Bean Salad with Croutons and Smoked Chicken

Name: Bean Salad with Croutons and Smoked Chicken
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: Home cooking
Ingredients: Canned red beans — 80 g; Smoked chicken breast — 60 g; Canned sweet corn — 45 g; White bread — 25 g; Hard cheese — 25 g; Mayonnaise — 18 g; Garlic — 2 g; Salt — 1 g; Ground black pepper — 1 g

A hearty festive salad with beans, smoked chicken, cheese, and homemade croutons. The croutons are added at the end to keep them crisp.

Time: 20 min
Serving: 488 kcal
Ingredients: ≈ $1.71
Protein: 30 g

Salad Quick

Bean Salad with Croutons and Smoked Chicken

Ingredients

1 Canned red beanspack 400 g ≈ $1.10 80 g
2 Smoked chicken breastpack 300 g ≈ $4.50 60 g
3 Canned sweet cornpack 340 g ≈ $1.00 45 g
4 White breadpack 350 g ≈ $1.44 25 g
5 Hard cheesepack 200 g ≈ $2.70 25 g
6 Mayonnaise 18 g
7 Garlic≈ $10.00 per kg 2 g
8 Salt 1 g
9 Ground black pepper 1 g

Grey rows are pantry staples: salt, oil, spices. They are not counted in the serving price.

Method

Cut the bread into cubes, spread on a baking sheet, and toast at 180 °C for 7–9 minutes until the edges are golden.
Drain the beans and corn in a sieve, rinse the beans, and let the liquid drain off.
Dice the smoked² chicken, grate the cheese, and mince the garlic⁷.
Mix the beans, corn, chicken, cheese, garlic⁷, and mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add the croutons just before serving and toss quickly so they stay crisp.

Tips

Why it works: Add the croutons at the end so they don't go soft from the warm beans and mayonnaise. If you add them early, they turn damp and lose their crunch within 5 minutes.
Substitutions: Use ham (60 g) or canned tuna (60 g, drained) instead of smoked chicken. Replace the mayonnaise with sour cream (18 g) for fewer calories, but the salad will be less creamy.
Common mistakes: If the salad looks too wet or runny, the beans weren't drained enough. Check: if puddles form on the plate, add more croutons or dry the bread longer.
Storing and reheating: Keep for 2 days in the fridge, but add the croutons only right before eating. Reheat in the microwave for 1 minute, then stir and add more croutons. Don't freeze, the croutons won't stay crunchy.
Serve with: Serve at a festive dinner with beer or dry wine. For work, pack it in a container with a separate bag of croutons and add them before eating.

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Nutrition

Per serving and share of 2000 kcal

Calories	488 kcal	24%
Protein	30 g	40%
Fat	25 g	36%
Carbs	33 g	13%
Per 100 g	190 kcal

Cost

≈ $1.71per serving

Average supermarket prices, BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), October 2026. Your store will differ: products come in packs and each chain sets its own prices. The priciest item here is smoked chicken breast.