Kale Chickpea Salad is an easy, nutritious salad. It combines kale with vegetables, chickpeas, feta and quinoa. This makes a great meal-prep salad for weekly lunches or a side dish to your meals.
I like to make my Kale Chickpea Salad on those days when I need a filling lunch or side dish for dinner.
This salad is a gluten-free, vegetarian salad that is loaded with so many delicious ingredients.
Kale is mixed with chickpeas, quinoa, fresh vegetables, feta cheese, pumpkin seeds and a delicious light honey mustard dressing.
If you like salad recipes check out these easy salad recipes here. You also might like this Apple Kale Quinoa Salad, Tropical Kale Quinoa Salad, Avocado Kale Quinoa Salad or this Tomato Cucumber Feta Quinoa Salad.
Why You’ll Love this Kale Quinoa Salad Recipe
Here are more reasons it’s a must-try dish:
- Easy Preparation: This recipe is quick to prepare, the salad can be assembled and ready to enjoy in just 15 minutes.
- Healthy: Packed with a variety of veggies, chickpeas and quinoa, this salad is rich in protein, fiber, iron, and a variety of other healthy vitamins and minerals.
- Versatile Recipe: This recipe is easily adapted to suit your own tastes, add in other salad veggies, or some extra fresh herb or spices. Make the dish your own.
- Meal Prep: This salad stores really well, so it’s also great for meal prep. You can get ahead and prepare it in advance, ready to add to other dishes throughout the week.
Recipe Ingredients You’ll Need
Kale Quinoa Salad Ingredients
- Kale: I used 4 cups of chopped curly kale.
- Chickpeas: For ease I use a 15.5 ounce can of chickpeas.
- Quinoa: For ease, I use a cup of cooked quinoa.
- Vegetables: I use English cucumber, red bell pepper, carrots and red onion in this recipe. Feel free to add in other salad vegetables.
- Cheese: I used feta cheese in this vegetable based salad. It adds a nice creamy texture and flavor!
- Seeds: Add some sunflower or pumpkin seeds to the salad, or try a mixture of both seeds.
- Fresh Herbs: Some finely shredded mint leaves are added for flavor.
Dijon Vinaigrette Ingredients
- Vinegar: I use 1/2 cup white wine vinegar, you could also use red wine, sherry, or apple cider vinegar.
- Oil: I like to use avocado oil or olive oil in salad dressing.
- Honey: A little honey adds sweetness to the salad dressing.
- Mustard: I used Dijon mustard in this honey mustard vinaigrette.
- Seasoning: I keep the seasoning simple with some coarse kosher salt and ground black pepper.
For exact ingredient amounts and instructions, see the full recipe card below.
Recipe Variations for this Kale Salad
This recipe is versatile and easy to adapt if needed:
- Kale: I’ve used chopped curly kale in this salad, you could also use baby kale, or cavolo nero black kale.
- Dried Fruit: I love adding sweet dried fruit like cherries or dried cranberries.
- Nuts & Seeds: Try adding pine nuts, almonds, pistachios or walnuts.
- Leafy Greens: This recipe would also work well with other leafy greens like, spinach, chard or collard greens.
- Chickpeas: Swap the chickpeas for canned lentils, or any variety of bean like cannellini, or navy beans.
- Cheese: Swap the feta for some goat cheese.
- Fresh Herbs: I’ve used fresh mint leaves in this salad, you could also use parsley, cilantro or basil.
- Spices: Add some spice to the salad dressing, try red pepper flakes, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, or dried oregano.
How to Make Kale and Quinoa Salad
Step 1: Make Vinaigrette: Place all the vinaigrette ingredients into a small bowl or salad dressing container and stir until well combined.
Step 2: Combine Salad Ingredients: Make Add the salad ingredients to the bowl. Toss until fully combined.
Step 3: Add the Dressing: Dress the salad with the salad dressing and mix well. Serve or refrigerate for up to 4 days.
Serving Tips
This is a hearty and filling salad, full of fresh and healthy flavors, it makes a great salad lunch.
You can also serve this as a salad side dish, it works well with a variety of meat, poultry and seafood. . Try it with my Air Fryer Cod, Black Sea Bass, Mediterranean Skillet Chicken, or my BBQ Baked Pork Chops recipe.
It also makes a great BBQ side salad, serve it with my Grilled Mediterranean Chicken Wings, Grilled Shrimp Skewers, Grilled Flank Steak, or Spiced Honey Lime Grilled Chicken.
Storage Tips
Once prepared, this dressed salad can be store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Give the salad a good toss when you are ready to serve.
Recipe FAQs
No you don’t. However, if you massage the kale in a little dressing before placing into the salad bowl, it does help to break down the tough fibers, softening and tenderizing the kale and making it less chewy.
Yes, this is a great recipe to use up leftover quinoa and saves you time having to cook the quinoa before adding to the salad.
I like using lacinato kale {dinosaur kale or Tuscan kale} or curly kale. It has a softer texture and a slightly sweeter, less bitter flavor than curly kale, making it ideal for raw salads. If you like your leaves to be more tender I suggest massaging them with olive oil or dressing. Some people might prefer a more traditional kale, and in you prefer a more traditional kale option, baby kale is another great choice since it’s milder, more delicate, and doesn’t require as much prep.
More Salad Recipes to Try:
Mediterranean
Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
Mediterranean
Greek Quinoa Salad
Salads
Curried Quinoa Salad
Vegetarian
Zucchini Quinoa Chickpea Salad
Kale Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
Vinaigrette
- 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/8 teaspoon course kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Salad
- 4 cups curly or lacinato kale, chopped
- 1- 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cup diced english cucumber
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 1 red bell pepper, seeds removed, diced
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup red onion, diced
- 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
- 1/2 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds
- 6 mint leaves, finely shredded
- fresh parsley, garnish
Instructions
- In a medium bowl or a mason jar add the white wine vinegar, olive oil, honey, mustard, salt and pepper and whisk until combined Set aside.
- In a large bowl add the kale, chickpeas, cucumber, red bell pepper, carrots, red onion, feta cheese sunflower or pumpkin seeds and mint leave and gently mix.
- Add the dressing to the salad and gently toss. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve.
Notes
- You can store the dressed salad in the fridge for up to 3 days.
