This Turkish salad recipe is satisfying and light at the same time, with a nutty, creamy tahini dressing, tender cannellini beans, biting white onions, rich hard-boiled eggs, and fresh tomatoes. It's tasty, economical, and so easy to make!
This Turkish salad made with cannellini beans, eggs, and vegetables is a real specialty from the Antalya province in southern Turkey. It has a generous sauce made from tahini, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, and cumin.
The variety of Turkish salads showcases the bounty of the Turkish pazar or farmers market. Our local pazar in Istanbul, Turkey, is a feast for the senses. The breathtaking variety of vegetables, fruits, olives, beans, nuts, and cheeses on display inspires many nutritious recipes.
This salad recipe is one of my all-time favorites. I love the ease of it too; it is substantial, wholesome and so delicious. The word ‘piyaz” derives from the Persian word pidaz, meaning “onion,” which is one of the main ingredients of this salad.
In Antalya, this salad is often enjoyed as a main dish, but it can also be served as a side. Folks can enjoy this salad as lunch or as part of a dinner buffet, combined with grilled meat, meatballs, pickles, and flatbreads like pita or lavash.
Table of Contents
What is in Antalya-Style Bean Salad with Tahini Sauce?
With eggs, beans, and fresh vegetables, this is a vegetarian salad filled with nutrition and protein. So healthy and satisfying! You’ll need:
For the Salad
- Cannellini beans: I use good quality pre-cooked canned cannellini beans, for ease and convenience. Cannellini beans are the traditional choice, but feel free to use any other white beans you prefer.
- Onion: Onion is an important ingredient in this salad; I use white or yellow onions, as traditional, though red onions would be lovely too. Make sure to slice the onions thinly so they’re not overpowering.
- Tomato: Fresh tomatoes are much loved in our salads and a lovely, juicy addition to this cannellini bean salad. Try to use a ripe variety for full flavor.
- Parsley: Parsley or maydanoz, as we say, is the most widely used herb in Turkish cuisine. We use the flat-leaf variety at home (called Italian parsley in the U.S.). Parsley adds a neutral, clean, and almost citrusy taste and we use it liberally in salads, meze, soups, and stews.
- Olives: We are a nation of olive (zeytin) lovers. A short trip to a farmers’ market (pazar) would give you a dozen varieties of olives, all bursting with flavor. I prefer to buy mine unpitted, as these tend to have better texture and taste.
For Dressing and Serving
- Garlic: I adore garlic; not only is it good for you, but it also adds a delicious sharpness to this salad dressing, perfect with earthy tahini.
- Ground cumin: Ground cumin, or kimyon, as we call it, which you can find at our shop. It is widely used in Turkish cuisine and in my kitchen. I adore its pungent, warm aroma. It pairs beautifully with vegetables and legumes, and is wonderful in salad dressings, as in this salad with tahini sauce.
- Lemon: We use lemon a lot in our salad dressings, a perfect match here with extra virgin olive oil and tahini sauce, with its refreshing citrusy taste.
- Tahini: This vegan sesame paste adds richness and creaminess (more information below).
- Vinegar: Vinegar adds a touch of acidity and is perfect combined with earthy tahini, to create a plant-based creamy sauce. Grape vinegar is the traditional choice in Turkey but you can use apple cider vinegar too.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Probably one of the most used ingredients in my kitchen, olive oil (zeytinyağı) is life for us. We even have a whole category of vegetables cooked in olive oil called zeytinyağlı in Turkish cuisine. Make sure it’s a high-quality extra virgin variety, which you can stock up on at our shop.
- Sea salt: Fine sea salt has always been my choice, but Kosher salt is another great option.
- Eggs: I adore eggs and they add protein to this salad. We like to use boiled eggs, quartered, to decorate on top of this salad.
- READ MORE: How to Boil Eggs
- READ MORE: How to Boil Eggs
Ingredient Spotlight
Tahini is a rich, earthy paste made from toasted, crushed sesame seeds. It's widely used for dips, salads, breads, and cookies in Turkish, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern cuisines. Please stir tahini before using as it tends to separate into oil and solids in the jar.
