This Chickpea Salad Recipe mixes chickpeas, orzo, cucumbers, feta cheese and fresh herbs. The dressing is a light lemon dressing that works nicely with the crunchy vegetables. Your guests will love this side dish or it makes a nice weekly lunch with grilled chicken!
Chickpea salads are so versatile, easy to make and are a great way to mix together fresh mediterranean flavors.
This is a great recipe to have on hand for an easy lunch paired with your favorite protein.
I also love having a variety of summer salads when I have guests over to pair with grilled meat. Today’s Chicken Salad Recipe is full of fresh summer ingredients that I grow in my garden or you can find at the farmers market.
Fresh ingredients like crispy cucumbers are paired with chickpeas, orzo pasta and fresh herbs. This salad uses fresh parsley, fresh dill, mint and basil so it has a lot of great herby flavor.
The nice thing about salads like this is that you can easily add in whatever vegetables you have in the fridge and are great for meal prep.
I especially love carrots, radishes, celery, peppers, zucchini and tomatoes in my salads.
I love chickpea salads and make a lot of variations like a Mediterranean Chickpea Salad, Greek Chickpea Salad, Chickpea Herb Salad, Zucchini Chickpea Quinoa Salad and this Mediterranean Eggplant Chickpea Salad.
Recipe Ingredients
- Chickpeas: Canned chickpeas { garbanzo beans } are one of the stars of this garbanzo bean salad. They add protein and texture to the salad. You can also use white beans.
- Pasta: I love orzo pasta in salads. It is a small pasta that is great in summer salads. You can use any pasta but I tend to like the small or medium sized pastas in this salad. If you want a healthier option use a whole wheat orzo pasta.
- Vegetables: Fresh salads are the best and I love being able to use garden or farmers market vegetables when summer rolls around. This chickpea salad uses a crisp cucumber and green onions. Feel free to add any of your favorite vegetables.
- Herbs: They add so much flavor and take the salad to the next level. This simple chickpea salad uses fresh basil, fresh mint, dill and parsley. Feel free to modify to your liking.
- Dressing: The dressing is a light dressing mixing lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Feel free to add your favorite spices to the dressing too. I especially like sumac and za’atar.
How to Make this Chickpea Salad
Step 1: Cook Orzo: Cook the orzo according the package until al dente. Run under cold water on the pasta is done cooking.
Step 2: Combine Salad Ingredients: In a large bowl combine all of the salad ingredients including the orzo.
Step 3: Make Dressing: In a mason jar or a small bowl combine fresh lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar and whisk or shake to combine.
Step 4: Dress Salad: Pour the salad dressing over the salad and mix well. Taste and adjust salt and black pepper to taste. Serve or refrigerate in an airtight container until you are ready to use.
How to Modify this Salad
- Beans: I used chickpeas in today’s salad but I also really like white beans, red beans or even black beans.
- Spices: Spices are a nice way to add flavor to the salad dressing. Some good ones are sumac, za’atar, cumin, paprika or oregano.
- Cheese: Feta cheese is often used in my salads but goat cheese, blue cheese, parmesan cheese or sharp cheddar cheese are also great options.
- Vegetables: Cucumbers and green onions are the star of this salad. Try adding a variety of other colorful veggies like carrots, red bell pepper, zucchini, radishes, celery, cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes.
- Other Ingredients: Try artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, creamy avocado, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, green olives, black olives, pickled vegetables or pickled red onion. You also could use this dill dressing or tahini yoghurt dressing on this salad.
Storage Tips
Store the leftover salad in an airtight container for up to 4 days. You might want to add more dressing when you serve it again as the dressing can soak into the salad.
More Orzo Recipes
Vegetarian
Zucchini Quinoa Chickpea Salad
Mediterranean
Mediterranean Eggplant Chickpea Salad
Salads
Greek Chickpea Salad
Vegetarian
Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
Chickpea Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 – 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 8 ounces of orzo pasta, cooked
- 1 english cucumber, diced
- 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
- 5-6 green onions, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
For the salad dressing
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the orzo according the package until al dente. Run under cold water on the pasta is done cooking.
- In a large mixing bowl combine all of the salad ingredients including the orzo.
- In a mason jar or a salad dressing container combine the salad dressing ingredients and whisk or shake to combine.
- Pour the salad dressing over the salad and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.
- Serve or refrigerate until you are ready to use.
Notes
- This salad will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge. You will want to freshen it up with a small amount of olive oil and lemon juice.
- Feel free to mix up the vegetables or add additional ones like bell peppers and zucchini. I have also added grilled chicken to this salad which works well and have subbed white beans for the chickpeas and liked that too.
- Try adding spices to this salad like sumac or za’atar.
Very good, thank you! I didn’t have any basil nor feta so I used marinated artichoke hearts and Pecorino instead. The salad is terrific!
Glad you liked it!