• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FatFree Vegan Kitchen

Simply delicious oil-free vegan recipes

  • Recipe Index
    • Recipes by Category
    • Recipes by Tag
    • Recipe Box
  • About Me
    • Press
  • NewsBites
  • Shop!
  • Website

Potato-Green Bean Salad with Lemon and Basil

June 14, 2009 By Susan Voisin 30 Comments
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy Policy.

Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe Share on Facebook

A fat-free pesto dressing of basil and garlic covers red potatoes and green beans with flavor in this light, vegan potato salad.

Potato-Green Bean Salad with Lemon and Basil

Potato salads can be dangerous. I’m not just talking about Aunt Mabel’s mayo-laden concoction sitting outside at the picnic all day, growing an army of bacteria. No, I mean the less immediately life-threatening danger that typical potato salads present to those of us who love, love, love them but don’t love the added fat they normally are bathed in.

Just because a salad—potato or otherwise—is vegan doesn’t mean it’s low in fat; most of them depend on a base of oil or vegan mayonnaise for moistness, flavor, and mouthfeel. It’s easy to take in much more fat than is healthy by doing a supposedly healthy thing and “filling up on salad.”

So, what to do? Instead of relying on fat, I’ve been taking advantage of the summer availability of fresh basil to make a potato salad that’s full of flavor but has zero fat.

The flavor comes from the basil, garlic, and lemon juice, and the substitute for the fat is the potatoes themselves. I make a pesto-like dressing in the food processor with the basil and garlic, but instead of using nuts or olive oil, I use a couple of the cooked red potatoes to give the dressing body and a slight creaminess. Lemon juice adds zing, and a little Shiro miso contributes a savory, umami flavor.

And if you’re carb-shy, notice that the green beans lighten the glycemic load while adding fiber. I don’t think you’ll find a lighter vegan potato salad than this!

Potato-Green Bean Salad with Lemon and Basil

 

More Summer Salads

If you’re looking for light vegan potato salads, you may enjoy one of these recipes:

  • Vegan German Potato Salad
  • Tunisian-Inspired Chickpea and Potato Salad
  • Roasted Asparagus Salad with Chickpeas and Potatoes
  • and more…
5 from 4 votes
Print Pin SaveSaved! Add to Recipe BoxGo to Recipe Box

Potato-Green Bean Salad with Lemon and Basil

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 6
Author Susan Voisin

Ingredients

  • 24 ounces small new potatoes (680 g)
  • 8 ounces raw green beans (240 g)
  • ¼ cup basil leaves, packed (10 g)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice freshly squeezed
  • 1-2 garlic cloves peeled
  • 2 teaspoons light-colored miso (or salt to taste)
  • 1-2 tablespoons water
  • ½ red bell pepper sliced
  • additional lemon juice, salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

  • Scrub potatoes well and cut into bite-size pieces. (Halve very small potatoes and quarter larger ones.) Bring a pot of water to a boil, add potatoes, and cook until just tender but not falling apart (10-20 minutes, depending on size of potatoes). When done, drain and rinse briefly with cold water.
  • Meanwhile, prepare the green beans. Trim ends and cut beans into bite-sized pieces, 1 to 1 1/2-inches long. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add the green beans, and cook until tender but still bright green and crisp, 5 to 10 minutes. (Or steam in pressure cooker: place in steamer basket over boiling water, seal cooker, and cook for 3 minutes; use quick release to bring pressure down.) Drain water from beans and immediately plunge them into a bath of ice and water to stop cooking.
  • To make the dressing, place 2 ounces of the cooked potatoes (60 g) into a small food processor or mini blender. Add basil, lemon juice, garlic, miso, and 1 tablespoon water. Process until creamy, scraping down sides and adding more water if necessary. Drain the green beans and add them to the potatoes in a large serving bowl. Gently fold in the dressing. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, to allow flavors to blend.
  • Before serving, add the sliced red bell pepper. If you like, you can roast the strips of pepper briefly under a broiler to soften and sweeten their flavor. Taste for seasoning and add additional fresh lemon juice, salt, and freshly ground pepper as needed.
Nutrition Facts
Potato-Green Bean Salad with Lemon and Basil
Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
Calories 112
% Daily Value*
Protein 3.5g7%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutritional info is approximate.

