Hominy and Southwest Gold Heirloom Bean Salad
Gourmet heirloom beans meet heritage corn in a Mexican-inspired salad that will be the star of your next backyard barbecue or Taco Tuesday. This protein-packed salad is a fantastic make-ahead side dish or vegetarian main, and always make extra, because it gets even better the next day.
About the Beans: Southwest Gold
Southwest Gold is an organic heirloom bean with a great origin story. It's a new adaptation of the highly sought Zuni Gold (also called Four Corners), originally cultivated in the four corners region by the Zuni people and iconic enough to earn a spot on the Slow Food Ark of Taste. When mosaic virus and drought made commercial growing nearly impossible, UC Davis stepped in, spending years cross-pollinating to improve yield and resilience while preserving the original's exceptional taste and texture.
Our Southwest Gold is certified organic and grown by the Brossy family near Shoshone, Idaho using no-till, regenerative practices. These beans have a creamy interior that absorbs flavors beautifully and a firm exterior that holds up without getting mushy, exactly what you want in a make-ahead salad.
Dry vs. Canned Hominy
Although hominy from a can is really easy it's kind of like the difference between canned beans and gourmet heirloom beans. The flavor and texture is so much better when you start from dry hominy. Canned hominy tends to have a signature gummy texture, however by soaking and cooking the dry hominy as you would heirloom beans you won't get a gummy texture and you can control how soft of firm you'd like the hominy to be.
How To Cook Dry Hominy
1 cup of dry hominy yields 4 cups of cooked hominy. Soak the amount of hominy you'd like to cook overnight in water. The hominy will almost double in size so choose your jar or bowl and fill it with water accordingly. After the hominy is soaked bring it to a boil in a sauce pan or dutch oven and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes to an hour until it reaches the desired consistency. You can shortcut this process by cooking in the pressure cooker for 15 minutes. The pressure cooker will cause more of the kernels to "pop" and you will have less intact corn kernels for your dish but they will be soft and delicious.
*A Note On Our Recipes:
Every recipe here was developed and tested using farm-fresh beans from Foodocracy and Primary Beans. Older beans, anything past a year in your pantry or beans from other sources may need more coaxing. Give them a soak and add extra cooking time, and they'll get there eventually.
Related Recipes
The Heirloom Bean + Grain club
Learn More
Get impossible to find beans and grains shipped direct to your doorstep each month from small family farms.
Support small family farms
Shop Now
We support small, family owned farms across the nation. Did you know that farmers only make an average of 10 cents on every dollar you spend at the supermarket? Working directly with farms and not middle men ensures that more money goes back to the people actually growning your food.
Hominy and Heirloom Bean Salad
Lisa Riznikove
American
Salad
Gourmet heirloom beans meet heritage corn in a Mexican inspired salad that will be the star of your next back yard barbecue or taco Tuesday. This protein packed salad is a fantastic make ahead side dish or vegetarian main. Always make extra because it's even better the next day!
Ingredients
1.5 cups cooked Southwest Gold Beans
1.5 cups Hominy, cooked, rinsed and drained (or one can of prepared hominy)
1 Cup Grape Tomatoes, halved
1 Bell Pepper (orange or yellow), diced
½ Red onion, diced
1/2 Cup Fresh Cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoon Fresh Lime Juice
1 teaspoon Hot Honey
1 teaspoon Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin
Directions
Combine the beans, hominy, tomatores, bell pepper, red onion and cilantro.
In a small bowl whisk together the lime juice, hot honey, cumin, salt and olive oil.
Dress the salad and gently combine the ingredients.
Refrigerate at least 30 minutes but preferably 4hours to overnight to allow the flavors to marry.
This will keep in the fridge for 5-7 days.