Avocado Mango Black Bean Salad / Dip

My mom used to make this recipe and it’s one of my all-time favorites. If you manage to find yourself in that perfect space-time-continuum where you have access to ripe mangoes and avocados at the same time, then this is the perfect recipe. I can’t tell you how great this is – you just have to make it and try it for yourself!

Avocado Mango Black Bean Salad

I have a big confession to make. I’ve been vegan for over 15 years but I’ve never actually soaked dried beans. I blame it on lack of time and planning on my part. I’ve just always resorted to canned beans. However, here in Australia, you can’t really find canned black beans, and if you do, they’re like $5 a can and not widely available. So I sucked it up and used dried black beans to make this recipe.Β It worked out very well, and I’ll gladly do it again to make this delicious salad… but I have to admit that using canned beans is still a lot more convenient for my lifestyle so I’ll likely only do this for black beans going forward!

Notes

  • The greens are optional so feel free to leave them out if you just want a straight-up bean salad
  • You can also leave-out the greens to make a great Mexican style dip served with corn chips.
  • It’s also excellent served in a wrap… MMMm!
  • You’ll want to eat this salad within a couple hours of making it so that the avocado and mango don’t turn brown and mushy. A buffet/potluck would be perfect.
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Avocado Mango & Black Bean Salad / Dip

This colorful salad is as beautiful as it is tasty. If you leave-out the rocket/arugula, it makes a great Mexican-style dip when served with corn chips.

  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Total Time: 15 mins
  • Yield: 8 1x
  • Category: Salad, Dip
  • Cuisine: Mexican, Southwest

Ingredients

Scale
  • 250g dried black beans, or 1 can black beans
  • 1 red (Spanish) onion, chopped
  • 4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 red pepper (capsicum), chopped
  • 375g canned corn kernels, drained
  • 1/3 cup (90g) fresh coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped
  • 2 avocados, peeled and diced
  • 1 mango, peeled and diced
  • 150g rocket (arugula) leaves (or baby spinach) – optional

Dressing

  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 small red chili, finely chopped (or 1/2 tsp of crushed red chili pepper)
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions

  1. If using dry beans, soak the beans in cold water overnight. Rinse; drain. Place then beans into a large heavy-bottomed pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, or until tender. Drain and cool slightly.
  2. Place all dressing ingredients in a large bowl and whisk.
  3. Place the beans, onions, tomatoes, pepper, corn, coriander, avocado, mango, and greens (if using) into the bowl and toss to combine.

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Avocado Mango Black Bean Salad

25 thoughts on “Avocado Mango Black Bean Salad / Dip”

  1. Hi Vegangela,

    I am Australian actually came across your recipe looking to use the 400g can of black beans I bought at the local grocery store for $1.15 . the brand was fiamma. Maybe some specialty food stores might carry it near you.

    Reply
  2. I found this recipe and your blog from the Meatless Monday e-mails. I made this salad tonight and fell in love! So delicious! I’m planning on making it again next week (and possibly serving it over quinoa instead of greens just to mix it up a bit)!

    Reply
  3. Yum! I just discovered your blog and am pretty much in love. This is the first recipe I’ve tried, and I can guarantee it won’t be the last. I’m backpacking in South America right now, and have been aching for some fresh food. Although stunningly beautiful, southern Patagonia just does not have good produce. As I travel north, I’ve found better produce (sadly still no kale), including the perfect mango, so I had to try this. Delicious!

    Reply
    • Oh wow, I hope that fresh produce was worth the wait! I’ve heard that South America can be challenging for vegetarians. I’m so glad you liked the recipe – thanks for taking the time to comment. Safe travels!

      Reply
  4. I’m pretty keen on tips to quicken cooking up so the tip above is a good one!

    In the event that I don’t have time for cooking them, do you think red kidney beans would substitute for black beans? I’ve been wondering why I haven’t been able to find them in the shops and just saw your comment that you hadn’t been able to find them easily in Sydney either.

    When I made your Mexican Quinoa Casserole tonight I used red kidney beans and it worked but wonder if that’s due to all of the flavours being baked into the beans?

    Reply
    • Canned black beans are impossible to find in Sydney! Check out some of the better health food stores – I know I bought one store out of their 10 cans once. I think it was in Paddington/Darlinghurst somewhere.

      Kidney beans would work, although they’re bigger and the color of the salad won’t be as dramatic. But they’d work in a pinch. Chickpeas too!

      Reply
  5. Like you I never seemed to be on top of “soaking the beans” and recently found somewhere online that you can cover ANY dry beans with boiling water, place in a 275 degree oven for 75 minutes and they are ready to go! and it absolutely works ~ I have done this now with several different type of bean and no longer grab for that can in the cupboard πŸ™‚

    Reply
  6. I just stumbled on your site. I’m looking for simple recipes to make for myself because I’m vegan and everyone else i know is practically carnivores. I was wondering how many servings are in this recipe?

    Reply
  7. Hello, I recently stumbled across your recipe and made it today – I have to tell everyone that it is DELICIOUS and looks so pretty too. Thank you very much for sharing this….

    Reply
  8. I love mango and avocado! YUM!

    Do you have a rice cooker (electric) or pressure cooker (stove-top)? You can make beans in no time in either of those. I pretty much only use dry beans now, because of the convenience of cooking them in the RC or PC.

    Reply
    • I don’t have either, unfortunately. Will definitely get one of them when I’m back in Canada and settled for good. Thanks for the tip though, I will definitely use more dry beans when I can cook them faster!!

      Reply

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