Course Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine Oil-Free, Vegan
Keyword oil-free potato salad, vegan potato salad
Have you made this recipe?Mention @SusanFFVK and tag #fatfreevegankitchen in your photos on Instagram.
Share on Facebook Pin This Recipe Share by Email

Please pinned share:

Potato-Green Bean Salad with Lemon and Basil: A fat-free pesto dressing of basil and garlic coats red potatoes and green beans in flavor in this light, vegan potato salad

Filed Under: Recipes, Salads Tagged With: Eat-to-Live, Gluten-free, Pesto, Potato Recipes, Soy

Get NewsBites!

Sign up for our newsletter to receive new recipes & tips by email!

Privacy Policy
Previous Post: « Blueberry-Banana Bread
Next Post: E’s Samosa Wraps »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Holly

    August 21, 2009 at 3:50 am

    I made this last night for dinner. I have yet to find miso here (just moved to Austria) so I cheated and put in a tablespoon of canola oil. I also don't have a blender yet so I just smashed up the potatoes and garlic with a fork. Best part: I added 1 cup of thawed edamame to punch up the protein and small delicious sprouts which are easy to buy and cheap in Austria. Sliced walnuts would have been a nice add too.

    Thank you Susan for all you do.

    Reply
  2. Mansi

    September 3, 2009 at 3:33 am

    This looks fab…your blog is amazing..been through some recipes and they look great.

    Reply
  3. Mari

    May 25, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    Made this over the weekend and loved it! Didn’t have Miso so used Bouillon instead and I added some chopped celery and cucumber as well to it. Thanks! : )

    Reply
  4. Liz

    June 3, 2010 at 10:57 am

    This is a great recipe! Last week, my Dad gave me green beans from his garden, and I had some potatoes I needed to use. I found this recipe using your recipe finder. Perfect! I’m always looking for recipes that my husband and I can take to work for lunch, and this worked out great. I had some leftover, so I served it with “grill-worthy veggie burgers” from No Meat Athlete (http://www.nomeatathlete.com/cookout-veggie-burgers/). Yummy! Thanks for all the great recipes and tips, Susan! My husband and I became vegans 3 months ago, and I would be lost without your blog! I’ve made lots of your recipes and found other food blogs through your links. You’re a life saver!

    Reply
  5. Intentional Tarts

    June 3, 2010 at 12:03 pm

    This salad looks beautiful! I will be trying it soon. Your recipes are always awesome. Thank you so much for sharing!

    Reply
  6. Bex

    June 21, 2010 at 4:04 pm

    Made this for the first time tonight. Great recipe, but I think next time I’m going to use roasted garlic instead of the raw. Ingenious idea using the potatoes in the dressing also.

    Reply
  7. Crystal

    July 14, 2010 at 4:16 am

    I made this for a potluck last summer when I didn’t want to make a traditional mayonnaise salad, and I LOVED it. I bookmarked the page and came across it today. I printed it out because I know I’ll want to make it many more times!

    Reply
  8. Kellie

    July 25, 2010 at 7:11 am

    This was delicious! We had both new potatoes and green beans from our CSA that needed to be used so I went searching for a recipe. My Dad actually took second helpings. Only AFTER he gobbled it up did I tell him the recipe was from a fat free vegan blog. He shrugged and cleaned his plate. Thanks!

    Reply
  9. Ms_min

    August 28, 2010 at 7:28 pm

    Wow! That dressing is a winner–best no fat pesto I’ve ever had. My teenage kids were pleaaed as well. Thanks, Susan!

    Reply
  10. Kathryn

    May 31, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    Oh my goodness so good. I didn’t have miso so I used salt and it was just fine, but I bet the miso is amazing. My dressing was bright basil green. Delish.

    Reply
  11. Sue

    June 13, 2011 at 5:14 pm

    Hi Susan,
    I am a new vegan, 3 months now, and have recently found your blog. I have made and enjoyed quite a few of your recipes and have enjoyed them all…especially the black bean pineapple stew and the international quinoa salad. Tonight I made the potato-green bean salad w/lemon and basil and it was by far the most delicious potato salad I have ever made.

    Thank you!

    Reply
  12. Lizabet

    June 14, 2011 at 10:19 am

    I appreciate you so much!! Your recipes are a mainstay for me and my husband. Seldom have to stress about what’s for dinner.