- READ MORE: What Is Tahini?
- TRY IT: Organic Tahini Bundle (Plain and Chocolate Flavored)
How to Make Bean Salad with Vegetables and Eggs
- Hard boil the eggs (optional). If you don’t have hard-boiled eggs on hand, boil 2 eggs for 10 minutes–for more tips on hard-boiling eggs, see our How to Boil Eggs guide.
- Make the tahini sauce. In a large bowl, add 2 large chopped garlic cloves, juice of ½ lemon, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 2 tablespoons tahini, and a good pinch of salt. Stir to combine well; you will notice the sauce will thicken. Pour in 1 tablespoon grape or apple cider vinegar and ¼ cup lukewarm water and combine well for 30 seconds. You will achieve a runny sauce at the end, but add more water if yours is too thick.
- Mix the salad. Drain and rinse 2 cans of cannellini beans and add to the bowl with the sauce. Toss to combine well. Add ½ of a small thinly sliced onion, 1 diced tomato, a handful of chopped parsley, and ⅓ cup of halved pitted olives. Toss once more to combine well, then check the seasoning and adjust to your taste.
- Finish and serve. Transfer the salad to a serving plate, decorate with the quartered, hard-boiled eggs (if using), drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, and serve. Afiyet Olsun (it means “may you be happy and healthy eating this food,” in Turkish).
Make It Your Own
This salad is traditionally made with cannellini beans; but why not experiment with other cooked beans? Butter beans or chickpeas would be good alternatives.
We don’t tend to add more vegetables to it but you can if you fancy. Try adding chopped red or green bell peppers for freshness and a vitamin-boost.
What to Serve with Tahinli Fasulye Piyazı
Creamy yet light, this salad can suit many occasions. Serve as a main, perhaps with your favorite flatbread like Lavash or Pita. It’s perfect for a picnic along or cookout with grilled meats and veggies, like Kofte or Grilled Salmon.
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Bean Salad with Tahini (Tahinli Fasulye Piyazı)
Ingredients
For the Bean Salad
- 2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- ½ small yellow or white onion, quartered and thinly sliced
- 1 medium ripe tomato, diced
- Handful of flat-leaf parsley, leaves and tender stems finely chopped
- ⅓ cup Turkish or other good-quality black olives, pitted and halved
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
For the Tahini Sauce
- 2 fat garlic cloves, finely chopped
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons tahini
- Sea salt
- 1 tablespoon grape or apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup lukewarm water
To Serve
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered (optional)
- Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Instructions
- Make the tahini sauce. In a large bowl, add the garlic, lemon juice, ground cumin, tahini, and a good pinch of salt. Stir to combine well; you will notice the sauce will thicken. Pour in the vinegar and lukewarm water and combine well for 30 seconds. You will achieve a runny sauce at the end, but add more water if yours is too thick.
- Mix the salad. Add the beans to the bowl with the tahini sauce. Toss to combine well. Add the onions, tomatoes, parsley and olives and toss once more to combine well, then check the seasoning and adjust to your taste.
- Finish and serve. Transfer the salad to a serving plate, decorate with the quartered, hard-boiled eggs (if using), drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and serve. Afiyet Olsun (it means “may you be happy and healthy eating this food,” in Turkish).
Notes
- Serving suggestions: Enjoy with flat breads or as a side to grilled meat.
- Note: If you prefer to use dried beans, you need to soak them in cold water overnight. Drain and put them in a pan with plenty of fresh water, and cook for about 1 hour, or until tender, adding salt towards the end of the cooking time. Drain and set aside in a bowl, to be used in this salad.
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Excellent summer lunch. Quick and flavorful!
This was delicious and different. The dressing was a nice change from the norm, and the salad is such that you can throw in whatever you have in the fridge—in my case, marinated artichoke hearts. I did saute the onions lightly, as we are not fans of them raw. My husband even mentioned how good it was at lunch next day!
Thanks, Joan!
The recipes are so good, but I would like to see how to !make for one person. I don't want to eat the same thing 3 meals in a row.
Thanks for the feedback, Marilyn! This is something we are working on, so stay tuned!