Fresh, hearty, and ready in 10 minutes, this chickpea salad recipe is a keeper! With herbs, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, cucumber, and avocado, it’s perfect for make-ahead lunches.
We are big bean salad people in the Mediterranean. We eat them all year long, in fancy restaurants, hosting friends and family, and for simple lunches with other mezzes. So when it came to making my own Mediterranean chickpea salad recipe, I had a lot of inspiration to pull from!
I’ve shared many chickpea salad recipes over the years, from my version with fried eggplant and za’atar to classic balela. This recipe has to be one of my all-time favorites. Every bite bursts with layers of crisp vegetables and fresh herbs. A peppery lemon-Dijon dressing infused with the bold Mediterranean flavors of my childhood brings it over the top!
It’s colorful, satisfying, and comes together in minutes. Plus, it keeps beautifully, making it perfect for meal prep, a light lunch, or a side to share at your next family gathering.
Chickpea Salad Recipe Ingredients
This chickpea salad recipe is very customizable. It uses Mediterranean pantry essentials, but you can substitute many of the ingredients with what you have on hand.
- For the dressing: Essentially a Dijon vinaigrette with an added kick from the Middle Eastern spices. You’ll need Dijon mustard, lemon, garlic, Aleppo pepper, sumac, salt, pepper, and high-quality extra virgin olive oil.
- BEST SWAPS: Swap the sumac for lemon zest, and the Aleppo pepper for red pepper flakes.
- Chickpeas: I use canned chickpeas, but you can cook them from scratch if you prefer.
- Cucumber: Use English or Persian cucumber, as they’re sweet with tender skin. If you have a standard slicing cucumber, peel its waxy skin.
- Grape tomatoes: Substitute with any tomatoes you like, just make sure they end up about bite-sized.
- Roasted red peppers: I love to roast my own, and it’s so much easier than you might think. But a jar works here too.
- Red onion: Substitute with shallot or green onion.
- Avocado: Adds creaminess and a good dose of healthy fats, but feel free to skip it. This salad is delicious without.
- Parsley and mint: Substitute with other tender green herbs, like dill, cilantro, or basil.
How to Make a Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
If you’d like to get ahead, hold off on adding the dressing and avocado until the final moments. Here are the steps to make this chickpea salad recipe:
- Make the dressing. Mince 1 garlic clove and add to a large bowl. To the bowl, add 1 teaspoon each Dijon mustard, Aleppo pepper (or red pepper flakes), and sumac (or lemon zest). Squeeze in the juice of one lemon and season with salt and pepper to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon each). Whisk, and while whisking, drizzle in 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil. Continue to whisk until emulsified.
- Prep the salad ingredients, adding to the dressing as you go. Drain, rinse, and dry 2 (15-ounce) cans of chickpeas. Chop one large cucumber. Halve 2 cups of grape tomatoes. Chop 2 roasted red bell peppers, discarding the seeds. Chop enough parsley leaves and tender stems to yield 1 cup, and enough mint leaves to yield 1/2 cup.
- Finish and serve. Slice the avocado in half, remove and discard the pit. Then roughly chop the flesh, discarding the skin. Add the avocado to the salad mixture and toss very gently until everything is well mixed. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking and serve immediately.
Getting Ahead and Storage
Avocado doesn’t age gracefully! If you’d like to prep ahead or enjoy leftovers, don’t mix the avocado into the salad. Instead:
- Portion out the avocado as you go, and add it to the salad just before serving.
- Store remaining avocado in a tightly sealed container with its pit, and plastic wrap pressed against the flesh. It will keep for about 3 days.
- Without the avocado, this chickpea salad recipe will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days. The tomatoes might lose a little texture, but they will still be perfectly delicious.
Mix it Up!
Here are some ways you can make this chickpea salad recipe your own:
- Add chicken: Rotisserie chicken is perfect, or you can shred poached chicken.
- Add crunch: Sprinkle on chopped walnuts, broken pita chips, or crispy quinoa.
- Change the dressing: Any of these healthy salad dressings would be delicious.
- Add cheese: Toss in creamy feta or sprinkle goat cheese on top before serving.
What to Serve with Chickpea Salad
Rich in protein, this vegan chickpea salad can hold its own as the main event. If you’d like to serve it as a side, though, here are some recipes that go well:
- For a vegan feast: Cauliflower Steaks with Chermoula or Mushroom Shawarma
- Vegetarian lunch: Spinach and Cheese Turkish Borek.
- If you’re a meat-eater: Alongside simple proteins, like Lemon Garlic Chicken or this Poached Salmon.
