In the South, folks like to have a cold side dish with dinner in the summertime. Chilled salads are refreshing on hot days, and it’s nice to have some good recipes that don’t require heating up the kitchen with the stove especially with energy prices sky high. This recipe is also a nice make ahead dish, so it's popular at pot luck dinners. Quick and easy to make. Just grab it and go.
There are many variations of this classic vegetable salad. It seems that every Southern cook worth her salt throws in a little something different. Try out the basic recipe and then add your own touches. The dressing needs to stay pretty close, but the vegetables can be switched up, and it's fine to add additional seasonings.
Although the basic recipe calls for canned vegetables, it’s fine to use frozen vegetables or fresh garden vegetables. If using fresh produce, be sure to cook the vegetables before putting them in the salad, since this is a no cook dish.
Chilled Southern Vegetable Salad Recipe
- 1 pound can snap or regular green beans (chopped in small pieces – cut beans in half more or less)
- 1 pound can white sweet corn (often sold as shoepeg corn)
- 1 pound can sweet peas (small baby peas are better than fat mushy ones)
- 1 small pepper - green or any color that appeals (chopped)
- 1 small onion (chopped)
- 2 stalks celery (chopped)
- ½ cup vegetable or olive oil
- ¾ cup red wine vinegar
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 TBS water
Directions:
- Drain the liquid off the beans, corn, and peas.
- Mix together in a large bowl the drained beans, corn, peas as well as the green pepper, onion and celery.
- In a small bowl, mix up the oil, vinegar, sugar, pepper, salt, and water.
- Stir the dressing mixture in the small bowl until the sugar is dissolved.
- Pour the dressing mixture over the vegetables and toss until vegetables are coated.
- Chill overnight or for several hours so that the flavors meld.
This tasty summer salad is good with most any meat dish but especially good with Electric Skillet Meatloaf. Making the meat main dish in the electric skillet means not having to turn on the oven which is nice. It’s also a Southern tradition to slice leftover meatloaf and serve it on bread as a sandwich the next day.
Another tasty main dish with vegetable salad is Carolina Crab Cakes. Crab cakes are usually fried (though can be baked), but they fry up fast on either the stovetop or in an electric skillet.
Cyndi Allison - Southern born and fed, Cyndi Allison is a college lecturer and newspaper advisor as well as being a freelance writer. She writes on ...
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