Chickpea salad is a bright, crunchy salad that’s full of fresh flavor. It’s easy to prep ahead and holds up well in the fridge, making it perfect for lunches or a potluck.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Why Make It: Easy to chop, toss, and chill, and it tastes even better later.
- Flavor: Fresh and bright with crisp vegetables, chickpeas, and a tangy cumin-lemon dressing.
- Tools: This veggie chopper will make prep quick!
- Serving Suggestions: Serve as a side, spoon into pita, or top with grilled chicken or shrimp.
Ingredient Notes
- Tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes work best for a fresh, sweet flavor, but diced tomatoes can be used in a pinch.
- Cucumbers: English or Persian cucumbers stay crisp and don’t need much prep, making them a great choice for this salad. If using garden cucumbers, peel and seed them if they’re watery.
- Chickpeas: Canned chickpeas keep this recipe quick and easy. Be sure to rinse them well for the best flavor and less starch. If using cooked-from-scratch chickpeas, make sure they’re tender but not mushy.
- Green Pepper: Green bell pepper adds a nice crunch to this salad. Red, yellow, or orange bell peppers can be used instead for a slightly sweeter flavor.
- Red Onion: Red onion adds a bit of sharp flavor, so finely dice it to keep it from overpowering the salad. For a milder taste, soak it briefly in cold water before adding.
- Avocado: Avocado is optional, but it adds a creamy contrast to the salad. It’s best added just before serving or lightly tossed with lemon juice to help slow browning.
- Variations: This salad is easy to customize to what you have on hand. Add feta or olives for a salty, briny flavor, or swap the parsley for mint or dill for a fresh twist. Turn it into a meal with grilled chicken, shrimp, or quinoa.
How to Make Chickpea Salad
- Add the salad ingredients and rinsed chickpeas to a bowl (full recipe below).
- Drizzle with oil, vinegar, and seasonings. Toss to combine.
- Chill, then top with optional avocado before serving.
How To Store Chickpea Salad
- Refrigerate: Keep leftover chickpea salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Keep avocado separate and add it just before serving. If already mixed in, the salad is still safe to eat, but the avocado may soften and darken.
- Serving: Give it a stir before serving since the dressing can settle at the bottom. Refresh leftovers with a small splash of red wine vinegar, olive oil, or lemon juice if needed.
- Freezing: Freezing is not recommended.
What to Serve with Chickpea Salad
Chickpea salad is so versatile. Serve it as a side to your favorite grilled protein or as a main for lunch or meal prep.
Did you enjoy this Chickpea Salad Recipe? Leave a comment and rating below.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups grape tomatoes halved
- 2 cups diced cucumber
- 1 (15.5 ounce) can chickpeas drained and rinsed
- ¾ cup diced green bell pepper
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ¼ cup finely diced red onion
- 1 avocado optional
- ½ lemon juiced
Dressing
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumber, chickpeas, bell pepper, parsley, and red onion.
- Add the olive oil, vinegar, cumin, salt, and pepper. Toss well to combine.
- If using, cut the avocado into cubes and place in a small bowl. Squeeze the juice from ½ of a lemon over the avocado and gently stir to combine. (If not using avocado, squeeze 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice over the salad and toss.)
- Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.
Video
Notes
Store leftover chickpea salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 160 | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Sodium: 107mg | Potassium: 430mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 989IU | Vitamin C: 39mg | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Salad, Side Dish
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This salad sounds and looks delicious…I am not a fan of cumin..is there something else I might use ?
You could use caraway seeds, chili powder, taco seasoning or curry in place of cumin Merny. They will change the flavor slightly, but still taste delicious!
I made the salad for a small dinner party. It was a good choice as I was able to prep the night before and toss right before dinner. The salad looked beautiful! I used zucchini, which I grilled, instead of the cucumber. The zucchini was sweet and tender so it was a good switch. Overall I felt that the salad was a bit bland. I omitted the onion and cumin as my guests do not like onion and I do not like cumin. I am sure the flavor would have been different with the onion. I will definitely make it again but I will add the onion and maybe fresh cilantro. My guests loved the salad.
I’m glad your guests loved the salad, zucchini is a fun twist! As cumin is the only spice, this would change the flavor and perhaps make it more bland.
Super easy to make and to improvise. My husband is not entirely on board with chickpeas so I made it without and then prepped my bowls, adding spoonfuls of chickpeas for me! Put it all on a bed of baby kale. YUM!
Great idea Laura! Glad you were able to both enjoy it.
