Bean and Sweetcorn Salad with Honey

April 4, 2023

This is a really great, easy recipe to liven up that bag of sweetcorn in the freezer or tin from the cupboard. It can be served with almost anything but I really enjoy it with sausages. It's also something I usually do a big dish of at barbecues and it always goes down better than a traditional leafy side salad. This recipe will be plenty to feed 4-6 people, if you need to feed more, you can double the amounts.

To make this delicious warm salad you will need:

1 Tbsp of Vegetable Oil
2 Shallots
1 Tsp of Fresh Thyme Leaves
2 Tsps of Red Wine Vinegar
450g Sweetcorn
2 Tins of beans (kidney, chickpeas, edamame etc)
2 Tsps of Original Just Bee Honey

A large wok or frying pan

A little prep:

Before we start, a note on the sweetcorn. If using frozen sweetcorn, thaw it quickly without starting the cooking process, just put the 450g of frozen corn in a colander and run it under lukewarm tap water for a minute or two and leave on the drainer while you get on with the rest of the cooking. It will be perfectly defrosted by the time you use it.

Step One: Cooking the Shallots

Turning the hob to a medium-low heat, chop the shallots into fairly small chunks and then add to the wok. Then add the teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves. Give the shallots a stir occasionally until they are soft and tender. This should only take a few minutes, but you can increase the heat slightly if you feel they are taking too long.

Step Two: Adding the Corn and Beans

Add the red wine vinegar, beans and sweetcorn to the pan and cook for around 5 minutes until the corn is cooked through and tender. Keep everything moving by tossing the pan contents every 30 seconds - this is easier to do if you are using a wok. If you are using a large frying pan you may find it easier to stir and turn occasionally using a large spoon or spatula. Once cooked remove from the heat.

Step Three: Adding the Honey

Remove the wok from the stove and place on a heat proof surface. Then drizzle over two teaspoons of honey and stir through until all the salad is coated in a thin sweet honey glaze. To serve you can either transfer directly to plates or add the whole salad to a larger serving dish and let people help themselves.

Alternatives and Options

If you don't have shallots to hand then you can use a medium sized onion instead, which I've done myself on several occasions. I do prefer the sweeter, milder taste of the shallots in this recipe but the results with an onion are perfectly acceptable as an alternative.

You could add some chicken or bacon if you fancy some meat in this recipe. Crispy bacon does add a nice bit of extra flavour and texture!

If you are not keen on beans, you could change these for rice, quinoa or other grains. You could also add in some diced up cucumber and peppers or any other veggies you have in your fridge.

You can used dried thyme if you already have it in the cupboard, but it tastes little too woody and bitty to me and it just doesn't add the same fresh thyme aroma to the dish. You can pick up some fresh thyme at the supermarket for around 55p, so to me it's worth the little extra expense.