Mediterranean Green Beans with Lemon Dressing
This Mediterranean inspired green bean salad recipe is fresh, crunchy and lite while still full of flavor. It's loaded with tender green beans, briny kalamata olives, salty feta cheese, juicy cherry tomatoes and a zingy lemon dressing that is drizzled overtop.
Servings: 6
Ingredients
Green Beans
- 1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup kalamata olives
- 4 ounces feta cheese, cubed or crumbled
Lemon Dressing
- 2 tablespoons lemon, fresh squeezed
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon fresh oregano, minced
Instructions
- Add water to a large stock pot and bring to a boil.
- Rinse and trim the ends of the green beans.
- When the water comes to a boil add the green beans. Time for 3 minutes.
- Get a large bowl of ice water ready to chill green beans.
- When 3 minutes is up strain the beans from boiling water and plunge them into the ice bath.
- Mix together the dressing ingredients while green beans are chilling. Add to a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake well to combine.
- Once green beans are chilled remove from ice water and transfer to paper towels to pat dry.
- Add the green beans, olives, tomatoes and feta cheese to a large serving bowl. Drizzle with lemon dressing. Toss well to coat.
- This can be served immediately or chilled for several hours before serving. *See notes.
Notes
You can put everything together ahead of time by blanching the green beans, adding the olives, tomatoes and feta cheese to a large bowl. Mix together the dressing and wait to add to the green beans until you are ready to serve. The reason I suggest this is because the acid from the red wine vinegar will change the color of the green beans from their beautiful bright green color.