously olivey, but the garlic, cumin, and lemon clearly shine through. The dressing seems intense on its own, but once you have the entire salad put together, it makes perfect sense.

The Backstory

Make sure that your husband doesn’t eat all the cherry tomatoes before you start in on this recipe. If you find that he has, you’ll be glad to know that the beans and the dressing can be made days in advance and refrigerated until you get a chance to buy more tomatoes. Husbands, amiright?

Social Learning: tips and tricks

While I’m on the subject of “made in advance,” so long as you keep the greens and dressed bean-and-tomato mixture (DBTM) separate, you can make this entire salad in advance and have it ready to assemble at a moment’s notice. Over time, some liquid may collect in the bottom of the bowl of the DBTM bowl, so you’ll want to gently fold the leftover DBTM before using it. Furthermore, the beans will continue to soak up some liquid as they sit, so you may want to consider drizzling a very small amount of olive oil over leftover portions of the DBTM, perhaps with a few grains of salt.

You know that partial bag of leftover dried beans is going to sit in the far reaches of your cupboard for years. Consider cooking the whole bag. One bag (16 oz.) Great Northern beans will make 2 lb. 6 oz. of beans. You can refrigerate or freeze the leftover beans, in their cooking liquid or not, and put them to use in a variety of ways. I suggest adding both the beans and liquid to a chowdery chicken soup, along with a sweet potato.

I was gifted the lemon-infused oil, and yes, it’s amazing. I think you could substitute for this by using a plain olive oil and either adding the zest of one lemon to the dressing, or swapping lemon juice for the vinegar. This is just a guess, but I think it’s a good one.

Adult Lunchbox

This salad is great in a wrap! For some reason, it seems Middle Eastern when served that way. (I think it’s the cumin.) If you’re taking it for lunch, that’s how I suggest you do it.

"Arugula, Spinach, and White Bean Salad," from Make It Like a Man!
Arugula, Spinach, and White Bean Salad with Olive Dressing

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! Thank you, Kesor. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. References: Giada, Happy Hearted Kitchen, Kate the Baker, Minimalist Baker, and “Arugula and Cannellini Salad with Olive Vinaigrette,” from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics, pg. 146. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2007..

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57 thoughts on “Arugula, Spinach, and White Bean Salad with Olive Dressing”

    • I loved it as a salad. The wrap just helped make it portable. (And I’m also insatiable when it comes to carbs.)

      Reply

  5. Haha – I totally know what you mean about partial bags of dried beans. There are several in our pantry now! This salad sounds quite tasty…the olive dressing (which I initially read as olive oil dressing) is really fun!

    Reply

  6. This looks like a fabulous salad and I’m sure it is very good as a wrap. Arugula is my favorite so I’m going to be sure and try this one. Thanks for sharing Jeff.

    Reply

  8. Husbands! What can you do? Believe me, the scenario is very familiar…

    I love the salad, and especially the dressing, and I can definitely see it in a wrap! I look forward to making it soon. Thanks, Jeff.

    Reply

  9. Bonjour .
    Une très bonne salade d’épinard et de haricots blancs bien appétissant .
    Je te souhaite une bonne fin de semaine .
    Bises

    Reply

  10. Mmmm….this combination of ingredients sounds wonderful!! It would make great lunches for me next week!!

    Reply

  11. This Salad with Olive Dressing sounds like a flavor explosion! I love the unique combination of ingredients, especially the unexpected use of cumin and the starring role of olives in the dressing.

    Reply

  14. I don’t know why, but arugula always tastes like dirt to me. I’d totally replace that with some regular spinach leaves or mixed greens though. A light and easy lunch option or a yummy side for dinner!

    Reply

    • Oh, you should have that checked out. Just kidding! Everyone’s tastebuds are configured differently. But of course yes, any greens would do, but I think I’d lean toward hardier ones.

      Reply

  16. Una ensalada deliciosa, tomo nota. Me ha hecho gracia que digas que hay que consumir todos los frijoles de una vez y no dejar restos en el armario, tienes mucha razón, yo tengo un. resto de lentejas por cocer desde hace más de unba ños. Un abrazo y gracias por visitarme

    Reply

  20. ¡¡Hola Jeff!! Veo que apuestas por las ensaladas, yo soy una gran fan de ellas y en mi mesa no faltan en el día a día. La dieta mediterránea, se basa en ellas. Además, la que nos traes hoy es muy completa, es excelente, para mí sería un plato único, pues ya lleva todos los grupos de ingredientes que la hacen perfecta, con legumbres, verduras y las proteínas del atún. Una receta para cuidarse y disfrutar comiendo. Besitos.

    Reply

  21. I always cook the whole bag o’ beans because I can freeze them or use them in something right away. This looks delicious and right up my alley!

    Reply

  22. Hi Jeff,
    I love salads, and I love making salads. This is flavorful and hearty salad. It would be a great starter for entertaining too. When you mentioned the half bag of beans aging in our pantries, you were right, perfect for making salads and why not use a whole bag of beans and do whole lot with them.

    The lemon olive oil is a natural pairing with beans.

    Look forward to your food journey this year.

    Velva

    Reply

  24. Jeff, this has our name written all over it! Wouldn’t change a thing. I like that you suggest cooking the whole package of dried beans. I always do that, and freeze the beans in pint canning jars for the next time a can of beans is called for.

    Reply

  28. I especially love the sound of the dressing, and white beans are excellent in salads. Great for a hearty and healthy main course. Yum! 🙂 ~Valentina

    Reply

  29. Deliciously vibrant, this salad combines peppery arugula, tender spinach, and hearty white beans with a tangy olive dressing. Refreshing indulgence.

    Reply

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