Seasoned with our beloved cilantro lime dressing, this Mexican-inspired salad is the perfect companion for barbecues, cookouts, and meal-prepping.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Cilantro lime dressing
How to Make Black Bean Mango Salad
Variations
Serving Suggestions
Storage
More mango recipes
More summer salad ideas
Little did we know that mango + black beans + quinoa = perfect flavor affinity. These three ingredients together are excellent base elements for a delicious, nourishing, and refreshing mango black bean salad. To tie everything together, we rely on a wonderful easy-to-make cilantro lime dressing that adds a tangy, herby, and slightly sweet taste to this vibrant mango black bean salad recipe. Dry black beans don’t require soaking because their skin is thinner than other varieties. You can cook them right away in slightly salted boiling water for about 1.5 hours. Here’s our guide on how to cook black beans, in case your need it. Substitute pinto beans, borlotti beans, or white beans for black beans.
Quinoa
You can use white, red, black, or rainbow quinoa. Remember to rinse the quinoa under running water before cooking it because the quinoa seeds are coated with saponins that can be bitter. Substitute whole-grain rice for quinoa. Both are suitable for gluten-free diets.
Mango
We recommend using fresh ripe mango. Substitute pineapple for mango.
Bell pepper
Red bell pepper is our favorite because it’s sweeter than yellow, orange, or green peppers. Substitute small tomatoes like cherry or date tomatoes for bell pepper.
Cucumber
Cucumber adds a cooling crunch. You can use English, American, or Persian cucumber. Substitute cucumber with corn kernels, canned or frozen.
Red onion
Red onion is tangy and a little acidic. We love it with the mango! Make sure your red onion is not too sharp. If so, thinly slice it and soak it in cold water for 10 minutes before draining it and adding it to the black bean mango salad. Substitute shallots or green onions for red onion.
Avocado
Avocados are creamy and add healthy fats to this colorful salad. Plus, they are delicious with black beans and mango. If you make this for meal prep, add the avo a few moments before serving the salad.
Red hot chilies
Red hot chilies are optional. We like this salad a little spicy, but if you don’t, keep them out. Jalapeno pepper works well too. Let cool down before adding to the veggies. To a small blender or food processor, add cilantro, lime juice, maple syrup, grated garlic, grated ginger, salt, and olive oil. Blend until the cilantro is finely chopped and the ingredients are well combined. Tip: you can also do this by hand, chopping the cilantro with a knife and whisking the ingredients in a small bowl. To a large bowl, add cooked quinoa, thinly sliced red onion, diced cucumber, diced red bell pepper, diced mango, drained and rinsed black beans, and diced avocado. Pour the cilantro lime dressing and toss until well combined. Check out our black bean salad with sweet potato.
Mango salad
This simple mango salad with red onion, red bell pepper, avocado, and olive oil is a quick, easy, delicious, and refreshing summer salad, excellent for a light lunch or as a side dish to picnics and barbeques. Check out our mango salad recipe. You can serve it as is, pair it with our avocado spread, with guacamole, or with our refreshing tzatziki sauce, and serve it with tortilla chips. You can also have it in smaller portions next to a main dish. It goes very well with anything grilled, like, for instance, our grilled tofu with peanut sauce, grilled chicken, shrimp, or salmon.
Tzatziki
Avocado Spread
Grilled Tofu
Guacamole
Refrigerator: keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Take out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving and mix well. Freezer: not suitable for freezing.
Mango sorbet (coming soon) Mango salad (avocado, mango, bell pepper, lime, red onion, mint, etc.) Buddha bowl (brown rice, red onion, mango, avocado, peanut sauce, spinach, etc.) Sesame noodles (cucumber, lime, mango, linguine, peanut sauce, ginger, etc.)
Mango Salad
Sesame Noodles
Buddha Bowl
Watermelon salad (watermelon, mint, lemon zest, feta, basil, pistachio nuts, etc.) Avocado salad (cherry tomatoes, lemon, red onion, parsley, avocado, etc.) Tomato cucumber salad (heirloom tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, parsley, etc.) Zucchini salad (zucchini ribbons, pine nuts, mint, cherry tomatoes, lemon, etc.) Panzanella (stale bread, tomato, cucumber, romaine lettuce, red onion, etc.)
For many more salad ideas, check out our salads category page.
Watermelon Salad
Avocado Salad
Zucchini Salad
Cucumber Tomato Salad
25 Vegan Salads
30 Easy Tofu Recipes
25 Easy Grain Bowl Recipes
30 Raw Vegan Recipes
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