This salad is a snap pea lover’s dream. And I am a snap pea lover. It has just the right amount of saltiness, sweetness and myriad of textures, plus the bright lemon dressing is supremely simple to make but pops with every mouthful. I dream of it, often.
Charred Lemon Marinated Bean & Snap Pea Salad
This is a dreamy spring salad that has it all – a bright, lemony dressing, sweet and crisp snap peas, verdant avocado, mozzarella, and marinated beans to bring everything together. I like to top it with pistachios to make is supremely green, which I feel like is spring's signature color.
Equipment
- 1 chef's knife
- 1 small sauté pan
Ingredients
- 1 large lemon about 5.5-6 ounces
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 14-ounce can of butter beans drained and rinsed
- 10 ounces snap peas about 3 heaping cups
- 1/2 large sweet white onion 140 grams / 5 ounces
- 1/2 cup fresh mint 14 grams / 0.5 ounces
- 1/2 cup fresh basil 14 grams / 0.5 ounces
- 4 ounces pearl mozzarella
- 1 medium avocado 170 grams / 6 ounces
- 1/4 cup shelled pistachios 30 grams / 1 ounce
- Flaky salt
- 4 cups of arugula
Instructions
- Begin by making the charred lemon dressing. Halve one large lemon and set one half to the side. Finely chop the one half, making as small of pieces as possible and removing seeds as needed.
- Set a small sauté pan over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil and let it heat up for a minute. Carefully add in the chopped lemon and swirl. Let this sizzle for 3-5 minutes or until darkened and charring.
- Immediately transfer the charred lemon oil (lemon included) to a medium-sized heat-safe bowl. Grate in 1 large garlic clove and add 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Whisk together so the residual heat from the oil toasts the garlic. Taste and add salt as needed (it shouldn't need any) and set aside.
- Drain and rinse a can of butter beans and add them into the bowl with the dressing. Stir so they are coated and marinating in the dressing. Set this aside.
- Slice off the ends of the snap peas and halve them lengthwise. Add them to a large bowl.
- Thinly slice the sweet white onion and add it to the same bowl.
- Roughly chop the mint and mozzarella and add them to the bowl. Toss in the mozzarella and cube in the avocado.
- Take the remaining lemon half and squeeze the juice over the salad ingredients. Season with a few large pinches of flaky salt and give it all a toss.
- Using the same pan that you made the charred lemon dressing in, toast 1/4 cup of pistachios over medium-low heat until fragrant, 4-5 minutes. Finely chop them.
- Add the marinated beans into the large salad bowl and toss to combine everything. Season with more flaky salt as preferred.
- To serve, portion a 1 cup bed of arugula onto four plates. Pile the salad on top and scatter with the chopped pistachios. Enjoy!
This. Is. Incredible.
Could you swap cannellini beans?
Absolutely
Heyyyyy Justine
This looks amazing!
Do you think I can substitute butter beans with red or black beans?
Or chickpeas?
I dreamt want to try this, but with what I already have at home
Absolutely! Any bean will work, they really are kind of a blank canvas in this recipe.
The whole family loved this. Was skeptical of the charred lemon but it was so good. Yum. We had the heat a little low so it took longer to actually char but in the end it came out perfectly. Will definitely make again.
So so happy you liked it!!
Me and my dinner guests loved it! I made a few swaps for things the grocery store was out of, but it turned out super delicious. I made it a pasta salad with chunky rigatone pasta.
Love this idea – it’s pasta salad season!
Do you reckon feta or halloumi would be a better swap for the mozzarella? Would feta overpower?
Feta would be great! I like halloumi better when it’s cooked a bit, so if you have the energy to do that, that would be a good swap as well!
I’m super interested in making this, and the texture of the chopped nut topping sounds sublime. I do have an unfortunate pistachio allergy though. What would be your nut-sub of choice?
Oh great question! Can you have pumpkin seeds/pepitas? They would be my next choice, followed by sesame seeds!
This salad is fire!!! This is life giving! I just made this for lunch, and it is an absolutely lovely spring salad…I swapped in Calabrian chili paste, shallot and dill for crushed red pepper, white onion & basil as it was what I had on hand. Also reduced the oil down to 1/4 c and 1/2 avocado, bc I’m not a fan of too much dressing, and it was still perfect. This may become my hyper fixation lunch for foreseeable future!
I never leave comments on recipes, but just had to say that this was the best!! I’ve made it three times in the last four days!!
Forgive my ignorance: do you use the rind with the chopped lemon? or just the pulp?
The rind goes in as well! Make sure to chop it finely and it will meld in with the rest of the lemon just fine 🙂
Insanely flavorful and fresh with the perfect crunch, savory, salty delights. I added edamame for more protein too. Yum, yum, yum!!!!
This was a huge hit! And it helped clean out the crisper drawer. I subbed cannellini beans and pine nuts and it worked great.
Charring chopped lemon? With rind? YES! This is SUCH AN OUTSTANDING RECIPE. I used decided to sauté a fat sliced shallot and then added the snow peas and a few leftover steamed asparagus – both cut up – before incorporating with the beans. We ate this salad in near silence punctuated by periodic exclamations of “Omigods, this is so good!” Needless to say, I’ll make this again. Thank you Justine!
Just found you on instagram and this is the first of your record I’ve tried. INCREDIBLE! The flavors are perfectly balanced. And the butter beans!
Immediately bought your cookbook.
Thank you for this gem!
Oh my gosh I hope you love the cookbook, too! Thank you for taking the time to leave such a kind review. It makes me so happy!
Dumb question but here we are. When you say, “Finely chop the one half [of the lemon]…” is this including the lemon peel?
Yes! It should be small so any bitterness fries off, but the rind stays in 🙂
This might be a weird question, but I know that lemon rind is edible, so do you peel the lemon first before chopping it? Thanks! This sounds delicious!
Not weird at all! The rind is included, make sure to chop it finely and it will be delicious in the dressing 🙂
Sorry, just saw that you just answered my question. 🙂
Such a spring treat! Didn’t have mint or mozz, so subbed chives, parsley, dill, and feta. Added some tinned trout for protein. This is definitely gonna be in heavy rotation – thank you, Justine!