Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

This Mediterranean Chickpea Salad is a bright, colorful and delicious salad with a simple dressing. Watch the video showing you how to make this Mediterranean Chickpea Salad, then scroll to the bottom of this post and print out the recipe so you can make it at home.

When I first made this salad, I was pulled in by the colors. The bell peppers (I used bright red and orange!), green parsley and onions, red tomatoes and black olives create quite a site to see.

This Mediterranean Chickpea Salad is such an easy salad recipe to make, and it’s perfect for whipping up as a side dish when you’re entertaining guests too. It’s one of those beautiful, marinated salads that improves with flavor the longer it’s refrigerated.

There are holidays looming ahead: Mother’s Day Memorial Day, and 4th of July! Do you have fun plans for the holidays this year? We’re still trying to figure it all out. Our Moms don’t live near us.  And Memorial Day and 4th of July are always so fun as we do lots of barbecuing with friends.

This Mediterranean Chickpea Salad is the perfect recipe to serve for a special occasion or barbecue. It’s so very simple to throw together at the last minute, and you can even dress the salad ahead of time (encouraged!) for maximum flavor throughout the salad.

What are the ingredients for a Mediterranean Chickpea Salad?

You’ll need plenty of chickpeas, and canned chickpeas are perfectly fine for that. I do encourage you to purchase a good brand of chickpeas over the generic. I just find that they have a better quality taste and they look better visually too.

You’ll also need tomato, bell pepper, green onion, and parsley. And to round it all out, you’ll add Kalamata olives and crumbled feta cheese. You can change up the vegetables, according to preference. Maybe try chopped zucchini and/or cucumber too!

The dressing is homemade, and it’s very easy to whisk together. It’s just olive oil, yogurt, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and a small bit of garlic, cumin, salt and pepper. It’s really delicious.

I love that the dressing acts as a marinade for the salad. It’s perfectly fine to dress this salad in the morning and serve it in the afternoon. Leftovers the next day are fabulous too!

Enjoy this really easy, Mediterranean Chickpea Salad. Just toss it all together, then toss again with the dressing- done! It can be served as a main dish or as a side dish. I prefer the side-dish idea with grilled steak or chicken.

Here are a few more salad recipes you might enjoy:

• Wild Rice and Cranberry Salad
• Bacon and Brussels Sprouts Salad
• Caesar Salad with Pancetta and Roasted Tomatoes
• Balela Salad
• Shallot- Mustard Tomato Salad

If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you will find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.

5 from 22 votes

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

By RecipeGirl.com (adapted from The NY Times)

This Mediterranean Chickpea Salad is a super popular, delicious and easy salad recipe with a simple dressing.

Prep: 20 minutes mins

Servings: 6 servings

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Ingredients

Salad:

• ▢ Two 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• ▢ ¼ cup chopped Italian parsley
• ▢ ⅔ cup chopped bell pepper (mixed red, orange, yellow)
• ▢ ¾ cup halved grape tomatoes
• ▢ 3 green onions, sliced
• ▢ 12 kalamata olives, halved
• ▢ ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese

Dressing:

• ▢ 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• ▢ 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
• ▢ 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ▢ 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• ▢ 1 small garlic clove, minced
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• ▢ salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions 

• In a large bowl, toss together the salad ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss.
• Transfer to a serving bowl and drizzle juices on top. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes

• If counting WW points, use reduced-fat feta cheese and nonfat plain yogurt.
• Note:  Much of the dressing ends up in the bottom of the serving bowl and doesn't end up being consumed. The calorie count reflects eating ALL of the dressing, so the actual amount is likely quite a bit less.
• Use good quality canned chickpeas for this recipe (not generic). I really think it makes a difference in the flavor of the salad.
• If you are preparing this recipe as gluten-free, be sure to use a brand of chickpeas that is known to be GF.

Nutrition

Serving: 1(1/6th of the salad), Calories: 365kcal, Carbohydrates: 42g, Protein: 14g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 8mg, Sodium: 235mg, Potassium: 532mg, Fiber: 11g, Sugar: 8g, Vitamin A: 1050IU, Vitamin C: 30.9mg, Calcium: 132mg, Iron: 4.7mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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