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Just like everyone I know, I am constantly on the go. At the same time, I want to do my best to cook most of my family’s meals at home while not forcing them to eat at 10pm. I have a ton of creative weeknight meal recipes that I trot out all the time, and this quick black bean and corn salsa is definitely one of them.
No, salsa isn’t an entire meal by itself, but it is perfect for what I need. I love that I can make it the night before if I choose to, or I can whip it together while prepping chicken for chicken tacos if I’m sitting at Mister Man’s tae kwon do and suddenly realize I haven’t done anything for dinner.
It’s easy peasy to hop out of the dojo and swing over to Walmart to pick up everything I need for the chicken tacos and black bean and corn salsa – and be back before his class is over. This time around, I went with the Hunt’s fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic, and the bump up in flavor from the fire roasted tomatoes was just what I wanted.
Besides the flavor, I appreciate that Hunt’s uses a flash steam process to remove the peels from their tomatoes instead of the more common method of using lye. That’s just something that makes me feel more comfortable about what I’m feeding my family.
I’ll often grab a rotisserie chicken and shred the meat for our chicken tacos, but sometimes I’ll take the extra twenty minutes to poach chicken at home instead. Of course, whether I’m using a rotisserie chicken or poaching chicken at home, I still have to shred it for the tacos. Have you ever seen this quick and simply trick?
Those times when I decide to poach chicken instead of using a precooked rotisserie chicken is when having the black bean and corn salsa ready helps. The wee ones can snack on the salsa while I finish making dinner. And since the black bean and corn salsa has some protein from the black beans and is filled with veggies like tomato and avocado in addition to the corn, I’m ok if they fill up on it a little before before “real” dinner is ready.
Black Bean and Corn Salsa Recipe
Black bean and corn salsa is incredibly easy to throw together, and it’s quick, too. It has just five main ingredients: roasted corn, canned diced tomatoes, canned black beans, diced avocado, and diced onion.
I start out by draining and rinsing my canned black beans. If I have time, I’ll soak and cook my own black beans, but when time is of the essence, canned beans work perfectly. Because I want as much water to drain from them as possible, this is my first step in making the salsa.
Personally, I like to roast my corn just a little bit to give it a little more flavor and texture in the salsa. If you don’t have time, you can skip this step, but while you’re waiting for the black beans to dry out a little bit, why not take the ten minutes to roast your corn? Simply place your corn in a fry pan and turn the heat to just below medium. Every few minutes, stir them up a little bit until you have beautiful char marks on many of them. Then turn off the heat, and you’re ready to go.
While your corn is roasting, go ahead and dice your onion. I like to use red onion because of the flavor it adds, but a sweet Vidalia onion would also be nice in this black bean and corn salsa recipe. Cut your avocado at the same time, dicing it into slightly smaller pieces than you normally would, as you’ll just be stirring this salsa and not smashing the avocado in any way like you might for a guacamole or other recipe.
Drain your diced tomatoes so your black bean and corn salsa is nice and thick, then add them to a mixing bowl, along with your beans, corn, and avocado. Add the lime juice and red wine vinegar, which both have nice acidity that will help prevent your avocado from turning brown. Stir, then add salt and pepper to taste.
It’s ready to serve at this point, and try to keep people out of it. If you are able to let the flavors sit overnight and meld, it’s even better, but that rarely happens in my house. We did have a little left over, but my nine year old daughter took the entire container to school for lunch the next day. So much for my lunch!
I did at least get a chance to enjoy a couple chicken tacos before the wee ones demolished all the food I’d made for dinner, unlike the homemade sweet and sour chicken I made last week. Once I’ve shredded my chicken, I just place it in a line on my flour tortilla – feel free to use corn or hard shells – and top with a little fresh shredded cheddar and some of the black bean and salsa I just made.
Roll it up, and you’re ready to go. These are so filling, and I love that the addition of the black bean and corn salsa means I can stretch my chicken a little further, which makes this an even less expensive meal to cook. Homemade, ready in twenty minutes start to finish, and not breaking the bank? This is a winner. Even when someone steals all the leftover salsa for her lunch and shares none with me.
Fortunately, this is an easy recipe that I can make anytime I want – even on those busy weeknights. Even better, right now, Hunts has a coupon where you can buy three Hunt’s canned tomatoes and get one free. Print it for your next trip to Walmart, and you’ll be ready to make this salsa anytime!
I adore black bean and corn salsa. What’s your favorite salsa recipe?
Black Bean And Corn Salsa
Ingredients
- 1 can black beans rinsed and drained
- 2 cups frozen sweet corn
- 1/2 cup red onion diced
- 1 can Hunt's fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic drained
- 1 avocado diced
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Using a colander, rinse and drain black beans and set aside.
- In a fry pan, add frozen corn and turn the heat to medium. Cook for about ten minutes, stirring every few minutes, until kernels start to have beautiful char marks.2 cups frozen sweet corn
- While your corn is cooking, drain your tomatoes. Chop your onion and avocado.
- Add corn, onion, tomatoes, avocado, and black beans to a bowl. Add lime juice and red wine vinegar, and gently stir to mix.1 can black beans, 1/2 cup red onion, 1 can Hunt's fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic, 1 avocado, 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- Add salt and pepper to taste.salt and pepper
- Let rest overnight for flavors to meld or serve immediately. Will last two to three days in a tightly sealed container in the fridge.
Notes
- Don't use just standard diced tomatoes, or your salsa will end up bland. You need fire-roasted diced tomatoes or something similar with a lot of flavor already in them.
- For more tips and tricks, be sure to read the full article above.
Nutrition
This site uses an online source to provide nutrition estimates as a courtesy. If you need exact values, please calculate yourself.
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Came across your site looking for dairy free recipes. Found this recipe and gave it a try. Yuck!! The canned tomatoes make this taste like cheap salsa. Never again! Not coming to your site again. You are a pay to write blogger with no taste or just hungry for money.
I am so sorry that you didn’t like this recipe. I absolutely agree that I wouldn’t ordinarily make salsa with canned tomatoes and generally make mine fresh. Making it with the specific brand and fire roasted flavor that I specified in my recipe was actually quite tasty. My son made it himself the following week with unflavored (standard organic diced tomatoes), and the flavor was very flat. It absolutely requires the tomatoes specified, along with the rest of the ingredients that add more depth of flavor. Yes, this is a sponsored post, but I always provide my honest opinion and friends who helped us eat the salsa loved it. I’m sorry you didn’t have the same experience, especially if you used the exact tomatoes specified.