Beetroot and Chickpea Salad Recipe
This beetroot and chickpea salad ranks in my top favorite salad recipes of all time. I do make some sort of variation at least once a week because it is really that versatile, healthy, and delicious. My toddler is also a big fan! Earthy beetroot, protein-rich chickpeas, crunchy nuts, and creamy feta join forces in one full-of-substance but super-healthy meal. Whether it be a salad you prepare ahead of time for a quick lunch or a light dinner served along with it, this is the take-on salad for a meal that is healthy and easy at the same time. Moreover, it is also rich in nutrients and taste, which makes it an excellent choice in the category of healthy salads for one and all.
The feta is beautifully creamy, the sunflower seeds and pecans add such a nice crunch, and the lemon and balsamic dressing bring it all so nicely together for that extra burst of freshness in the salad. You can also make this beet and chickpea salad as part of your meal prep because it will keep and only continue to get tastier as the flavors meld.
This beetroot and chickpea salad is surely one of the best options available in case one is looking forward to having a high-protein salad full of veggies.
❤️ Why You’ll Love Beetroot and Chickpea Salad
There are many reasons to fall in love with this beetroot and chickpea salad. First, it is highly commendable as a high protein salad since the chickpeas and feta make a great combo. For one, the addition of chickpeas to this dish would not only add protein but also fiber to make it even more filling. The feta cheese adds such creaminess that works beautifully against the crunchy sunflower seeds and nuts.
Packed with nutrients, this healthy salad could serve you in many ways: from quick meal prep to an easy lunch every day. Earthy in flavor, the beetroot is pitted against the freshness of the cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and bell pepper to bring about a vibrant mix of colors and tastes that will be as appealing to the eyes as it is going to be to the palate.
You’ll also love just how easy this beet and chickpea salad is to make. With a light dressing of lemon and balsamic vinegar, it’s super easy to make in really little time. Besides, everything is so accessible, even the use of canned chickpeas makes it not a fuss whatsoever. Whether you love beet salad or you’re just simply in need of healthy salad ideas, this will be one of your go-to recipes that can be easily whipped up on any given day.
🛒 Ingredients for Beet and Chickpea Salad
Salad Ingredients:
- Onion: Adds more sharp taste and mild sweetness to the salad, providing a little crunch.
- Cucumber: Provides fresh cool freshness that helps balance the earthy flavor.
- Cherry Tomatoes: The natural sweetness and juiciness bring life in each bite of the salad.
- Beetroot: Star of the culinary game, earthy yet slightly sweet with vibrant color.
- Bell Pepper: Adds mild sweetness with an element of crunch, giving the salad more texture and color.
- Chickpeas: Soaked in protein, this legume makes the salad hearty and filling with its soft texture.
- Sunflower Seeds: Provide a nutty flavor and a delightful crunch, plus they are rich in healthy fats.
- Pecans/Walnuts: Add a rich, buttery crunch to the salad that complements the creamy ingredients.
- Lettuce: Provides freshness and crispiness at the base of the salad, giving it a light, airy feel.
- Feta Cheese: Adds a creamy, salty side that pairs beautifully with the other flavors present.
Dressing Ingredients:
- Lemon Juice: Provides a fresh, tangy brightness that cuts through the richness of the cheese and nuts.
- Balsamic Vinegar: Sweet and tangy, gives depth to the vegetables.
- Olive Oil: Binds the dressing together while adding richness and smoothness.
- Salt & Pepper: These two combined spices are essential to enhance all the other tastes.
- Oregano (optional): It gives a mild herbaceous background note to the salad and a little more Mediterranean character.
🤌 How to Make The Best Beetroot Salad
To make the best beetroot and chickpea salad, follow these tips to enhance the flavors, textures, and overall experience of the dish:
- Use Fresh Ingredients: The key to a vibrant, delicious salad is using the freshest vegetables and greens. Freshly chopped onions, cucumbers, bell peppers, and ripe cherry tomatoes will add an unbeatable crunch and flavor.
- Roast or Steam the Beetroot: For the best flavor and texture, consider roasting or steaming the beetroots. Roasting enhances the natural sweetness of the beetroot, while steaming keeps it tender and nutritious. Either method will bring out the earthy flavors that balance perfectly with the creamy feta and crunchy nuts.
- Balance the Textures: A great salad has a balance of textures. The crunchy sunflower seeds and nuts add contrast to the softness of the chickpeas and beetroot. Adding crisp lettuce and smooth feta ensures every bite is exciting.
