Easy Chickpea Salad Recipe

Name: Easy Chickpea Salad Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 15oz can chickpeas; 1 cup diced cucumber; 1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes; ½ cup marinated artichoke hearts chopped; 4 oz mini mozzarella balls or 4oz fresh mozzarella cheese cut into smaller pieces; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 tbsp red wine vinegar; 2 tsp italian seasoning; ¼ tsp salt (omit if the seasoning blend contains salt)

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By:

Madeline

Updated: April 29, 2024

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This Easy Chickpea Salad Recipe is a delicious no cook lunch option or side dish. It comes together in just 15 minutes and is packed with flavor.

Close up above view of a chickpea salad recipe

Quick

15 minutes

You’ll Learn: How to build a no-cook salad that tastes great

Worth It: It’s a satisfying, protein-forward option that actually keeps you full

Bonus: Easy to tailor to common diets

Why you’ll love this recipe

Weekday lunch with a twist – Whether you work from home or in an office, weekday lunches can get boring. Skip the sandwich and try this easy chickpea salad recipe! You can meal prep it or make it day of.
No cook recipe – No need to cook any of the ingredients. Just chop, toss and serve a delicious and balanced lunch. You could even bring this to a potluck or cookout for an easy but delicious side dish.
Versatile recipe – Change the ingredients to make this garbanzo bean salad perfect for you! Use a different kind of beans or add in extra veggies. Then serve it on its own, over lettuce or even in a pita.

Three quarter view of plate of chickpea salad

Serving Suggestions

This simple chickpea salad is delicious all on its own, but there are also many ways to serve it. For a fresh and lower carb option you can serve it over chopped lettuce or in lettuce cups.

My favorite way to serve it is in a pita pocket like a little mediterranean sandwich. You could even chop the ingredients extra tiny and serve it with pita chips or pita bread like a dip.

For protein to pair with this simple chickpea salad, you could make these Greek chicken meatballs or lemon herb baked chicken. For a plant-based protein, make some tofu to add to the salad or serve alongside it.

For even more ways to use chickpeas, you could make some garlic hummus.

Ingredients

Chickpeas or garbanzo beans – I love keeping chickpeas on hand for an easy meal like this. They are a great source of protein and fiber
Cucumber – the fresh crunch of the cucumber is so tasty in this salad. Use thin skinned cucumbers so you don’t have to worry about peeling
Cherry tomatoes – I use cherry tomatoes but you can use grape tomatoes or whatever kind you have
Marinated artichoke hearts – I love the taste of the artichoke hearts with the fresh vegetables
Mini mozzarella balls – I find the mini balls easiest for quick assembly, but you can grate fresh mozzarella too
Olive oil – I prefer extra virgin olive oil but any neutral oil would also work
Red wine vinegar – the vinegar adds the acid and brightness to your dressing for the salad
Italian seasoning and salt – an Italian seasoning blend is the base of flavor for the Italian vinaigrette

Ingredient substitutions

Feel free to use any beans you like in place of chickpeas for this simple salad recipe. White beans or even red kidney beans would be nice. You could even mix in some cooked and cooled brown lentils for a heartier option.

You can use a premade Italian vinaigrette in place of the olive oil, red wine vinegar and Italian seasoning mixture. You can also add more to your dressing if you would like, with fresh lemon juice, black pepper, kosher or sea salt, or a couple teaspoons dijon mustard. If you prefer a creamier dressing, you could blend in a little bit of mayonnaise.

Marinated artichoke hearts add an extra punch of flavor to this garbanzo bean salad recipe, but if you can only find standard artichokes, use an extra dash of the seasoning blend.

Feel free to add in an other extra raw chopped veggies that you like. You can easily add things like red onion, celery, avocado and bell pepper.

In place of the mozzarella, you could also use feta cheese. You can mix up this simple chickpea salad so many ways, with kalamata olives, pickles, or fresh herbs like parsley.

To make a vegan chickpea salad, just eliminate the mozzarella or use dairy-free cheese. This recipe is already gluten-free, so you don’t need to change anything for gluten free eaters.

chickpeas vs Garbanzo beans

Chickpeas and garbanzo beans are actually the exact same thing. So you could call this a chickpea salad or a garbanzo bean salad and both would be correct.

When you look for the ingredients at the store you may find that the canned beans will either say garbanzo or chickpea or maybe even both!

Step by step assembly for a chickpea salad recipe

How to make

Step 1: Prep the veggies

To begin, dice the cucumber and quarter the cherry tomatoes. Then, drain and rinse the canned chickpeas and place in a large bowl.

Step 2: prepare simple vinaigrette

Then, make the simple vinaigrette. Just whisk olive oil, red wine vinegar, italian seasoning and salt together until a smooth mixture remains.

Step 3: Mix it all together

Next, add cucumbers, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and mozzarella cheese to the mixing bowl.

Finally, pour dressing over other ingredients and toss to mix thoroughly.

Above view of two servings of garbanzo bean salad on a serving plate

Storage

Once prepared, transfer any leftovers to an airtight container. Store in the fridge for up to 4 days.

To refresh the salad between each use, toss it with just a splash of vinegar or lemon juice and then serve.

Check out these other Easy Lunch recipes

You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!

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