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This satisfying black bean, corn, and avocado salad with jicama tastes great and is super-versatile. Don’t miss it.
Why we love this recipe
This light, bright, and satisfying black bean, corn, and avocado salad with jicama has long been a favorite. It somehow manages to assert its unique identity while remaining almost ridiculously flexible. That’s the dream for us all, am I right? This recipe is:
- Full of beautifully balanced flavors and textures
- Equally great as a light lunch on its own or side dish at dinner
- An excellent, prep-ahead friendly, always popular buffet item
- Easy to spoon into corn chip scoops or tiny cups as an hors d’oeuvre
- Vegan and gluten-free, to boot
I first published this recipe here and on Serious Eats way back in 2010, adapted from Bon Appétit. I’ve since updated the post for clarity and made a few further gentle tweaks to the recipe itself.
What you’ll need
Here’s a glance at the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe.
- Good-quality black beans from a can work well in this recipe. Or you can cook your own, of course. You’ll need about 1 3/4 cups cooked beans, from 1/2 heaping cup dried.
- Good-quality frozen corn works great in this recipe and saves the effort of shucking. Fresh corn is great too, of course, if you’ve got it.
- Jicama (sometimes called yam bean, Mexican turnip, or Mexican potato) is a tropical tuber found in many Latin American and East Asian cuisines. With a taste and texture somewhere between an apple and a potato, it can be eaten raw in salads and slaws or cooked (often stir-fried or boiled and mashed). Its mildly sweet flavor holds its own against spicy and acidic ingredients, and its crispness complements fattier foods beautifully. Look for Jicama that’s nice and firm, with dry skin and minimal blemishes.
- Hass avocados are creamy and buttery and fabulous. If, like me, you don’t live in an area where avocados grow, you’ll still probably be able to find them at various stages of ripeness in your local stores.
- A good old red bell pepper adds crunch and a gorgeous color contrast.
- One seeded jalapeño leaves this salad mild and flavorful. You can add more, leave the seeds and white ribs in, or swap in a spicier pepper variety of your choice if you’d like more heat.
- There’s no substitute for freshly squeezed lime juice and orange juice, which provide a gentle, complex acidity to the dressing.
How to make it
Here’s an overview of what you’ll do to make a satisfying bowl of black bean, corn, and avocado salad with jicama. You can see the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post, and get all the details in the recipe card below.
- Right in the mixing bowl, you’ll whisk up the dressing.
- Add the beans, corn, bell pepper, jicama, and avocado.
- Add the jalapeño, scallions, and cilantro.
- Give it all a thorough but gentle stir. That’s it!
Expert tips and FAQs
Jicama has a thickish, fibrous layer underneath the skin that you’ll want to discard with the peel. You can either peel it with a paring knife or use a vegetable peeler and make two passes over each part of the surface.
You can. Feel free to make the dressing and stir in the beans, corn, bell pepper, jalapeño, and scallions up to about 48 hours in advance of serving time. Both jicama and avocado will begin to brown over time, and cilantro will wilt, so I like to add these elements shortly before serving.
Leftovers will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for a day or two.
More favorite satisfying vegan salads
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Black Bean, Corn, and Avocado Salad with Jicama
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 medium garlic clove, minced
- Zest of one lime, grated on a rasp
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 15.5- ounce 439-gram can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ cups (255 grams) cooked corn kernels
- 1 medium red bell pepper, diced small
- 8 ounces (227 grams) jicama, peeled and diced small (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 firm-ripe Hass avocado, diced small
- 1 medium fresh jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed, minced
- ¼ cup chopped scallions
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the lime juice, orange juice, garlic, lime zest, salt, cumin, and pepper.
- Whisk in the olive oil until the dressing emulsifies.
- Add the beans, corn, bell pepper, jicama, avocado, jalapeño, scallions, and cilantro.
- Stir gently but thoroughly, until all ingredients are well-distributed and evenly coated with dressing.
Notes
- There's no substitute for freshly squeezed lime juice and orange juice, which provide a gentle, complex acidity to the dressing.
- Good-quality black beans from a can work well in this recipe. Or you can cook your own, of course. You'll need about 1 3/4 cups cooked beans, from 1/2 heaping cup dried.
- Good-quality frozen corn works great in this recipe and saves the effort of shucking. Fresh corn is great too, of course, if you've got it.
- Jicama (sometimes called yam bean, Mexican turnip, or Mexican potato) is a tropical tuber found in many Latin American and East Asian cuisines. With a taste and texture somewhere between an apple and a potato, it can be eaten raw in salads and slaws or cooked (often stir-fried or boiled and mashed). Its mildly sweet flavor holds its own against spicy and acidic ingredients, and its crispness complements fattier foods beautifully. Look for Jicama that's nice and firm, with dry skin and minimal blemishes. Jicama has a thickish, fibrous layer underneath the skin that you'll want to discard with the peel. You can either peel it with a paring knife or use a vegetable peeler and make two passes over each part of the surface.
- Hass avocados are creamy and buttery and fabulous. If, like me, you don't live in an area where avocados grow, you'll still probably be able to find them at various stages of ripeness in your local stores.
- One seeded jalapeño leaves this salad mild and flavorful. You can add more, leave the seeds and white ribs in, or swap in a spicier pepper variety of your choice if you'd like more heat.
- Feel free to make the dressing and stir in the beans, corn, bell pepper, jalapeño, and scallions up to about 48 hours in advance of serving time. Both jicama and avocado will begin to brown over time, and cilantro will wilt, so I like to add these elements shortly before serving.
- Leftovers will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for a day or two.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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