Making the Most of Chickpeas
Don’t limit yourself to chickpea salads! There are so many delicious ways to use this fiber and protein packed Mediterranean super-ingredient. Here are a few ideas, but be sure to check out my round up of easy chickpea recipes for more:
More Chickpea Salad Recipes
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Ingredients
For the Dijon Dressing
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (or red pepper flakes)
- 1 teaspoon sumac (or lemon zest)
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- 1/4 cup Extra virgin olive oil
For the Salad
- 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 large English cucumber, chopped
- 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
- 2 roasted red peppers, seeded and chopped (or a 16-ounce jar roasted peppers in oil)
- 1 small red onion or 2 shallots, finely chopped
- 1 cup chopped parsley leaves
- 1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
- 1 avocado, pitted and roughly chopped
Instructions
- Make the dressing. In a large bowl, whisk together the Dijon, lemon juice, garlic, Aleppo pepper, sumac, and salt and pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon each). Whisk, and while whisking, drizzle in enough olive oil to make it nicely glossy and well-balanced. Continue to whisk until emulsified.
- Mix. To the bowl with the dressing, add the chickpeas, cucumbers, tomatoes, roasted bell peppers, onion, parsley, and mint. Toss gently. Add the avocado and toss very gently once more.
- Enjoy! Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking and serve immediately.
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Notes
- Shop this recipe: Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients, including the olive oil and spices used in this recipe.
- Leftovers: Avocado doesn’t age gracefully to say the least! So if you’d like to enjoy leftovers, portion out just what you need and add half the avocado on top. Leave the pit on the second half, which will prevent it from browning. Wrap the leftover avocado tightly and store separately in your refrigerator. Both the salad and avocado will keep for another day or so.
Nutrition
The Mediterranean Diet Starter Kit
The vibrant pantry essentials you need to start cooking the Mediterranean way.
*This post has recently been updated with new information for the readers’ benefit.
Love your recipes.
Thank you, Wanda!!
Delicious!!
Couldn’t agree more!
DELICIOUS !!!! My family loved it. I did add extra Sumac for extra flavor. ❤️🙏🏼 Thanks for this recipe.
This looks so good! Going to double it and take to a pot luck. I have arthritis in my hands and chopping is so difficult, But these things are all soft so should be a prob. Maybe make hubby chop cuke! Can’t wait to try. All my favorite things are in this!
I just made this to go with dolmades and it is so delicious and fresh. I didn’t have roasted peppers so I used sundried tomatoes and added Kalamata olives. Dressing is so good!!
Yum! Thanks for sharing, Cara!
Good afternoon. I have been using your salad recipes and really love the ones I have tried thus far. However, each of the recipes (regardless of the type) call for a “hefty” amount of kosher salt. For those of us who cannot have salt due to health reasons, do you have a suggestion for a substitution?
Also the next time you publish a book, can you include the nutritional information for each recipe? Keep it coming. Love your recipe ideas!
Hi, Deb. Thanks for the feedback! If you are not able to have much salt or any, we typically recommend increasing the amounts of the other spices in the recipe. This will help boost the flavor a bit without increasing your salt intake.
So delicious!! Really can not stop eating this salad…thank you for getting me started on eating healthier! Love watching your videos, and just got one of your cookbooks delivered.
Awww! Thank you, Marjorie!
This is packed with flavor! Love the mildly spicey side to this. Suzy’s recipes are always my favortie and this one doesn’t dissapoint. Thank you, Suzy!
PS: I love that you or the team always answer the questions in the comments. I was also going to ask what the serving size is (smile); however, I’m comfortable with a good portion as this is low carb with nice amounts of fiber and protein.
Aww! Thanks so much for the sweet note, Marla!
Such a easy recipe with rewarding flavours again will make again several times Thank you so much
This sounds delicious and I love that you always add the nutrition numbers, but how much is one serving? A cup?
Hello! This particular recipe can be divided by 6 to get the approximate “serving size”. The nutrition info here is our best effort and we use a program that calculates that for us based on the ingredient list. The exact serving size measurement (by grams, cups, etc) is another layer that’s harder for us to precisely calculate at the moment, but we’re working on it!
This has become my favorite go to salad. My son and daughter-in-law also are now making this salad.
Both my husband and I love this salad! I didn’t have aleppo and sumac the first time I made it, but it was still great with just za’atar blend and a touch of hungarian paprika for some heat. I have also made it as written and both ways are delicious. My husband has an allergy specific to red bell peppers, so I also swap out for roasted poblanos which works well. We’ve eaten this stand alone or over a lettuce mix as a lunch salad. It is one we will always keep in our lunch rotation.
Delicious! My husband and I loved this salad! He commented that he likes when I try new recipes.
Awww! That’s so sweet!
Another fabulous salad, perfect for a Sunday night with temps in the 90s. I added some leftover salmon to the salad. The dressing makes this salad.
What is the best way to roast a red pepper?
Hi, Michele. You can check out Suzy’s How to Roast Bell Peppers post for all the details!
EXCELLENT! Thanks so much