Healthy Chickpea Salad with Easy Balsamic Dressing

This Healthy Chickpea Salad recipe makes for a quick and easy plant-based and gluten-free lunch or side dish packed with fresh veggies, lots of healthy fats and fibre!

This easy chickpea salad is pretty much the ultimate in healthy and quick lunches. For me at least, anyway. And I am a little (too) excited to be sharing it with you this morning.

This salad is one of my favourite lunchtime meals and one of the easiest recipes to make… ever! For serious.

Healthy Chickpea Salad recipe, or some variation thereof, has been tried and tested just about a million times… which works out to me mixing chickpeas and veggies together once or twice a week for the past seven or so years.

I may or may not be completely obsessed.

It’s delicious. It’s one of those foods that not only taste great but also tastes like it’s good for you.  You know what I mean.  Kind of like a big glass of kale juice… but better. And without the having to hold your nose and shoot it back as fast as you can. Yeah. You know what I mean.

Side Note: This salad definitely has that same good and good for you thing going on too because I am very much into that these days.

MORE ABOUT THIS HEALTHY CHICKPEA SALAD RECIPE…

It’s just-oh-so easy to make.  This is literally a recipe for tossing a bunch of chopped vegetables and canned chickpeas together. Actually. But I love it and I make it all the time because it is just that easy. 

We’re talking a can of chickpeas (I always go for the low sodium, organic kind but any of them are really fine), bell peppers preferably in all the colours of the rainbow, maybe a little bit of tomato and some red or green onion too. But really any and every veggie you have on hand will work here – cucumbers, celery, broccoli, avocado, etc, etc, etc…

I like adding just a sprinkling of hemp seeds on top along with some extra herbs like parsley or basil or cilantro for colour and extra freshness but they are totally optional and only if you already have them on hand (because we are keeping things easy-peasy here, right.)

Everyone is then all tossed together in a super simple balsamic vinaigrette. It’s just balsamic vinegar, good extra virgin olive oil, a little mustard (I’m obsessed with the grainy stuff right now), salt and pepper. You can also add a little honey, a tablespoon or so, to the party too for a little extra sweetness too.

Healthy chickpea salad – good on its own but even more lovely over a bed of baby greens. 

This salad is the ultimate in make-ahead meals for those weeks when you just know things are going to be a little crazy (uh, hello…? like this one!). Make it on Monday and have it ready all week long. Because it tastes even better a couple days later, you know when the chickpeas have time to soak up so much of that balsamic mustardy dressing. And because planning ahead and being prepared and making things easy for myself is the only way I know how to eat healthy on a busy schedule.

And that’s the way I kind of like it.

Healthy Chickpea Salad

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• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x

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Description

This Healthy Chickpea Salad recipe makes for a quick and easy plant-based and gluten-free lunch or side dish packed with fresh veggies, lots of healthy fats and fibre!

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Ingredients

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• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon or grainy mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herb blend
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
• Fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas, drained and/or rinsed well
• 2 cups fresh veggies, chopped (try a combination of different coloured peppers, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, etc)
• 1/4 cup red or green onions, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons hemp seeds, optional
• 1/4 cup fresh herbs, roughly chopped (I like parsley and basil the best), optional

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Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl whisk together oil, vinegar, mustard, herbs, salt and pepper until combined and smooth. This will be the dressing for your salad.
2. Fold chickpeas and chopped veggies into the dressing and toss until well combined and the chickpeas are evenly coated in the dressing. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed.
3. Sprinkle hemp seeds and fresh herbs on top, if using.
4. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Salad tastes best if it sits for at least 4 hours in the fridge but can be served immediately if needed.

• Prep Time: 15 minutes