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This colorful and crunchy chickpea salad is full of Mediterranean-inspired flavor. I love loading up my salads with vibrant ingredients that are visually appealing, nourishing and filling.
I originally created this recipe for my Plant-Based Cleanse. It is one salad that always surprises people, so if you’re on the fence about salads loaded with toppings, I’m ready to change your mind.
Ingredients in Chickpea Salad
I love using Mediterranean-inspired flavors and ingredients since the Mediterranean contains blue zones, places on Earth known for longevity. You can definitely add in the vegetables of your choice, or add even more cucumber, pepper or carrot to this chickpea salad. Chickpeas are also called garbanzo beans, so look for either name on the label. Drain and rinse well before using.
The Key to the Perfect Dressing
To brighten up the veggie-fest that is this crunchy salad I created a Citrus Tahini Dressing. The tamari and apple cider vinegar brings the zing while the orange sweetens. The tahini wraps it all up in a creamy package.
Depending on how thick your tahini is, you may need to add a bit of water to ensure this dressing is perfectly pourable. Use coconut aminos if you need a soy-free option in place of the tamari. The dressing tastes great yet also adds extra healthy fat to my chickpea salad.
Crunchy Chickpea Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup spinach fresh
- 1 cup chickpeas canned (drained and rinsed)
- ½ carrot diced
- ½ cucumber diced
- ¼ cup red bell pepper diced
- ½ cup raw pepitas
- ½ cup raw sunflower seeds
Citrus Tahini Dressing
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 2 tbsp orange juiced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp tamari
- ½ garlic clove minced
Instructions
- Whisk together Citrus Tahini Dressing ingredients. Add extra olive oil or water if dressing is too thick.
- Place spinach, chickpeas and veggies on a plate. Pour dressing on top and sprinkle with seeds.
Notes
- Swap spinach with the leafy greens of your choice.
- Feel free to load this salad up with as many veggies as you want.
- Chickpeas add healthy protein, swap with black beans if you aren’t a fan of chickpeas.
- Swap seeds with chopped cashews and almonds.
- Swap tahini with the nut butter of your choice (though texture + thickness will change depending on the nut butter used).Â
- Use coconut aminos instead of tamari to make this soy-free.
Nutrition
Chickpea Salad FAQs
They can be! Chickpeas are a wonderful plant protein, healthy fat and high in fiber. They are loaded with nutrients, like manganese and folate, so they are filling as well as nutritious.
Nope! Chickpeas should be cooked before eating. Canned chickpeas are already cooked, just rinse well before using.
I paired chickpeas with spinach, carrot, red bell pepper, cucumber, pepitas and sunflower seeds and topped it all with a bright tahini dressing. It’s loaded with protein, healthy fat and 100% plants.
The bomb. Loved loved this one. It’s certainly crunchy and so healthy. I really love all of these dressings. I’ve made my own for awhile and this gives me great ideas and combinations of ingredients to work with.
This salad felt very healthy & quite filling. Not a huge fan of chickpeas, but could tolerate them in this recipe. Loved the addition of sunflower seeds & pepitas! I think I’ll be making this one quite a bit i the summer with vegetables from my garden.
I already left a review on this. I think I reviewed it as a 3 but when we had the leftovers the 2nd day, it tasted better. I’d give it a 4 now.
I love love this salad. I toasted the sunflower seeds and the pepitos which added nice extra flavors. I didn’t think I liked raw red pepper but it tasted delicious paired with the dressing. It’s a hearty salad. I will definitely make this again.
Very satisfying!
Excellent – I really liked this dressing and the “crunch” involved – thanks!
This is one of the best salads I have had in a long time! I used baby greens(spinach, kale, chard) since I had some on hand. Otherwise I made per recipe, though I did make more of it so I could use a whole can of chick peas. I loved everything about this salad, taste, texture, look, and how filling. My spouse can’t eat bell peppers and hates cucumber, so I added red onion and tomatoes to his and he also thought it was great. This will be a regular in our rotation and I’d a great way to eat more chick peas!
I love how you made AMAZING substitutions to make this salad work for your spounse! Glad this worked out for both of you.
I really liked this salad. I roasted my chickpeas and pepitas. I also added some celery. I will make this often.
Roasting the chickpeas was a great call! Glad you liked this one!
I loved this salad. I added a radish and celery for more crunch!
I wanted to love this (chickpeas and tahini are a great combo), but just liked it. Unfortunately, the dressing wasn’t balanced for me. I am doing the salad challenge and this is another instance of the printout being sloghtly different than the blog recipe..in this instance, 1/2 a garlic clove minced was listed in the challenge and the blog says 1/2 a teaspoon. I used a whole garlic. It was large. I don’t think that was the problem. In the challenge it is referred to as “sweet & crunchy salad.” It wasn’t sweet. Perhaps my orange wasn’t good , I don’t know. It was just ok.
Well, way to go for trying it!
Loved this recipe, one of my favorites. I will swap out the chickpeas for black beans next time. The dressing is delicious!
Black beans are a great sub for the chickpeas in this salad recipe!
Didn’t love the dressing. Hoping for more flavour.
Put the chickpeas in the air fryer to make em crispy. Family enjoyed it that way.
Love the idea of putting the chickpeas in the air fryer for a little crunch!
I loved the new flavors of the dressing and a crunchy salad that was nut free (as well as dairy free) so it fit ALL my husbands allergies! I was happy for a salad we could both enjoy together. I’ll be making this one again 🙂
I was concerned with some of the substitutions I had to make in the dressing for myself, but it still was wonderful – and different from my usual. Thank you
Salad Challenge
What a unique combination of ingredients! I do love a salad with less greens and more substance, so this checked that box. The dressing was easy to make and very tasty with a perfect consistency. What overtook the salad was the large quantity of nuts, coupled with the other ‘crunchy’ ingredients, making for a lot of chewing! Very filling. I could not finish. Would I make it again? Probably not. But I will keep the dressing recipe.
I was very excited to make this salad. A friend of mine makes another version of this salad and I immediately fell in love. This salad had more color and crunch and is absolutely delicious. I can’t wait to make this for my friends.
This was yummy, forgot to post on Friday. I like trying new dressings and love tahini!