Granny Jordan’s Vegetable Salad

Marinated in a tangy yet sweet vinegar dressing, Granny Jordan’s Southern vegetable salad is overflowing with canned and fresh vegetables, like pimentos, celery, green beans, corn, green pepper, and onion.

Granny Jordan’s vegetable salad recipe is one of those unassuming dishes of goodness that families with loving matriarchs just take for granted will show up at all of their get-togethers. It doesn’t put on airs, is easy to throw together, doesn’t cost a whole ton of money, and everyone loves it. Come to think of it, I would use a lot of those phrases to describe Granny Jordan herself. She had a graceful kindness about her in how she entered and operated in your life. Never one to butt in or force her opinions, she was happy to just “be” and her presence was always a joy. She didn’t judge, just welcomed and loved.

This vegetable salad recipe is both crisp and flavorful. We use a bunch of canned and fresh vegetables, including peas, green beans, corn, onion, green pepper, and onion. Then we marinate the vegetable salad in a sweet and sour dressing made with oil, vinegar, and sugar, and seasoned with salt and pepper. All you have to do is make the dressing, stir it into the vegetables, and let it chill in the fridge. I love to refrigerate it overnight so the dressing soaks into every last vegetable!

I’ve included some serving suggestions below, but this Southern marinated vegetable salad tastes good with basically any main dish. Alright, who’s ready to make it?

Recipe Ingredients

• White vinegar
• Vegetable oil or olive oil
• Sugar
• Salt
• Black pepper
• English peas
• Diced celery
• Pimentos
• French-style green beans
• White or sweet corn kernels
• Diced green pepper
• Chopped onion

How to Make Vegetable Salad

Place vinegar, oil, sugar, salt, and pepper in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil, stirring constantly until sugar is melted.

Sometimes I just heat this up in the microwave and stir it real good, works just as well.

Drain all of the canned veggies and dice up all the fresh veggies, then place them all in a medium bowl.

Pour the prepared and cooled dressing over the top, cover, and refrigerate for several hours or until chilled.

When ready, serve your corn salad with a slotted spoon.

Enjoy!

Storage

Store leftover marinated salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Recipe Notes

• You can use apple cider vinegar if you prefer or if that is what you have on hand. Another option is white wine vinegar.
• For more flavor, add your favorite chopped fresh herbs, like fresh parsley, dill, cilantro, basil, chives, rosemary, or oregano.
• You can also add spices, like 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and/or celery seed.
• Adapt this recipe to suit you and whatever veggies you have on hand:
  • Substitute the white onion for a red onion.
  • Use red bell pepper or yellow bell pepper instead of green bell pepper.
  • Swap celery for shredded carrot or use both.
  • Use thawed frozen corn instead of canned corn.
  • Substitute one of the cans of corn for a can of sliced mushrooms, lima beans, kidney beans, or water chestnuts. 

Recipe FAQs

What do you serve with this simple vegetable salad?

If you want to serve your salad as a side dish, it works great with so many main dishes, like grilled chicken tenders, fried catfish, pork chops, and fried chicken. 

You may also like these other sensational salad recipes:

Aunt Cathie’s Southern Grape Salad

Snickers Caramel Apple Salad

3 Bean Salad With Dressing

Creamy Cucumber Salad

Ham Pasta Salad With Ranch Dressing

The Best German Potato Salad Recipe

“When you look back, you’ll find that most of the special memories were nothing more than moments. Not glamorous or expensive, not planned or thought out in detail. They happened in love, in joy, in appreciation, and in honest connection.

Make time for those special people in your life today, make time for those special moments to happen.”

~Doe Zantamata