- Make the Dressing Fresh: A freshly made dressing makes all the difference. Combine the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper just before serving to maintain its tangy, vibrant flavor. If you want a Mediterranean touch, add a pinch of oregano for extra depth.
- Season Well: Don’t skimp on the seasoning! Properly seasoning your salad with enough salt and pepper brings out the natural flavors of the vegetables, chickpeas, and feta.
- Let the Flavors Marinate: After mixing the salad, let it sit for 10–15 minutes. This allows the dressing to infuse into the vegetables, enhancing the overall taste. The longer the flavors meld, the more delicious the salad becomes, making it ideal for meal prep.
- Customize to Your Taste: Feel free to swap out ingredients based on your preferences. You can substitute the nuts for your favorite type or even add extras like avocado for creaminess or quinoa for added protein. The recipe is highly flexible, making it easy to tailor to your taste.
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- Save some time: One can easily make use of vacuum-packed cooked beetroot instead of roasting or steaming your own. This ready-to-use beetroots are a great shortcut from earthy flavor without the extra prep time. Just drain and then cube, adding to the salad. That simple switch will get you the salad ready in no time, for those busy days or fast meal preps!
- Toast nuts and seeds: Light toasting of sunflower seeds and nuts before adding will bring out the warm nutty crunch in the salad. Place them in a dry skillet over medium heat until they are fragrant.
- Meal Prep Salad: This beet and chickpea salad meal preps so well. You can make it ahead of time and store it in the fridge for 3 days. Keep the dressing separate for maximum freshness and add it in right before you are ready to serve.
- Swap out the greens: You can easily swap out lettuce for other leafy greens such as spinach, arugula, or even kale if you want something a little heartier to base the salad on. Kale, especially, holds up great when meal prepping salads and brings an extra boost to the nutrition value.
- Dressing: This lemon-balsamic dressing is light and zesty; however, you can continue to adjust the flavor profile to your liking. A teaspoon of Dijon mustard adds a tangy kick, with a tad of honey to sweeten it. You can tinker with the ratios of lemon juice and vinegar if you prefer less acidity.
- Make it Dairy-Free: All one needs to do for the salad to become vegan or dairy-free is exclude the feta or replace it with a plant-based alternative for cheese, and this salad will still be healthy and delicious with its other nutritious and flavorful ingredients.
- Chop Uniformly: Always chop all your vegetables or components in similar-sized pieces; this allows for even flavor distribution and a great experience of every single bite.
- Add More Protein: If you want a more filling salad, you are welcome to add as much protein as you would like, using things such as grilled chicken, quinoa, or even boiled eggs. This makes the salad a complete meal and is absolutely great for lunch or dinner.
🗒 Variations and Substitutions
Beetroot and Chickpea Salad-Variations and Substitutions
- Vegan Salad: For a vegan version, this salad only requires one thing, leaving out the feta. Alternatively, add in some vegan cheese. You could also try adding avocado for creaminess or sprinkling some nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor with no dairy.
- Gluten-Free Salad: Thankfully, this salad is gluten-free-naturally! Just make sure to check the labels of the store-bought dressing or pre-made ingredients that you may want to use. If you add grains such as quinoa or rice, just to give it more bulk, make sure that they are gluten-free.
- Nut-Free Salad: Omit the pecans/walnuts and add more sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds, anything you love for the crunch. You might want to try adding hemp seeds or sesame seeds to give it an extra boost of nutrition and keep it allergy-friendly.
Other Substitutions and Additions:
- Cheese Alternatives: If you’re not a fan of feta, try crumbled goat cheese or even blue cheese for a more robust flavor. For dairy-free, you can use coconut feta or cashew cheese.
- Protein Boost: Add in grilled chicken, tofu, or hard-boiled eggs into your chickpeas for an added protein punch. Alternatively, you can add quinoa, which is a great gluten-free food packed with both protein and fiber.
- Greens Swap: You can swap out the lettuce for spinach, arugula, or even kale. Kale has a more substantial texture and can hold up quite well in meal-prepped salads, especially when you massage it with a little olive oil to soften it.
- Fruit Additions: For a contrast in sweetness to the earthy beetroot, add fresh or dried fruits such as dried cranberries, apple slices, or pomegranate seeds. The fruits give it color and freshness of flavor.
