This healthy Mediterranean Chickpea salad is one of my top vegetarian recipe picks! It’s simple to prepare, packed full of nutrients and bursting with flavour! The perfect make-ahead lunch option!
When I was doing my undergrad in nutrition, one of the courses that I had to take was a restaurant course. It wasn’t just a matter of learning about how a restaurant operated though….the students actually RAN the restaurant.
That’s right. we had real live people come and eat at our restaurant. It was actually a pretty cool experience that taught me A LOT, even though the head chef was terrifying….. and made me cry on a few occasions (think Gordon Ramsay…Eeek). Yeah, I’m a big suck.
The way that it worked is on a team, we basically had to determine our restaurant theme, plan the menu, decorate the venue, train our staff (AKA our fellow classmates) and run a real live restaurant on our designated night. My restaurant was called “Memories of the Mediterranean” and everything on the menu was inspired by flavours of the Mediterranean.
The appetizer that we created was this Mediterranean Chickpea Salad served on crusty garlic bread to make a Mediterranean bruschetta.
And boy, was it good!
Since my restaurant operating days, this Mediterranean Chickpea Salad has been one of my favourite vegetarian dishes to whip up.
I love having it on a bed of spinach for a quick and healthy lunch, but you could definitely top it up on some crusty garlic bread or serve it with crispy pita chips to make an awesome appetizer.
When I say this dish is easy, I mean SUPER easy.
It takes less than 15 minutes to prepare, and has the most incredible flavours! It’s packed full of fibre and protein, which will keep you feeling full for hours!
I recommend making up a big batch of this recipe and keeping it in the fridge for up to four days. Just scoop some out and you’re all set for lunch!
MORE DELICIOUS SALAD RECIPES:
- Lentil Pesto Pasta Salad
- Chickpea Avocado Feta Salad
- Steak and Avocado Salad
- Greek Quinoa Salad
- Mediterranean Lentil Salad
- Healthy Pasta Salad
Did you make this recipe? Scroll down to leave a rating and review!
Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 can no salt-added chickpeas 250 mL, rinsed and drained
- ½ red onion diced
- 1 red pepper sliced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- Large handful parsley leaves finely chopped
- Juice of half a lemon
- ½-1 tsp. red pepper flakes depending on how spicy you like it
- ½ cup light feta cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in frying pan. Add onion and red pepper and cook, stirring over medium heat for 6-8 minutes. Stir in chickpeas. Squeeze lemon juice and add parsley, and salt and pepper to taste (optional).
- Warm the chickpeas through, and then pour into a large bowl and allow to sit for a few minutes. Add feta cheese and toss lightly. Serve by itself or over a bed of spinach, lettuce, brown rice, quinoa or with crispy whole-grain pita chips.
Nutrition
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Love this recipe! Made it for my nutrition class and everyone went nuts over it! Super easy to make and tastes even better!
Thanks Olivia! So glad your class loved this recipe! It’s definitely one of my favourites!
Did you per chance go to Guelph for school? I took that same course and you describe the head chef perfectly lol!!! He was awesome though, in his own terrifying way :) I am so excited to try this recipe! I’ve been craving a new way to eat chickpeas, and this might just be it. Thanks for sharing!!
Hey Ashley! Thanks for stopping by :) Yes I went to Guelph….small world!!! I totally agree — I ended up learning a lot from him even though he scared me to death haha. I hope you enjoy the recipe!!