Black Bean Mango Salad with Grilled Corn

Name: Black Bean Mango Salad with Grilled Corn
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 3 ears of corn, grilled; 1 ½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved; 1 large avocado, diced; 1 ½ cup diced mango; 2 15. oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed; For garnish: fresh cilantro, lime; 1/3 cup olive oil; 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice; 1 tsp lime zest; 2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro; 2 tbsp finely minced jalapeño (1 small jalapeño); 1 tsp fine kosher salt; ¼ tsp garlic powder; 1 tsp maple, agave, or honey

Published: Jul 7, 2021 by Lexi Harrison
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Our black bean mango salad with grilled corn and a jalapeño lime vinaigrette is a delicious summer side dish. Perfect for serving alongside your favorite grilled entree (vegan or not), as an appetizer, or as a salsa for tacos.

Fresh vegetable black bean salad with cherry tomatoes, corn, avocado, lime, and cilantro in a wooden bowl. — Chunks of mango and avocado add a ton of texture!

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🥭 Why We Love This Recipe
🌽 Ingredients
📋 Ingredient Notes
🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
🍽 Related Recipes
Reviews

🥭 Why We Love This Recipe

Lettuce-less: I'm all about lettuce-less salads. They're so much easier to make (and eat!). Don't get me wrong, I love a good kale or spinach salad for lunch. But this salad, with its creamy avocado, grilled corn, mango, and black beans, is much easier for entertaining and it doesn't get soggy!
Multi-purpose: You can serve this salad as a side dish, an appetizer (served with tortilla chips) or as a salsa. It's also great served chilled or room temperature, so it's perfect for bringing to a potluck.
Full of fresh, summery flavors: Mango, lime, cilantro, avocado, and perfectly grilled sweet corn are some of our favorite refreshing summer flavors.
Naturally vegan and gluten free!

🌽 Ingredients

Here's everything you'll need to make this mango black bean salad:

📋 Ingredient Notes

Mango: Red mangos or alphonse mangos will both work in this recipe. We find that alphonse mangos in particular have a more predictable texture, are easier to cut, and taste better.
Corn: You can grill the corn husked or unhusked, but we'd recommend unhusking it so that you can get a lot of char on the corn. Most supermarkets also sell packs of 3 husked, trimmed corn cobs.

🔪 Step-by-step Instructions

(1) Heat grill to medium-high heat. Grill 3 ears of corn (unhusked) for 8-10 minutes, turning a few times to char on all sides.

(2) Remove from grill and slice kernels off cob into a large bowl. Add remaining salad ingredients (1 ½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved, 1 large avocado, diced, 1 ½ cup diced mango, 2 15. oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed), and stir.

Grilled corn on the cob with char marks at Crowded Kitchen. — Make sure to watch the corn carefully, as it can burn pretty easily.

(3 & 4) In a separate bowl, whisk together all ingredients for vinaigrette (⅓ cup olive oil, 2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice, 1 teaspoon lime zest, 2 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro, 2 tablespoon finely minced jalapeño (1 small jalapeño), 1 teaspoon fine kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon maple, agave, or honey).

Steps three and four of grilled corn salad: the herb dressing before and after whisking. — Whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients.

(5) Pour vinaigrette over salad, stir well and enjoy! If desired, chill in refrigerator for one hour before serving.

Fresh Southwest Corn and Black Bean Salad with Cherry Tomatoes, Avocado, Lime, and Cilantro in a wooden bowl. — Toss well to combine. You're done!

💭 Expert Tips and FAQs

What to serve with: We like to serve this black bean mango salad as a summery side dish alongside grilled veggies, tofu (or other proteins for the non-vegans in your family).
Make ahead: This is a great salad to make ahead since it actually tastes better after sitting for a few hours. For maximum flavor, we suggest making this salad a minimum of 3 hours before serving to give the dressing plenty of time to flavor the beans and corn.
Cooking the corn: We'd recommend grilling the corn unhusked. Make sure to turn the corn frequently, as it can burn pretty quickly on the grill.
Substitutions: Feel free to sub mango with pineapple or even peaches. You can also sub black beans with kidney beans or white beans if preferred, although we love the creamy texture of black beans.
Not a fan of spice? The jalapeño really doesn't add to much spice since it's paired with sweeter ingredients, but if you're super sensitive, feel free to reduce the amount or leave it out altogether.

What's the best way to cut a mango?

The best way to cut a mango is to hold it upright on a cutting board. Using a paring knife, cut down the center, avoiding the pit and any rough areas around the center. You should end up with two mango halves. Cut a grid into each half, without cutting all the way through the skin. Then, "pop" the halves inside out, and cut off the resulting tiny squares. Here's a good visual tutorial.

Close up of mango salad with black beans, cilantro, mango, tomatoes, and lime. — Enjoy this salad as a healthy lunch, in a taco, or as a dip with your favorite tortilla chips.

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