Chopped Chickpea Salad

Delicious, filling salads don’t require a recipe so much as a smart template and plenty of fresh inspiration and ingredients, which is precisely how this chopped chickpea salad comes together.

• Chickpeas: Canned chickpeas are our pick for convenience, but you can also cook up a batch of dried beans, if you like.
• Chopped greens: We’re partial to crunchy romaine, spicy arugula, or crisp red cabbage. You can even toss in some fresh herbs.
• Red onion: This brings a little bit of sweetness and a little bit of bite. Rinse them under cold water if you want a milder flavor.
• At least 2 chopped vegetables: Tomatoes, cucumbers, diced zucchini, corn — it’s all fair game.
• More protein: Give your salad an extra boost of protein with cheese, sliced hard-boiled egg, or nuts.
• Dressing: The red wine vinaigrette listed below goes with pretty much everything, although you can also swap in another favorite.

What’s in a Greek salad?

Traditional Greek salads are filled with beautiful veggies like red onion, tomatoes, cucumber, and bell pepper, along with kalamata olives, and blocks of feta cheese. They’re dressed simply with good quality olive oil, oregano, salt, and vinegar like red wine vinegar. Unlike many other salad recipes, Greek salads don’t have any leafy greens in them.

How to make Chopped Chickpea Salad

Ingredients:

For the dressing:

• 1/3 cup
• red wine vinegar
• 2 cloves
• garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon
• Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon
• kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup
• olive oil

Greek Salad Version

• 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 medium red or yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
• 1 medium cucumber, quartered and cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 cup chopped romaine lettuce
• 3/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
• 1/2 cup small-dice red onion
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

1. Make the dressing: Whisk the vinegar, garlic, mustard, salt, and pepper together in a small bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes to give the garlic time to mellow. Whisk in the oil until the dressing is emulsified.
2. Make the salad: Place all the ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle with dressing and toss to combine.