This Greek Chickpea Salad is packed with fresh herbs, flavor, and tons of veggies. It’s the perfect summer side dish or meatless main course!
While our garden here in Virginia may not be as huge and productive as the one we once had in California, we’re still growing a few things here and there, and I have quite the collection of indoor plants including plenty of windowsill herbs. I love growing the herbs, but I am always trying to find ways to use them up!
This Greek Chickpea Salad with Fresh Herbs is the perfect way to put plenty of those herbs to use. It’s packed with flavor thanks to fresh herbs, tangy lemon juice and zest, salty olives and feta, cool cucumbers, and more.
If you’re looking for a great summer salad and a tasty way to get all your veggies in, this salad is for you.
Greek-inspired flavors have always been my favorite. I actually usually make a version of this salad with lentils, which is also really yummy!
But as luck would have it, the pre-cooked lentils I love from Trader Joe’s were out of stock this week, so I had to improvise. Because let’s face it, I’m way too lazy to cook my own lentils these days.
Chickpeas were the perfect sub for my usual lentils, and this Greek Chickpea Salad with Fresh Herbs was born.
It’s a great salad to make over the weekend and have on hand for lunches all week long. Or bring it to the next holiday potluck for something a bit more fresh than yet another pasta salad.
Some recipe notes:
- Use whatever fresh herbs you have and love. Oregano would be great here too. If you don’t want to buy them all, leave a few out. If you only want to add a couple I would suggest the parsley and dill!
- I know olives can be polarizing. If you don’t like them, you can definitely leave them out.
- I highly recommend using pre-cooked, prepackaged beets so you don’t have to roast/steam your own!
- If you want to keep it dairy-free or vegan, just leave out the feta. Thanks to all the fresh herbs, this salad is still very delicious and flavorful without it!
- 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- ½ large English cucumber, quartered and sliced
- 2 large or 6 baby beets, cooked and chopped
- ¾ cup grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
- ¼ cup kalamata olives, halved
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- 4 green onions, thinly sliced
- 5 parsley sprigs, stems removed, finely chopped
- 5 dill sprigs, stems removed, finely chopped
- 5-6 large basil leaves, finely chopped
- 5-6 mint leaves, finely chopped
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- In a large bowl, combine chickpeas, cucumbers, beets, tomatoes, olives, feta, onions, and herbs. Toss to combine.
- To the mix, add lemon zest, juice of half the lemon, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.
- Taste and if necessary add additional lemon juice, salt, or pepper.
- Enjoy immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!
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