Summertime Corn & Black Bean Salsa

Summertime is fast approaching and I'm already in the mood for my favorite summer foods :) We hauled out the grill tonight and made brats for dinner and it got me all excited for the many grilled meals we'll be making this season. It also reminded me that I made one of my favorite summertime recipes, Corn and Black Bean Salsa, about a week ago with my mom and I'm here to share it with you tonight!

It's a really easy recipe to throw together and doesn't require any actual cooking, just a bit of prep work. It always helps if you can divide the work in two by recruiting a helper to assist you with chopping up the veggies too ;)

You start by cutting up all the fresh vegetables - tomatoes, peppers, and onions - into fairly small chunks. You don't want them to be too big or the flavors of all the ingredients don't mesh together as well. We used both green and yellow peppers in this batch, but you can use red or orange as well. 

After the vegetables are all cut up, you add the drained black beans and fiesta corn. Then you add all of the ingredients for the "sauce" part of the recipe and mix it all up! Easy as that! Look at how happy my mom looks! We have so much fun together, don't we mom? ;)

As you can see in the photo above, this recipe makes a fairly large batch of salsa. If you're making it for a large group like we were, it's the perfect amount because it disappears really fast. Seriously, everyone loves this stuff! However, if you're just making it for a small family or group, you can cut the ingredients in half to make a smaller batch. 

The one ingredient we didn't remember to pick up this time was the cilantro, which is optional but really adds a lot of great flavor to the salsa if you like it. I know some people don't care for the flavor of cilantro, so sometimes it really is better to leave it out if you're making this to bring to a party or a picnic to share. It's also optional to spice it up a little with jalapeno peppers - this batch does not have any jalapenos in it either but they definitely add a nice little kick if you like spicy food.

And there it is, folks! Easy as that! I can't wait to make this again soon and I'd love to hear if you try it out as well. Please leave a comment if you do and let me know what you think! Also, please feel free to pin this post to Pinterest so you can come back and find the recipe later!

Summertime Corn & Black Bean Salsa

Ingredients:

2-15 oz cans fiesta corn (Del Monte)
2-15 oz cans black beans
3 medium to large tomatoes diced
2 green peppers chopped (can also use red, yellow, or orange peppers)
1 small sweet yellow onion chopped

Sauce:
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup vinegar
2 envelopes Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
Red hot pepper sauce to taste
2 small Jalapeno peppers (optional)
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

Chop vegetables. Drain corn. Drain black beans and rinse well. Add corn and beans to chopped vegetables. Mix sauce ingredients together and pour over vegetables. Mix until coated. Serve with tortilla chips. If not serving immediately, refrigerate.

Variations:
You can also add 2 chopped avacados, but the salsa keeps much longer if you don't. It keeps for about 5 days in the refrigerator without them. This salsa can also be served over lettuce for a Mexican-style salad. Enjoy!