I have made this several times and love it- as do my friends! Is the 238 calories for one serving? One serving being about a cup? MyFitness Pal is a stickler when you enter in the information
Yes Kimberly, that should be a cup per serving. I am so gladthis recipe was well received with your friends!
I love this salad! The only thing I do differently is, instead of the parsley, I use cilantro. If you like cilantro, it gives the salad a nice bright flavour.
Delicious idea!! So glad you loved it Charlene!
Love all the recipes of yours that I have tried and thank you for sharing your recipes. I just love this chickpea salad, very healthy and so easy and quick to make and very tasty.
Thank you so much Marian!
Sounds wonderful! Except for the cucumbers, onions and green pepper. Allergic to these foods!
Thanks Barbara, maybe you can substitute the ingredients you are allergic to with ones you prefer!
Tried it with some Italian dressing and I’m in love. My new go to lunch.
We love it for lunch too.
I made this salad to take to a BBQ cookout. I tried some b4 taking and it is delicious. Next time I will use cilantro.
Hi! I am wondering if you’ve ever tried Cilantro instead of Parsley in this.. I LOVE me some cilantro.
I haven’t tried it with cilantro (yet!), but many readers have and LOVE it! Let us know if you try it Holly!
This looks delicious, and I hate to be a stickler, but can I just point out that almost everything in this list of ingredients is a fruit, not a vegetable? Avocado is a fruit. Lemon is fruit. Tomatoes and cucumbers are also fruit. Bell peppers, while erroneously referred to as vegetables from a culinary standpoint, are also fruit.
hi holly
could I use avacodo oil rather than olive oil, I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. It looks delicious and easy.
I think that would work perfectly! Enjoy Donna!
Holly – thank you very much for this recipe, fantastic! I sauted the bell pepper in my pressure cooker then added my soaked chickpeas with a bay leaf and pressure cooked them. I followed the recipe using cherry tomatoes and cucumbers from my garden. So good!
So glad you loved the salad Greg!
If I was to make this with dried chickpeas, how many grams would I need ? I love the look of this recipe and am going to be making it for my lunches at work.
Taylor, you’ll want to check your package of chickpeas and prepare enough to end up with between 2 and 2½ cups cooked chickpeas for this recipe. It does make a great lunch!
Hi Taylor, I use dry chickpeas exclusively, cook 1 cup of dry chickpeas with your preferred method (I use a stove top pressure cooker), that will result in easily 2 to 2 1/2 cups cooked. Drain them and allow to cool, use as directed in the recipe. Happy cooking and great to see another person using dried beans :)
Thanks for the tip Lee!
This salad is really good! Most of the ingredients were either already in my kitchen, or already on my grocery list. At the advice of other reviewers, I swapped the parsley out for cilantro. That’s the only change I made. It keeps in the fridge really well too. I put in a pita with romaine lettuce and feta…WOW!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it April!
What is the serving size? The nutrition facts are useless without a server a size.
Also I feel like 220 calories for a bunch of vegetables is quite high.
This salad makes 6 servings. While this does have a lot of vegetables, the chickpeas, avocado and olive oil all have higher calories than the other vegetables included in this recipe.
Is the serving size 1 cup?
It can vary slightly depending on the size of your veggies but yes, it’s about 1 cup
What vegetables can I substitute for cucumbers? I can’t eat them. I love chickpeas and the salad sounds delicious except for the cukes.
You can leave them out or perhaps try zucchini? Enjoy!!
Made this this afternoon to go with grilled ribs tonight. DEEEEELISH! Added some crumbled feta cheese as well because I LOVE feta. Would be so easy to switch to a Latin flavored salad: sub black beans for the chick peas, lime juice for the lemon and cilantro for the parsley then may had some crumbled queso fresco. So glad I came across this on Facebook today <3
Yay, so glad you loved it! Love your suggestions too!
Wow! This salad is very flavorful!!! So delicious and healthy. I added cilantro, garlic, corn and feta cheese to ours, just because we had it handy. This recipe is very forgiving. Thank you Holly for sharing your versatile salad as I will be making it regularly this summer.
I’m so glad you loved it Sue! Great additions!!
I love your recipies, I will weigh 600 pounds by the time I try all of them. And I really don’t like pepole who change other people’s recipies, it just doesn’t seem right, but would I be forgiven if I leave out the avacado? I just never took a liking to it. I love chickpeas and I think with all the other ingredients it would still taste ok.
Yes, definitely! :) Enjoy!
I do not like avocado but I use lime juice and sea salt with it and love it ! Try making guacamole and you will be amazed ho w lovely it tastes
Sounds great!