Chickpea Salad

Chickpea salad is a lovely main course or side dish with fresh, crisp, colorful veggies, nutritious chickpeas, and a gorgeous, tangy dressing.

You can make it in 20 minutes with simple ingredients.

Chickpea salad is tasty, wholesome, and excellent for meal prep. Best of all, it’ll make you feel great.

This chickpea salad combines canned or cooked dried whole chickpeas with seasonal vegetables and a mouthwatering honey-mustard dressing.

This recipe is inspired by Mediterranean flavors, like our Mediterranean salad, white bean salad, and lentil salad.

You’ll love the bright colors, fresh and zesty flavors, and crunchy and creamy textures.

One word of advice. Take our recipe as a guideline, and feel free to change the veggies and herbs based on what you have available where you live.

We recommend sticking to 4 to 6 different vegetables with different colors and consistencies for best results. Substitutions are provided below.

Quantities are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.

Chickpeas

Chickpeas, or garbanzo beans, are the main ingredient for this easy chickpea salad recipe.

You can use drained and well-rinsed canned chickpeas or dried ones that you cook yourself. Here’s a guide on how to cook chickpeas for your reference.

Substitute cannellini beans, black beans, pinto beans, or lentils for chickpeas.

Tomatoes

We use cherry tomatoes, but you can use any other variety if the tomatoes are ripe.

Substitute Roma tomatoes, plum tomatoes, grape tomatoes, or red bell pepper for cherry tomatoes.

Cucumber

We use English cucumbers here, but we have often made this recipe with American and Persian cucumbers. Kirby cucumbers work, too.

We like to keep the peel on, but that’s a personal preference.

Substitute fresh zucchini or yellow summer squash for cucumber.

Onion

Finely chopped red onion adds a pleasantly spicy taste to the salad.

Substitute shallots or spring onions for the red onion.

Olives

Olives add healthy fats and a bold, savory taste, which makes the salad more delicious.

We love to use pitted Kalamata olives from Greece or Taggiasche olives from Italy, although they can be more expensive.

Substitute generic pitted black olives or green olives for Kalamata.

Corn

Trust us with the corn here. It’s delicious in the salad, and it adds color and natural sweetness.

We use canned corn kernels, but frozen corn works, too (cook it first, though).

Substitute diced yellow bell pepper for corn.

Avocado

Avocado adds creaminess and healthy fats to this delicious dish, making it more substantial, especially if served as a main course.

However, add diced avocado shortly before serving the salad to prevent it from turning brown.

Fresh Herbs

Don’t underestimate fresh herbs in this type of salad. They make a huge difference, adding freshness and a pleasant aromatic and herbaceous flavor.

We use fresh flat-leaf parsley or Italian parsley here.

Substitute fresh basil, mint, chives, dill, and cilantro for parsley.

Dressing ingredients

This dressing transforms simple veggies into something you can’t stop eating. Yet, it’s simple and healthful. You’ll need:

– Extra virgin olive oil: A pillar of the Mediterranean diet, extra virgin olive oil is healthy, flavorful, and nutritious. It’s the base of this dressing.

– Lemon juice: To add acidity and fruitiness. Substitute apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar for fresh lemon juice.

– Honey: For sweetness. Substitute maple syrup, agave syrup, or date syrup.

– Mustard: Use American yellow mustard or Dijon mustard for a savory, tangy, and slightly spicy flavor and to make the dressing creamy so it sticks to the veggies.

– Dried oregano: It adds a Mediterranean (Italian-Greek) spin to the dressing. You’ll love it. Substitute ground cumin for an Eastern Mediterranean touch.

– Salt and black pepper: We recommend sea salt or kosher salt.

US cups + grams measurements in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.

To a medium bowl, add extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, honey, dried oregano, salt, and black pepper. Whisk well until combined.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then add them to the bowl with the dressing. Toss and set aside to marinate for 10 minutes while you cut the vegetables.

To a large mixing bowl, add halved cherry tomatoes, diced cucumber, halved Kalamata olives, finely chopped red onions, corn kernels, finely chopped parsley, and diced avocado.

Tip the dressing with the chickpeas over onto the veggies and toss well.

Taste and adjust for salt before serving as a main course or side dish.

You can make this chickpea salad a complete meal by adding warm pita bread or no-knead focaccia on the side and serving it with a dollop of Greek yogurt, tzatziki, or yogurt tahini sauce.

Storage

Make ahead: Chickpea salad is an excellent meal prep recipe that lasts several days. We recommend it for potlucks and picnics. If you make the salad ahead, add the avocado shortly before serving.

Refrigerator: The salad can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. It should be taken out of the refrigerator 15-30 minutes before serving, as it will taste better at room temperature.

Freezer: We don’t recommend freezing this recipe.

More salads with chickpeas

Some of our readers’ favorite recipes with chickpeas are our Greek chickpea salad with crumbled feta cheese, curry chickpea salad, and mashed chickpea salad, which can be stuffed into a sandwich, and our Mediterranean salad with black beans and onions.

For even more salad ideas, check out our compilation post with our 45 best salad recipes.