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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
- ¼ cup raw pepitas
- ¼ cup raw sunflower seeds
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).
- 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.
This salad was great! Added some leftover black beans to it
Delicious, easy and love the tahini dressing!
I loved that this was quick to prepare and so versatile. Just a little chopping, stir the dressing together, and dinner is served! The dressing in particular was delicious! My tahini is often bitter and while I still love dressings made with it my daughter doesn’t. But she liked this one! I think the orange juice did a great job of countering the bitterness of the tahini. I will be using this dressing again!
I did like this salad all. It just didn’t do anything for my pallet. All the other salads were good, I just couldn’t get into this one sorry
The Crunchy Chickpea Salad was filling and nutritious. I used spring mix instead of spinach and it worked fine. The dressing is thick and creamy. In fact, I thinned it out a little. Delicious salad!
The Crunchy Chickpea Salad was filling and nutritious. I used a spring mix instead of spinach. The dressing was thick and creamy. I did thin it out a bit but it was very nice!
By far my favorite salad in this challenge. I was skeptical of the ingredients, however they work well together. I do not like just straight spinach in a salad, so I used a baby spinach/kale/swiss chard mixture. I found the dressing to be just wonderful and I love the protein and fiber this salad has to offer. I will definitely be making this salad again.
We loved this salad so much! The dressing makes this salad! Very tasteful and fresh!
One of my favorites. Mixed the greens up to use what I had. Tahini dressing is so good. I make that alot.
So many delicious salads but this is my favourite so far (but I have loved all of them!). Definitely doing again.
I loved this salad. The dressing takes this one to a whole new level of deliciousness. Will be making this one many more times.
This salad is the b o m b !! The dressing takes it way over the top. Since Hubby doesn’t like seeds, I made the salads separately so I could have the seeds and he could have cashews. This salad will be at the head of my salad rotation all spring and summer. I will also make the dressing to put over other salads. This is one of my three favorite salads from Week 1 of the Salad Challenge.
Loved only added hemp seeds instead of sunflower
I have never used orange juice and soy sauce in a dressing, but this was delicious!
The Tahini dressing makes this salad!! I will be adding it to my rotation.
The Tahini dressing makes this salad!! So good and fresh.