Food & Cooking Recipes Salad Recipes Seven Bean Salad 3.6 (22) 2 Reviews Chef Cesare Casella's recipe mixes seven types of beans with red onion, celery, parsley, and Parmesan. By Cesare Casella Cesare Casella Cesare Casella is an acclaimed chef, restaurateur, consultant, author, and educator from Tuscany who has been teaching Americans about Italian food for over 35 years. Editorial Guidelines Updated on August 25, 2023 Rate PRINT Share Servings: 6 Martha says this is the ultimate version of seven-bean salad, and she's right. The hardest part of this simple recipe might be finding seven varieties of beans to use, but the diversity is important. You only need 1/4 cup of each type, but each brings a different flavor and consistency to the salad. We used chickpeas, scarlet runner beans, kidney beans, cranberry beans, appaloosa beans, calypso beans, and snowcap beans. The beans are mixed with red onion, minced celery, and fresh parsley and dressed with olive oil and red-wine vinegar; shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano are added to each portion for serving. David E. Steele Canned Beans: Everything You Need to Know About This Pantry Staple The Beans As Martha and Chef Casella say, this simple salad really is all about the beans. Use a mixture of different colors and sizes for the best salad. You can make it with canned beans (if you can find seven different varieties), or use dried beans soaked and cooked. Our favorite way to cook dried beans is in the Instant Pot or a pressure cooker, it’s fast plus there is no need to soak the beans. Our preferred source for heirloom beans is Rancho Gordo. Vegetable-Bean Soup Ingredients ⅓ cup red onion, finely minced Red wine vinegar, for marinating, plus more for dressing ¼ cup each of 7 different varieties of dried beans, such as chickpeas, snowcap, scarlet runner, kidney, cranberry, appaloosa, and calypso, cooked ¼ cup celery, finely minced ¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano, for serving Directions Mix red onion with vinegar: Place red onion in a small bowl with enough red wine vinegar to cover. Let marinate for one hour. Combine beans, celery, and parsley: In a medium bowl, combine beans, celery, and parsley. Add onion: Drain onion and add to bean mixture. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar and mix: Drizzle with olive oil and enough vinegar to taste. Season with salt and pepper. Toss until well combined. Salad may be eaten immediately or refrigerated up to a day. For serving: Shave thin slices of Parmigiano Reggiano over each portion. David E. Steele Other Bean Salad Recipes to Try: Two-Bean Pasta Salad Three-Bean Salad With Honey-Mustard Vinaigrette Black Bean, Cucumber, and Feta Salad White Bean Salad With Tomatoes Green and White Bean Salad With Tuna Chef Cesare Casella shared his recipe with Martha on her Cooking School TV show. Rate It PRINT Updated by Victoria Spencer Victoria Spencer Victoria Spencer is an experienced food editor, writer, and recipe developer. She manages the Martha Stewart recipe archive and is always curious about new ingredients and the best techniques. She has been working in food media for over 20 years.