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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.
I like anything with chickpeas. Dressing needed a bit more flavor.
i made this recipe as written. i had hoped it would be surprisingly good, but it was just ok. i couldn’t taste the orange even though i used an orange off someone’s tree. the orange smelled great, but it was overpowered in the dressing. i added apple juice sweetened cranberries, but that didn’t do much… perhaps raisins or another dried fruit would have been better.
The combination of ingredients worked well, despite my skepticism about the chickpeas. The crunch factor is a definite winner for me. The dressing was OK. I cooked my chickpeas with garlic, so left it out of the dressing. I will probably tweak to make a little sweeter.
I loved every ingredient in this salad! Crunchy, tasty, and fresh. I will make this again 😀
Used Romaine instead of spinach, peanut butter instead of tahini & coconut aminos instead of tamari. Really good salad. I loved it and my grandson liked it a lot.
Favorite salad recipe! A great go to salad for lunches or a side. Love it!
This salad is very cruchy but I love it. Great tasting dressing!
This recipe needed a pinch of salt to bring out the veggie and chickpea flavors. My veggie loving family enjoyed the crunch and textures of this salad.
This salad sings to my soul!! So delicious! The dressing and crunchiness make it! I did use half spinach and half spring mix. I also used tangerines I had on hand for the dressing. I will for sure make this again!
This salad was better than I thought. I didn’t realize I was a fan of chickpeas!! The only thing I added banana peppers cause I like to have some kick spice to my food. The dressing…… the dressing….. 10/10. I’m not a fan of dressing but this one CITRUS TAHINI. Wow. This will definitely be a dressing I will make again. I just so happen to have some
Tahini on hand and decided to give it a try.
This is a good salad, easy to make and a great way to eat some chick peas. I will make this again.
This was good. I found the tahini in the dressing to be too strong for me. Or maybe it was the combo with the orange? I blended oranges with a bit of water for the orange juice, so was missing the sweetness that comes from commercial oj. I think I would have preferred using my homemade hummus as the dressing. Loved everything else! Crispy chickpeas would be good with this too. 🙂
Chickpea salad is great to make ahead and eat for lunch!
Pepitas add the crunch
So good
This salad is so delicious! I’m going to add it to my regular rotation of salads for sure. Easy and love the crunchy-ness
The salad was very easy to make which is good. I didn’t really like the dressing but would like to try a salad like this with another salad dressing that doesn’t have tahini in it.
I never thought I could combine tahini and orange but I actually liked it a lot. I like spinach but I prefer to mix with other greens so I used 1/2 spinach and 1/2 arugula. Salad was tasty and crunchy, I omitted the sunflowers seed not my favorite but loved the pepitas. I used 1/2 chickpeas and 1/2 black beans because I’m not a big fan of chickpeas.
Again another salad that I will make again and again.