Salsa verde beans

+ how to get 4 meals out of them

Jul 23, 2026

∙ Paid

40 Ingredients Forever is devoted to recipes that are abundant in flavor and joy yet streamlined in process and shopping—because they’ll all be made using my 40 go-to ingredients.

I should be honest about summer produce. First, I love it. See me gasping at tomatoes and corn like the next California girl who’s thrilled to have made it through another Northeast winter.

But.

Sometimes I struggle to make it into a meal? (Do you feel this too?)

A Greek salad fills me with warm and fuzzy feelings, but then I’m hungry in five minutes. So I snack on baby carrots and snap peas, and then I’m hungry five minutes after that. This pattern can’t continue because there’s swimming and sunbathing (and yes, work) to do.

This is part of the idea behind this newsletter, 40 Ingredients Forever: that a stable of core ingredients creates a reliable route to dinner. Tomatoes and peaches come and go, but beans, eggs, and other “forever ingredients” are forever (and make a meal). When you’re supported by these staples, you can enjoy summer produce and a satisfying dinner. (That Greek salad? It just needed beans and sardines.)

Today’s recipe is one of my favorite examples of core ingredients supporting seasonal whims. Not only do you not have to cook anything, but marinating beans in any sauce or dressing gives them a pep and shakes off their tin-can sleepiness. This time of year, I like to dress them in a lively herb sauce; eat them right away, or let them marinate for up to 3 days in the fridge.

From there, let the salsa verde beans jump-start many summery meals. Add your tomatoes and grilled zucchini and corn kernels — your dainty lettuces, too. (Scroll down for how I ate them throughout the week.)