Roasted Potato and Green Bean Salad

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

This potato green bean has the perfect balance of green vegetables and potatoes. There’s something interesting and different in each bite. I like the snap of the green beans with the creaminess of the centers of the roasted potatoes. 

Potato salads with roasted potatoes are so much better than boiled potatoes. Roasting is the only way to achieve those crisp brown edges and all that flavor that comes with them. There’s no large pot of boiling water to deal with and a slotted spoon to fish out the potatoes. This is a sheet pan recipe.

Three cheers for a no-mayo potato salad. I prefer oil-based dressings more than ones that are creamy and rich. The lemon juice is a lovely contrast with the roasted ingredients. 

The Ingredients

This is what you need:

• Potatoes: You can use either baby yellow potatoes, baby Yukon gold potatoes (if you can find them), red potatoes or assorted fingerling potatoes. If you are buying them loose, try to choose potatoes that are about the same thickness. This will help them cook more evenly. If you buy them in a bag, halve them lengthwise in the direction where they are closest to each other in diameter.
• Green beans: Trimmed green beans are easy to buy at the grocery. If you’re at the farmers market, you can find wax beans that are yellow and purple string beans. You can use more than one kind. To trim fresh green beans, line them up in a row on your cutting board and slice off the stem ends.
• Olives: I roughly chop pitted Kalamata olives for the salad to give it good briny and salty flavor.
• Red onions are a crisp accent with the potatoes and green beans. Make sure to thinly slice them, so they are evenly distributed throughout the rest of the fresh ingredients. I like using my mandolin for this.
• Feta: Crumbled into the salad, this cheese makes so much sense with the kalamata olives, lemon dressing and parsley. You can even call this recipe a Greek potato salad. 
• Walnuts: Be sure to toast the nuts in a 350-degree F oven for 5-7 minutes to really bring out their flavor.
• Parsley: For fresh herbs, I go with flat leaf Italian parsley. You can also include fresh dill. 
• Lemon dressing: It’s bright with lemon juice, minced garlic, whole grain mustard, kosher salt, black pepper and extra virgin olive oil. You will also need oil, salt and pepper for roasting the potatoes.

Optional Additions

The salad is great as the recipe is written, but you can add one or more of the following:

• Chopped hard-boiled eggs
• Halved cherry tomatoes
• Cannellini beans

Serving

When green beans are in season from late spring to summer and into fall, this is the perfect salad – side dish with tons of personality and flavor. You can serve it with vegetarian mains such as roasted ratatouille quinoa or grilled halloumi and vegetables. This green bean salad also works with proteins including chicken, shrimp, salmon or steak.

Leftovers and Storage

This green bean potato salad is best eaten warm or at room temperature. You can keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days. Reheat them in a 350-degree F oven. The potatoes won’t be as crispy as when you first made the recipe.

If you do have leftovers, pour the dressing from the bottom of the mixing or serving bowl into a mason jar to store it separately. This will help the salad maintain more of its texture. After you reheat the potatoes and green beans you can drizzle in more dressing if you want.