Spruce up any meal in just 15 minutes with this colorful vegan salsa! It’s loaded with vegetables, black beans, fresh cilantro, and a tangy lime dressing. Sprinkle it over tacos, salads, or baked sweet potatoes for a delicious and vibrant meal.
Ingredients & Substitutions
This chunky rainbow salsa is made with a combination of fresh vegetables, canned beans, and dried seasonings. I used each vegetable to represent a specific color of the rainbow. Let’s go over the most important ingredients and substitutions if you need them.
- Black Beans: I used canned black beans because it’s the closest color to something blue, but kidney beans, pinto beans, black-eyed peas, or great northern beans would all be delicious. You can use any variety of beans that you like to make this vegan salsa!
- Orange Bell Pepper: I used an orange bell pepper for the orange part of this rainbow salsa. You could also use red or yellow bell peppers. Green bell peppers aren’t as sweet.
- Corn: I used a bag of frozen grilled corn that I defrosted overnight in the fridge. You definitely don’t have to use grilled corn, I just like the smoky flavor it adds to the salsa. Canned corn, frozen corn, or fresh corn are all fine to use.
- Maple Syrup: A small amount of maple syrup is used to balance the acidity in the lime dressing. You can use date syrup (low glycemic) or agave nectar if you need a substitute.
How to Make Rainbow Salsa
This vegan salsa comes together very quickly and easily! First, prep all the vegetables. Chop the bell pepper, tomatoes, red onion, and fresh cilantro and put them into a large mixing bowl along with the black beans and corn .
In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, maple syrup, cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper (Photo 2). Pour the lime dressing over the ingredients in the bowl and toss well to combine (Photos 3 & 4). You can eat it immediately or put it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes before serving.
PrintRainbow Salsa Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Snack
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 3 cups roma tomatoes diced (4 medium tomatoes)
- 1 large orange bell pepper diced (seeds and membranes removed)
- 1 ½ cups grilled corn
- 1 small bunch fresh cilantro roughly chopped
- ¾ cup red onion diced
- 15 oz can black beans rinsed and drained
- ¼ cup lime juice (about 2 large limes)
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp chili pepper flakes
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Instructions
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Combine the diced tomatoes, bell pepper, corn, cilantro, red onion, and black beans in a large mixing bowl.
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In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, maple syrup, cumin, garlic powder, smoked paprika, chili pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. Pour the dressing over the vegetables in the bowl and toss to combine.
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You can eat the salsa immediately or put it into the fridge for 30 minutes to chill before serving. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Notes
- Dice the tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, and cilantro into bite-sized pieces so it’s easy to eat.
- Roma tomatoes are the best tomatoes to use because they have low water content, so they don’t release that much juice into the salsa. Using juicy tomatoes (like beefsteak) could make it a little watery.
- Make sure to rinse and drain the canned beans very well before you add them to the salsa.
- Grilled corn adds a delicious smoky flavor to this dish! You don’t need to fire up the grill (unless you want to) because you can use frozen grilled corn instead. Just put the bag of corn in the fridge to defrost for 24 hours, drain any excess water from the bag, and then you can add it to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
- The chili flakes add a little bit of heat to the salsa. Start with ¼ tsp and add more to taste. I like a little kick, so I usually end up using ½ tsp.