    Reply
  13. susielol

    June 17, 2011 at 10:39 pm

    Made this today for my husband and I. So yummy! Genius idea using the potato as the dressing base. We finally made the jump to eliminated oil from our diets and this is the first recipe I have made from your blog 🙂 Thank you! You are appreciated! 🙂

    Reply
  14. Sara @ Veggies For Real

    June 28, 2011 at 12:25 pm

    Hi Susan!,
    I just made a potato and bean salad using your blended potato trick and it turned out wonderfully (http://veggiesforreal.blogspot.com/2011/06/lower-fat-three-bean-and-potato-salad.html)! I used vinegar instead of lemon juice, a combination of miso and salt, parsley instead of basil and 2 cloves of garlic. I couldn’t help myself from using a bit of oil, but it was less than half of what I would’ve used for a salad that size. Thanks for the great trick!

    Reply
  15. Joy

    July 6, 2011 at 10:17 am

    I made this for 4th of July but used cilantro instead of basil. It was extremely fresh and fantastic and I had absolutely no leftovers.

    Reply
  16. jen

    August 8, 2011 at 7:42 pm

    made this over the weekend and it was delicious! i didn’t have a food processor so i just mashed the dressing ingredients in a bowl and it worked fine. also, i substituted water for some olive oil. i’m not the biggest fan of red bell pepper, so i threw in some shaved radish for the color and it gave a nice spicy crunch. very flavorful salad, thank you for sharing! 🙂

    Reply
  17. rita

    August 29, 2011 at 4:39 pm

    This was delicious! creamy and spicy. Thanks so much for this Susan V.

    Reply
  18. lea

    November 16, 2011 at 7:37 am

    Made this last night and it is the BEST potatoe salad of all time! Using the potatoes in the dressing is such a great idea. I also loved the addition of miso – healthy and delicious. Only change I will make next time is to double the recipe LOL… Thanks Susan!

    Reply
    • Susan Voisin

      November 16, 2011 at 8:17 am

      You’re welcome! So glad you liked it!

      Reply
  19. Diane Hughes

    February 17, 2012 at 2:12 pm

    Just found the Potato Green Bean Salad w/ lemon and basil. What a fantastic no oil pesto. It would be great on pasta or as a sauce with innumerable veggies. Other herbs would work too! Parsely pesto, cilantro pesto. Thank you. Pesto is back in my life. (Used extra garlic and I love the bite in the pesto.)

    Reply
  20. Shelley

    August 21, 2012 at 4:51 pm

    I just finished making this and cannot wait to dive in. Thank you for such an easy, delicious NON-FAT potato salad. 🙂

    Reply
    • Shelley

      August 21, 2012 at 4:52 pm

      forgot to add that I used salt instead of the miso (was all out) and Red Gold potatoes from my CSA. They’re gorgeous.

      Reply
  21. Nicole

    June 14, 2016 at 2:55 pm

    What a wonderful idea. I was just in the kitchen wanting not to add nuts to a dressing but needing to thicken it. I will use this tech. many times I’m sure. Plus going to make this salad soon.

    Your the best!
    Nicole

    Reply
  22. Sandra

    June 15, 2017 at 5:59 pm

    If you use store bought mayo you cannot get sick from that ingredients. The others maybe, but not the mayo. That’s only an issue with homemade mayo. Just FYI.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to My Kitchen!

Susan VoisinI'm Susan Voisin, and I love creating delicious whole foods plant-based dishes with no added oil. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram.
  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Find It Fast

  • Instant Pot Recipes
  • Ridiculously Easy Recipes
  • Weight Watchers Recipes
  • Recipes by Tag (ingredient, gluten-free, etc.)
  • Complete Recipe Index

Find a Recipe

Allergens

All of my recipes are vegan, dairy-free, and fish free. To find recipes free of other allergens, click on an icon below.

Gluten FreeNut FreeSugar FreeSoy Free

Footer

Fall Favorites

Pasta Fagioli with Cranberry Beans and Kale

Pasta Fagioli with Cranberry Beans and Kale

Vegan Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Vegan Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Spaghetti Squash Pesto Lasagna

Spaghetti Squash Pesto Lasagna

Lentil Soup with Coriander and Cumin from FatFree Vegan Kitchen

Lentil Soup with Coriander and Cumin

See More Fall Favorites

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Photos, original recipes, and text © Susan Voisin. All rights reserved. Do not republish content without permission.

Nutritional information is approximate and is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate. This site has no affiliation with Weight Watchers™️ and cannot guarantee accuracy of Points™️.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Copyright © 2023 · Susan Voisin · Privacy Policy· Log in