This Chickpea Salad is chock full of healthy veggies and crumbly feta cheese! With the addition of a tangy lemon dressing, this Mediterranean-style salad is simply perfect for summer.
Chickpea Salad with Cucumbers & Peppers
During the summer, nutritional and flavorful salads are a must. You’re not going to want to be without them – trust me on that. When the weather gets hot and the oven is a no-go zone in the kitchen, you’ll be glad those salad recipes are on hand!
One of my favorite salads to make during the summer is this Chickpea Salad. It’s filled with garbanzo beans, crunchy celery, cucumber, crumbled feta cheese, and more. It’s as colorful as it is delicious. (i.e. Very!) To top off this refreshing salad, I like to make a zesty lemon dressing that really rounds out the whole dish, and brings the flavors together.
Homemade chickpea salad is so versatile – you can serve it any time you want! It makes a great lunch in the middle of a hot day, but you can also serve it on the side of your favorite barbecued meal. Whenever you choose to serve it, prepare to be wowed!
What You’ll Need
Let’s go over what you need to make this chickpea salad recipe happen! Here are the key ingredients to round up:
For the Chickpea Salad
- Garbanzo Beans: Make sure they are rinsed and drained before starting.
- Celery: Finely chopped. I prefer to use fresh stalks, but you can buy pre-cut ones to save time, if you wish.
- Cucumber: I use an English cucumber, diced.
- Pepper: I like to use a red bell pepper, diced, but feel free to switch up the color.
- Onion: You’ll need a finely chopped sweet or red onion.
- Crumbled Feta: This is optional, but I think it’s a great fit for the salad!
For the Dressing
- Lemon Juice: I recommend using fresh lemon juice for this recipe – it provides the best flavor.
- Olive Oil: I like to use extra virgin olive oil, but another cooking oil (like canola) should work if you don’t have olive oil.
- Seasoning: Use a mixture of chopped fresh parsley, ground cumin, and salt and fresh ground black pepper (to taste).
How to Make Chickpea Salad
Chickpea salad is so quick and easy, with emphasis on the quick. You pretty much just have to mix everything together, then refrigerate, and finally you can enjoy! This refreshing salad takes almost no effort, as you will see in the following steps:
- Mix Salad Ingredients: In a salad bowl combine rinsed chickpeas, celery, cucumbers, peppers, and onions.
- Mix Dressing Ingredients: In a separate bowl whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, cumin, salt, and pepper.
- Combine Both Components: Pour dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Taste for salt and pepper; adjust accordingly.
- Let Chill: Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour, and then garnish with crumbled feta.
Tips for Success
As you can see, this salad is super easy to make, but I still have some extra tips that will help you get fantastic results!
- Make Sure to Refrigerate: Chilling the salad allows for the flavors to settle, and for the dressing to soak in.
- Double the Recipe: If you need to feed more people, just double the recipe exactly. You could even triple it if you want to!
- Make This Salad Ahead: Chickpea salad keeps super well in the fridge! You can easily make it a day ahead of time, and then eat it later. Plus, then the flavors have more time to mingle and develop.
Variation Ideas
Don’t feel like you have to stick to the same ingredient list every time you make this salad. You can definitely switch it up! I like to add in the following sometimes as substitutions, or just as extra ingredients:
- Avocado Slices
- Diced Tomatoes
- Corn Kernels
- Black Olives
- Carrots
Serving Suggestions
Wondering what to serve with your chickpea salad? There are so many options! Here are a few of my go-to meal combinations:
- Pork Chops: This summer salad goes perfectly with any kind of barbecue, and I especially like it with these Honey Soy Grilled Pork Chops.
- Fish: Chickpea salad also goes well with seafood, so sometimes I pair it with this Roasted Mahi Mahi recipe.
- Chicken: Recipes like my Classic Roasted Chicken Pieces go really well with this light chickpea salad.
How to Store Extras
- To store this chickpea salad, place it in an airtight container and store for 2 to 3 days in the fridge. You can also just place a tight layer of plastic wrap over the salad bowl, but it won’t keep for quite as long this way.
ENJOY!
Easy Chickpea Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cans (15 ounces each) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
- 3 stalks celery, finely chopped
- 1 English cucumber, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- ¼ cup red onion, finely chopped (or sweet onion)
- ⅔ cup crumbled feta cheese, optional
- ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin, or to taste
- salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a salad bowl combine rinsed chickpeas, celery, cucumbers, peppers, and onions.
- In a separate bowl whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, cumin, salt, and pepper.
- Pour dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
- Taste for salt and pepper; adjust accordingly.
- Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Garnish with crumbled feta.
- Serve.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
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