Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad is healthy and delicious. With nutritious chickpeas, crunchy and juicy veg like red pepper and tomatoes, plus herbs, feta cheese, and a garlicky-lemon dressing, it’s perfect for an easy lunch or light warm weather dinner. This so-simple salad also works well as a side dish, or even a sandwich or wrap filling.

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Chickpeas are one of my favourite pulses. Widely available and relatively cheap, I love their earthy, nutty flavour. Great for whipping up something nutritious in a hurry, my pantry would be incomplete without a few tins of chickpeas. In cold weather, they’re perfect for soups, stews, and curries, But, come Spring and Summer, chickpeas become the base for classic hummus and also find their way into all kinds of sandwiches and salads.

I’ve been making variations of a Mediterranean Chickpea Salad for goodness knows how long. I find that adding the protein, fibre and nuttiness of chickpeas to fresh vegetables and sunny, Mediterranean-inspired flavours makes a wonderfully satisfying and healthy lunch or light warm weather dinner. So quick and easy too!

MEDITERRANEAN CHICKPEA SALAD

You’ll find a recipe card below with suggested ingredient amounts to serve 2 people as a main course or 4 as a side or smaller meal. But I recommend you read this post first for extra tips plus step-by-step photos to whet your appetite.

INGREDIENTS

While you can switch up which vegetables to include in this versatile salad, I almost always choose the following.

• Red onion. Generally milder than yellow onions.
• Cucumber. Refreshing and crunchy.
• Tomatoes. For juiciness.
• Olives. Kalamata are my favourite.
• Red pepper. For crunch and sweetness, although you could swap in smoky roasted pepper for a different effect.

As well as chickpeas, I add lots of fresh herbs to the salad. Dill is a current favourite, but mint, parsley, or any combination of these are all lovely. For a salty, creamy tang there’s wonderful feta cheese.

THE DRESSING

Cloaking the chickpeas and fresh vegetables is a simple but flavoursome garlic, lemon and herb dressing.

• extra virgin olive oil. 
• lemon juice and zest.
• garlic. Finely grated or chopped.
• dried oregano. One of the few herbs I think works better dried than fresh.
• fresh dill, mint, and/or parsley.

• sweetener. This is optional but I think it’s needed to temper the sharp lemon. To complement the Mediterranean theme, I’ve used pomegranate molasses, but maple syrup, honey, sugar or any other sweetener is fine.
• salt and black pepper.
• (optional) Aleppo pepper/mild chilli flakes. A little heat can complement the other flavours. I sometimes add it to the dressing, other times just put it on the table so people can choose whether to sprinkle a little over their own serving.

To make the dressing, either whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl or put them in a screw-topped jar and shake. To start, you may want to add the lower amounts of the garlic and sweetener suggested in the recipe card and just a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix, taste, then adjust as necessary.

MAKING & SERVING MEDITERRANEAN CHICKPEA SALAD

To serve the salad, chop all the vegetables into bite-sized pieces and put them in a roomy bowl along with the chickpeas and some of the fresh herb. Give them a toss, pour over roughly two-thirds of the dressing, then toss again. If you want, you can leave the salad to marinate for 30 minutes or so to meld the flavours. However, as the tomatoes and cucumber will lose some bite, I prefer not to.

Because I like some greens with my salad, I put a base of rocket leaves in each person’s bowl before topping with the dressed vegetables. If you don’t like or have rocket, then choose whichever salad greens you like. Now divide the diced feta between the bowls and sprinkle over more dill or other herb. Finish by drizzling over the remaining third of the dressing and serve.

QUICK, HEALTHY & TASTY

For me, Mediterranean Chickpea Salad is the perfect warm weather lunch or dinner. Quick to put together, healthy, and with a wonderful combination of flavours and textures. Here in Britain, we’ve just been through a stifling heatwave and this refreshing salad has been a life saver.

If you’re particularly hungry, you can serve it with bread; my Turkish Pide Flatbread would be perfect. For a no-yeast bread, go for Quick Flatbreads or Yogurt Flatbreads. The salad also works well as a side dish to roasted and barbecued foods, eggs, or fish, with or without the feta. I especially like it with Lamb Kofte Kebabs or Pork Kebabs with Fennel & Orange.

To ring the changes, swap in different vegetables such as crunchy fennel or creamy avocado. For extra bite, bake the chickpeas until crispy and add to the salad at the last minute. If you’ve leftovers, they’ll keep in the fridge for 2 – 3 days. Although the texture will be much softer, drain off any remaining dressing and the salad makes a wonderful filling for a wrap or sandwich. Just stuff in some extra crunchiness like crisp lettuce, chopped celery, or even grated carrot.

If you’ve made this recipe, I’d love to know what you thought. Please do leave a comment and rating.

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Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

With nutritious chickpeas, crunchy and juicy veg like red pepper and tomatoes, plus herbs, feta, and a garlicky-lemon dressing, this healthy, delicious salad is perfect for an easy lunch or light warm weather dinner. Also works well as a side dish, or even a sandwich or wrap filling.

It's recommended that you read the accompanying blog post before starting the recipe.

Course Main Course, Side Dish, Salad, Lunch, Light Meal

Cuisine Mediterranean

Keyword easy, healthy

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 2 - 4

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

For the dressing

• 60 ml extra virgin olive oil (6 tbsp)
• 45 ml lemon juice (3 tbsp)
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 - 2 cloves garlic (grated or finely chopped)
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp fresh dill (or mint, parsley, or a combination) (roughly chopped)
• 1 - 3 tsp pomegranate molasses/honey/maple syrup/sugar (optional, to taste)
• salt and black pepper (to taste)
• Aleppo pepper/mild chilli flakes (optional, to taste)

For the salad

• 160 g cooked chickpeas (increase to 240 g if liked)
• ½ medium red onion (finely chopped or thinly sliced)
• ⅓ of a large cucumber (diced)
• 120 g tomatoes (diced, or halved if small)
• 30 g Kalamata olives
• 1 medium red pepper (approx. 80g roughly chopped)
• rocket or other salad greens
• 80 - 120 g feta (diced)
• 1 - 2 tbsp fresh dill (or mint, parsley, or a combination) (roughly chopped)

Instructions

1. Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients or shake together in a screw-topped jar. Tip: start with the smaller amounts of garlic and sweetener plus a pinch of the salt, pepper, Aleppo/chilli flakes. Taste and add more if needed.

2. Put all the ingredients for the salad (EXCEPT the rocket and feta) into a bowl and toss.

   Pour over roughly two-thirds of the dressing and toss again.

   Optional: you can leave to marinate for 30 minutes, although the vegetables may lose some texture.

3. Put a bed of rocket or other salad leaves on each person's plate or bowl then top with the dressed salad.

   Sprinkle with the feta and dill then drizzle with the remaining dressing and serve with extra Aleppo pepper or chilli flakes if liked.

4. Salad will keep for 2 - 3 days covered in the fridge, although the texture will become softer.

   Tip: to use leftovers as a sandwich or wrap filling, drain off the dressing and include some fresh crunchy ingredients e.g. crisp lettuce, thinly sliced fennel, grated carrot.

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