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This simple green salad is loaded up with zesty roasted chickpeas, cucumber, avocado, feta cheese, fresh herbs, and a tangy lemon vinaigrette.
As I mentioned in my post earlier this week, Barclay and I love roasting up a big pan of chickpeas at least once a week. And this big green salad, in particular, is one of our favorite ways to put them to use! ♡
We love it because it’s loaded up with so many of our favorite ingredients that taste so fresh and light, especially this time of year. We’re talking crisp greens, cool cucumber, creamy avocado, sliced red onions, tangy feta (or goat cheese), lots and lots of fresh herbs (we’re partial to dill and mint here), and a quick lemon vinaigrette. The whole salad comes together quickly and easily and is bursting with bright summertime flavors. And while it could work well as a side salad, we usually just make a meal out of it!
If you’d like to add in some protein, grilled shrimp, salmon, chicken or steak would all be delicious options. Or if you feel like making the salad completely vegan, you can just nix the cheese. However you make it, we hope that you love it as much as we do. It’s definitely a keeper in our house!
Salad Ingredients
Before we get to the full recipe below, here are the notes about the ingredients you will need to make this roasted chickpea salad recipe:
- Roasted chickpeas: This is our go-to crispy roasted chickpeas recipe here in our house. It’s quick and easy to make with chickpeas, olive oil, and my favorite blend of spices, but feel free to use whatever seasonings you prefer.
- Greens: I like a nice crisp green in this salad, such as Romaine or little gems, but just about any salad greens that you happen to have on hand will work.
- Cucumbers: Mini cucumbers (or an English cucumber) add such a lovely bit of crunch to this salad.
- Crumbled cheese: We alternate using feta and goat cheese in this salad — both options are delicious!
- Red onion: I recommend slicing the onion extra thin for this salad. If you prefer a milder onion flavor, just rinse the cut onion in cold water and drain before adding it to the salad.
- Herbs: I love adding lots and lots of fresh herbs to this salad! Fresh mint and dill are usually our faves, but basil, parsley or cilantro would be great alternatives too.
- Lemon vinaigrette: This simple dressing is easy to whip up with olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon, garlic, salt and pepper.
Recipe Variations
This green salad recipe is incredibly flexible, so feel free to customize it as you’d like! For example, feel free to…
- Add a protein: Shrimp, salmon, scallops, chicken, steak or bacon would all be great additions.
- Add extra veggies: Any other salad-friendly veggies (such as bell peppers, carrots, radishes, snap peas, tomatoes, etc) could work well here too.
- Add olives or capers: Either would be delicious.
- Make it vegan: Use plant-based cheese or omit the cheese altogether.
More Green Salad Recipes
Looking for more big green salad recipes to try? Here are a few of my faves:
Description
This simple green salad is loaded up with zesty roasted chickpeas, cucumber, avocado, feta cheese, fresh herbs, and a tangy lemon vinaigrette.
Salad Ingredients:
- 1 batch roasted chickpeas
- 10 ounces Romaine or little gem lettuce, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 6 ounces mini cucumbers (or half of an English cucumber), sliced into bite-sized pieces
- 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
- 1 large avocado, diced
- half of a small red onion, very thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh dill, roughly chopped
Vinaigrette Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
- 1 large garlic clove, pressed or minced
- Make the vinaigrette. Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl (or shake all ingredients together vigorously in a sealed jar) until completely combined.
- Toss the salad. Combine half of the chickpeas, lettuce, cucumbers, feta, avocado, red onion, mint and dill in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle evenly with the prepared vinaigrette and gently toss until combined.
- Serve. Serve immediately, garnished with the remaining crispy chickpeas, and enjoy!
Notes
Prep time: The prep time listed above is to prepare the chickpeas for roasting. The prep time for the remainder of the salad is included within the amount of time that the chickpeas bake (although it will likely take much less than 45 minutes to prep).
