Healthy Chickpea Salad Recipe
This healthy chickpea salad is easy to make and full of flavor! This fresh salad is packed with proteins, low in calories, and perfect for weight loss. It takes only 10-15 minutes to make this chickpea salad and no cooking requires.
This healthy Mediterranean chickpea salad is perfect any time of the year or day. It can be a delicious light and healthy lunch, or a colorful side dish to accompany lean protein dishes such as Chicken Gyros or Chicken Patties. Packed with healthy nutrients, it’s the perfect addition to a high-protein low-calorie diet and it’s so good you will want to eat it on repeat!
Video Recipe 📹
Watch the full video recipe to learn how to make the best healthy chickpea salad.
Prefer the written recipe? Scroll down to the recipe box 👇
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Popular and Loved: This keto chickpea salad recipe has over 100k views, and over 3k likes on YouTube! Check also my YouTube channel for more recipe videos.
- Versatile: Serve it as a light and filling low calorie lunch, or even as a flavorful side dish.
- Simple Ingredients: You might already have all these ingredients in hand, if you enjoy healthy Mediterranean recipes.
- Easy to Make: You only need 10-15 minutes, just the time to chop the veggies, to have this delicious healthy chickpea salad on your table.
What are the Health Benefits of Chickpeas?
Chickpeas, or Garbanzo beans, are a great source of protein and fiber. The fiber, potassium, B vitamins, iron, magnesium, and selenium in chickpeas all increase heart health and the low glycemic index, is essential to support a healthy blood sugar management.
They’re high-protein and low-calorie qualities, make them an excellent aid in weight-loss through calorie-deficit diets, because they keep you full for longer, while also keeping your calorie intake low.
Substitutions and Variations
You can customize this recipe to your liking. Use these recommendations, for a delicious low calorie chickpea salad.
- Protein packed: Add grilled chicken, canned tuna, or boiled eggs to add an extra protein to the salad.
- More beans: Add edamame, white beans or black beans to the salad, for extra flavor and protein.
- Spicy: Add some chopped jalapeños or add chili pepper flakes for a spicy kick.
- High fiber: Add chopped spinach or kale, shredded carrots, or beets, for more fibers.
- Super crunchy: Add pumpkin seeds, toasted pita chips, or chopped nuts for a crunchy and flavorful twist.
Tips and Tricks
- If you don’t like or don’t have Feta cheese, you can use almost any hard cheese that you like. Here’s my favorites: goat cheese, blue cheese, parmesan shavings and more.
- Load up on high-water-content veggies like cucumbers, bell peppers, and tomatoes to keep the salad hydrating, filling, and low-calorie.
- You easily can make this chickpea salad vegan by removing the cheese from the recipe. The cheese gives a nice flavor to the salad, but even without the cheese the salad will taste great.
Make Ahead and Storage
You can prep the veggies in advance and keep them in a covered bowl in the fridge. Store the dressing separately and mix just before eating to prevent sogginess.
You can store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2-3 days.
More Recipes
If you enjoyed this fresh summer salad with chickpeas, you’ll like also these other chickpea healthy recipes:
Healthy Chickpea Salad Recipe
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 2 cans (580 g) Chickpeas drained *read notes
- 1 large Cucumber diced
- 8 Cherry tomatoes cut into quarters
- ½ Red onion sliced
- ¼ Bell pepper diced
- ¾ cup (90 g) Feta cheese crumbled
- 2 tablespoons Coriander chopped
For the dressing:
- ¼ cup (60 ml) Lemon juice
- ¼ cup (60 ml) Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin
Instructions
Make the salad:
- In a large bowl, place all salad ingredients.
Make the dressing:
- In a small bowl whisk lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper and cumin. Pour the dressing over the salad, mix well and serve!
Video
Notes
- Watch the Video Recipe: For a better understanding of the recipe steps, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial.Â
- Chickpeas: This recipe calls for canned chickpeas, if you preffer raw chickpeas, follow these steps: place the chickpeas in a large bowl, cover them with cold water and let soak in the fridge overnight, then rinse soaked chickpeas under cold water, place in a large pot, cover with water and cook until soft.
- Meal Prep: Make a big batch and store in individual portions. Change the flavors throughout the week by adding different proteins, dressings, or toppings.
- Make it Vegan: You easily can make this chickpea salad vegan by removing the cheese from the recipe. The cheese gives a nice flavor to the salad, but even without the cheese the salad will taste great.
- Protein Boost: Mix in tofu, grilled chicken, shrimp, canned tuna, or hard-boiled egg whites for extra protein. You can also swap some chickpeas with edamame or white beans.
- Storage Tips: Store the salad in an airtight containerin the fridge for up to 1-2 days.Â
- Check the FAQs – If you have any questions about ingredient substitutions, cooking methods, or storage tips, be sure to check the FAQs section located under the recipe card.
Nutrition
Common Questions
You can use any low-calorie dressing you prefer, but the dressing in this recipe pairs perfectly with the flavor of all the ingredients!
If you want to use raw chickpeas, you need to follow these steps: place the chickpeas in a large bowl, cover them with cold water and let soak in the fridge overnight, then rinse soaked chickpeas under cold water, place in a large pot, cover with water and cook until soft. This process takes time, canned chickpeas are much easier to use and they are pretty cheap as well.
These look very simple and good flavors. Looking forward to trying.
Thanks sounds delicious