- Grains: If you want a fuller salad, then add some cooked grains such as quinoa, farro, or brown rice. They make the salad fuller and give more texture.
- Herbs: Fresh herbs—a sprinkling of fresh parsley, mint, or basil—will give a fresh brightness to the salad. Sprinkle on at serving time for optimal flavor.
These substitutions and additions will easily allow you to adapt this beetroot and chickpea salad for different diets or simply change flavors in case you get bored.
👝 How to Store Leftovers and Salad Meal Prep
How to Store Leftovers and Salad Meal Prep
- Storing Leftovers: This beetroot and chickpea salad will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for 3 days if there is any leftover. The ingredients hold pretty well, and the salad stays fresh and flavorsome over time. But if you are adding any lettuce to it, then you may be better off keeping the dressing aside till serving time so that the greens don’t become soggy. For other vegetables, the dressing actually enhances the flavor after some time, so by all means toss the salad with the dressing ahead of time.
- Salad Meal Prep Tips: This salad is great for meal prep since most ingredients are solid and can be prepared in advance without gross or soggy results. Here are a few tips for successful salad meal prep:
- Prepare Separate Ingredients: Chop all vegetables like beetroots, cucumbers, and bell peppers and store in different containers in the fridge. Chop nuts separately and place them when serving.
- Store dressing separately in a small jar or container and then add it directly onto the salad at serving time to keep everything fresh. Give the jar a good shake before serving over the salad to emulsify the dressing.
- Assemble ahead for convenience: Place the heartier ingredients, like chickpeas, beetroot, and nuts at the bottom of your container if you want to prepare more than one salad in one go. Keep delicate ingredients, like lettuce and feta, on top.
- Utilizing Vacuum-Sealed Beetroot for Meal Preparation: One great option for meal prep could be cooked beetroot, vacuum-sealed; it saves more time and will last longer in the fridge. Just cube it up and throw it in when assembling your meal.
Follow these steps, and you will have this delicious beetroot and chickpea salad every day of the week for either lunch in a rush or a ready-to-eat dinner.
More Healthy Salad Recipes
We all love healthy salads, but not always have time for it, with these recipes, you’ll need just a few minutes of work and you can enjoy nutritious salads:
Yes, you can definitely use canned beetroots or vacuum-packed cooked beetroots to save time. Just make sure to drain them well and cut them into cubes before adding them to the salad. While fresh roasted or steamed beetroots have a deeper flavor, canned or vacuum-packed beetroots are a convenient alternative that still provide the earthy sweetness needed for this salad.
Absolutely! This salad is perfect for meal prep and can be made ahead of time. You can chop all the vegetables, prepare the dressing, and store them separately in the fridge. For the freshest texture, add the dressing right before serving. If you want to assemble the salad in advance, layer the heartier ingredients (like chickpeas and beetroots) at the bottom and place more delicate ingredients (like lettuce and feta) on top to prevent sogginess.
If you prefer a dairy-free or vegan option, you can replace feta cheese with a vegan cheese alternative or avocado for creaminess. Another option is to add tofu cubes or sprinkle in some nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor without the dairy. If you enjoy experimenting with textures, cashew cheese is also a great substitute.
The salad will keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days if stored in an airtight container. If you’re prepping in advance, store the dressing separately and only mix it with the salad just before serving to avoid sogginess, especially with the lettuce. For best results, store heartier vegetables like beetroots, chickpeas, and nuts in one container and more delicate ingredients like lettuce and feta in another.
Beetroot and Chickpea Salad Recipe
Ingredients
For the salad:
- ½ Onion chopped
- 1 Cucumber sliced
- 12 Cherry tomatoes halved
- 2-3 (150 g) small Beetroots or 1 large cut into cubes
- 1 Bell pepper diced
- 1 can (250 g) Chickpeas drained
- 2 tablespoons (20 g) Sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup (35 g) Pecans/walnuts roughly chopped
- 4-5 Lettuce leaves chopped
- 100 g Feta cheese cut into cubes
For the dressing:
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) Lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) Balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) Olive oil
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon Oregano optional
Instructions
- Prepare all the vegetables and place them in a large bowl.
- Drian the chickpeas and add them to the salad. Cut the cheese into cubes and add to the salad. Add chopped nuts and sunflower seeds.
- Prepare the dressing: place all dressing ingredients in a small jar, shake for 10 seconds.
- Pour over the salad, mix well.
Video
Nutrition
Interesting, I will try, Thanks
Let me know how it comes out