Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
This protein-packed Mediterranean chickpea salad is filled with vegetables and hint of salty capers with a simple vinaigrette. It’s a great side dish and it can pull double duty as a healthy, vegan lunch to last through the week.
The flavors are bold and fresh, and the recipe can be made a day or two in advance. Makes 16 servings.
How I made my Mediterranean chickpea salad dairy free:
As of March 2018, this recipe has been updated to make it dairy free. I’ve added capers in place of feta cheese, and I cut back the amount of oil in the dressing to make it a bit healthier.
Without the saltiness of the feta cheese, I decided to use Kalamata or Greek olives in place of the black olives I used to use. I love the salad both ways, so I’m keeping both versions of the recipe on this post, for readers who are still looking for the original version.
I love having chickpeas in a salad. It makes any salad more filling and seemingly more healthy. I made this Mediterranean chickpea salad as an alternative to my corn & chickpea fiesta salad, which was one of my first blog recipes.
Ever since, I had been planning on making another version of it, and this is it. It’s simple, refreshing and so easy to make.
I made when we were on our houseboat in Amsterdam (minus the oregano but it was still fantastic) and I brought it to Julia’s to eat before a game a few weeks ago. And now, I’ve made it again for you.
It makes a lot of salad so feel free to cut the recipe in half if you only want a few servings, and you can increase the amount of olives if you like them – Marc isn’t a big fan so I usually keep the olives to a minimum for his sake.
Tips for making the best mediterranean chickpea salad:
- Use the best beans you can. I’ve used “cheap” brands in the past, and I find that the beans aren’t a soft or as flavorful, so I spend the extra fifteen or twenty cents on name brand cans.
- Make the salad ahead, but keep the dressing separate until you’re ready to serve because the salt will draw out the juices from the vegetables and the longer they sit, the more bland they’ll get. So just wait.
More chickpea recipes you’ll love:
- Garbanzo bean salad
- Vegan chickpea curry
- Easy chickpea soup
Ingredients
- 3 15- ounce cans chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
- 1 pint grape tomatoes (quartered)
- 2 English cucumbers (seeded and chopped)
- 1 red bell pepper (chopped)
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup diced red onion (amount to taste)
- 3/4 cup sliced Kalamata olives
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons capers
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup lemon juice (or white wine vinegar)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients.
- Add dressing to salad, stirring to coat evenly, about 10 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
For the original version with feta, use these ingredients and the same dressing & mixing method:
- 3 cups chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
- 1 English cucumber, seeded and chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ½ cup sliced black olives
- 1 cup crumbled feta
This recipe is soo right up my alley. I want to dive right in. Thanks so much for sharing it!
Yum this looks super delicious and healthy 🙂 Would make a great lunch!
I just made this and it was delicious! Can’t wait to make it again!
I will be trying this recipe out for a Mediterranean potluck dinner I’m going to – looks delicious!
How long do you think this would keep in the fridge?
It should keep for up to four days!
I have a question. The dressing recipe is not seperate so what is in the dressing?
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I’ve edited the recipe to make it a little more clear. I hope that helps!
Do you know the nutrition in this salad?
I’m sorry, but I don’t. I am not 100% sure that nutrition calculators are accurate, so I don’t want to publish the information (just in case it’s wildly wrong). You can definitely try it for yourself though! Sorry I can’t be of more help.
I absolutely loved this recipe when I tried the original version with feta, and I’d love to remake it. However, I see on this page you say you still have both up, but I only seem to see the new one, is the original still available?
Hi! I honestly just deleted the old version yesterday because the search engines are getting confused with the recipe formatting. The only difference is that the new version uses capers instead of feta, and kalamata olives instead of black olives. Feel free to switch them out and use add as much or as little feta as you like. I promise it will be the same though if you just make those two swaps.
I saw the original recipe a few years ago and tried it. It is now a staple on our menu and for potlucks. We use feta cheese, and kalamata olives, a dash of Italian seasoning and no capers. It’s so versatile. Thank you!
I started eating this without even adding the dressing and it is perfection. I find capers and olives add enough salt. I have a jar of roasted red bell peppers, may add some.
I liked the old recipe with the feta cheese much better than the dairy free version.
You could add the feta if you want! It’s your salad. It’s just not dairy free. The only difference is that I swapped the capers for feta and used a different type of black olive.
Hi There,
I was looking for the version that had the feta cheese, but can’t seem to find it. Am I missing a link as you mention that you will keep that version within this post. Thank you!
Lisa
I’m not sure what happened to it, if it got deleted in an update or what, but I’ve added the original list of ingredients below the recipe card! Sorry about that.
Thank you, thank you thank you for keeping the original recipe in this post. The original version is a summer family favorite. My daughter cannot stand capers but eats feta by itself as a snack and I would have been so sad to not be able to find the original again this summer to enjoy. Love it!
Love this recipe! Easy, quick, filling, healthy. My husband fell in love with this salad. I made it about 2-3 weeks ago and he wanted me to make it again same week, but I had to figure out which Pin this particular recipe was & what board I had pinned it on 😂👩🏽🍳. So now I know where to look for it, “my Vegetarian board”,
Perfect as is ❣️
I really appreciate your work doing great job thank you. They are really nice article shared! Thanks for sharing us.
We love this salad. Please tell us what is the amount in a serving: 1 cup, 2 cups?. All it says is it makes 16 servings. Didn’t want to have to dump it all out to measure. Thank you!
Unfortunately, I don’t have a serving size measurement for this salad right now. Next time I make it, I will definitely try to get that measured!