Mediterranean Inspired Greek Chickpea Salad

You’ll love how simple ingredients come together into a flavorful, colorful, vibrant, nutritious, and refreshing meal. Dietary Note: this recipe is suitable for a vegetarian, vegan (use dairy-free feta), and gluten-free diet.Don’t have time to read the full blog post? JUMP TO RECIPE HERE!

What is Greek Chickpea Salad?

Greek chickpea salad video

Ingredients and Substitutions for Greek Chickpea Salad

How to Make Greek Chickpea Salad

Serving Suggestions

Variations

Storage & Make Ahead

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Tender chickpeas are paired with classic Greek vegetables such as crispy green bell pepper, juicy cherry tomatoes, cool cucumber, zesty red onion, flavor-packed kalamata olives, and creamy feta cheese or non-dairy feta. You’ll love how the creamy dressing with olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, and oregano hugs the vegetables and the chickpeas beautifully, imparting them with flavor. Like our lentil salad and quinoa lentil salad, this Greek salad recipe is tasty and colorful and packed with wholesome fiber, vitamins, minerals, and protein. The flavors and texture of Greek chickpea salad are quintessentially Mediterranean, somewhat similar to our Farro salad, barley salad, orzo salad, and couscous salad. You can expect a recipe that is easy to make, satisfying, and, despite its simplicity, bursting with flavor. You can have it as an appetizer, lunch, or dinner with warm pita bread and other Mediterranean dishes like hummus, falafel, yogurt tahini sauce, tzatziki, whole roasted cauliflower, and many more. You can use drained and rinsed canned chickpeas or dry chickpeas that you previously soaked overnight and boil in plenty of water for 1 to 2 hours or until tender. Check out our guide on how to cook chickpeas (garbanzo beans) to learn more. Substitute lentils, white beans, or black beans for chickpeas.

Tomatoes

We recommend cherry tomatoes or ripe vine tomatoes. Substitute plum tomatoes, grape tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, or heirloom tomatoes for cherry tomatoes.

Cucumber

American, English, or Persian cucumbers are all suitable for this recipe.

Green bell pepper

Green bell pepper is essential in any Greek salad, and we recommend adding it in for crunch and freshness. Substitute yellow bell peppers, red bell peppers, or orange bell peppers for the green.

Kalamata Olives

You can use Kalamata olives, taggiasche olives, Gaeta olives, or any other green or black olives. You can use pitted olives. Substitute sundried tomatoes in oil or marinated artichokes for kalamata olives.

Red onion

Thinly sliced red onion adds a pleasant tang to this Greek chickpea salad. For a milder onion flavor, you can substitute shallots or green onions for red onion.

Feta cheese

Feta cheese is excellent with fresh vegetables because of its bold, briny, savory flavor and creamy texture. For vegans, you can substitute non-dairy feta cheese for regular feta cheese. Many brands, from VioLife to SimplyV and many other American and European brands, make that.

Greek Salad Dressing

This Greek salad dressing is in no way authentically Greek, as the Greeks don’t really do dressings but rather sprinkle their salads with olive oil, vinegar, and oregano. But locally grown Greek veggies are much more flavorful than those in most Western supermarkets, so we recommend this dressing for most of us who can’t find or afford tasty and locally grown vegetables.

Extra virgin olive oil. Red wine vinegar: substitute apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice. Dried oregano: dried or fresh dill or other fresh herbs, although dried oregano is the most authentic. American mustard: substitute Dijon mustard. Maple syrup: substitute honey. Garlic powder. Salt. Black pepper.

1. Chop the vegetables

To a large mixing bowl, add drained and rinsed chickpeas, halved cherry tomatoes, peeled and diced cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, sliced green bell pepper, and kalamata olives. Tip: You can cut the kalamata olives in half if yours are large.

2. Make the dressing

Make a dressing by whisking extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, dried oregano, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Tip: You can substitute fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar for red wine vinegar.

3. Mix the salad

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well until combined. Crumble in the feta cheese (or non-dairy feta), give it a final toss, then taste and adjust for salt before serving. Turn it into a meal by serving it with bread or grains. You can also side it with a dip, spread, and something pickled to make it extra flavorful and fulfilling. You’ll love it with:

Pita bread No-knead focaccia Couscous Yogurt tahini sauce Tzatziki sauce Hummus Quick pickled red onion

Check out our Horiatiki recipe.

Greek cucumber salad

This variation is without chickpeas, but it’s still delicious as a side dish, starter, or for a healthy lunch when you feel like something light and refreshing. Check out our Greek cucumber salad.

Mediterranean Lentil Salad

Our lentil salad with onions, tomatoes, cucumber, and olives is similar to our Greek chickpea salad as it uses the same dressing and crumbled feta for extra flavor. Check out our lentil salad recipe.

Chickpea salad

Chickpea salad has all the same Mediterranean veggies as a Greek salad, but it swaps avocado for green bell pepper. Check out our chickpea salad recipe. Refrigerator: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Freezer: not suitable for freezing.

More Chickpea Recipes

Hummus Hummus without tahini Falafel Chickpea fritters Moroccan chickpea stew Chana saag Pasta e ceci Chickpea soup Chickpea curry Chickpea stew Roasted chickpeas