This easy chickpea salad recipe combines lemon, fresh dill, crisp cucumber, and tomatoes. Not only is it quick to prepare, but you can also make it ahead of time. In about 15 minutes, you’ll have a chickpea salad that’s so satisfying it’s perfect for lunch or dinner.
Watch the Video
Related: If you love chickpeas, try these easy to make-ahead smashed chickpea sandwiches
How to Make the Best Chickpea Salad
We adore chickpeas and incorporate them into our recipes often! We have provided instructions on cooking them from dried and shared several easy salad recipes featuring chickpeas. These include our curried chickpea bowls, healthy quinoa chickpea salad, and this delightful salad with cauliflower and chickpeas.
Chickpeas are a versatile base for salads. They are nutritious, taste great, and inexpensive. To make the best chickpea salad, keep these tips in mind:
Use high-quality chickpeas. Opt for canned chickpeas from a brand you prefer (I enjoy Eden Organic) or cook dried chickpeas at home. While it takes time, homemade chickpeas can be stored in the fridge or freezer for future use. Check out our detailed tutorial on cooking dried chickpeas.
Add vegetables for color and texture. In this salad, we use lots of sweet tomatoes and crisp cucumbers. While any cucumber variety works, seedless or thin-skinned cucumbers (like Persian cucumbers) eliminate the need for peeling or seed removal. If you use thicker-skinned cucumbers, peeling is recommended.
Use a bright and flavorful salad dressing. Chickpeas are a fantastic salad base, but they don’t have much flavor by themselves. That’s why we love tossing them with an bright and tasty dressing. As the salad sits, the chickpeas absorb the dressing and get even more delicious over time.
Use lots of fresh herbs. Fresh dill is our go-to herb, but other tender herbs like mint, parsley, or a blend of herbs work wonders in this salad.
Bright and Bold Salad Dressing
Allow us to introduce you to this lemony salad dressing. This true game-changer enhances the flavor of virtually any salad. This is one of the most frequently prepared recipes in our kitchen. It works wonders on this chickpea salad and serves as the dressing for our favorite couscous salad, which never fails to impress.
- Fresh lemon juice lightens up the salad and makes all the ingredients taste fresh.
- Extra-virgin olive oil balances the lemon and makes the dressing creamy.
- Dijon mustard adds a little tang.
- Honey balances out the lemon and mustard.
- Salt and pepper help to season the salad — a must!
Make Ahead Tips
As I mentioned above, you only need 15 minutes of hands-on time to make this, which helps to make this one of my favorite salads on Inspired Taste. The other reason I love it is that it tastes even better when it made in advance, making this a perfect make-ahead salad.
You can get away with making this an entire day in advance and if you want it to last even longer, keep the tomatoes off to the side. The tomatoes break down a bit too much for me on day two, but prepping them and keeping them in a container next to the salad deals with that. Then when you want to eat the salad, throw in a handful of tomatoes, and you’re set.
Easy Chickpea Salad
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This easy chickpea salad is one of our favorite salads. I love how quick and simple it is. Eat this straight out of the bowl or use it to top salad greens. We love the combination of lemon and dill, but the salad is just as delicious with other fresh herbs — try basil, parsley, or even fresh mint.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas or 3 cups cooked chickpeas
1 medium thin-skinned cucumber, often called hothouse or English
6 small tomatoes
1 ½ ounces feta cheese (substitute crumbled goat cheese)
1/4 cup (60 ml) fresh lemon juice (1 large lemon)
1/4 cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh dill (feathery fronds and tender stems only)
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
Directions
1Open, drain and rinse the chickpeas, and then add to a large bowl.
2Cut the cucumbers into quarters, lengthwise, and then chop into bite-size chunks. Cut the tomatoes into small wedges. Add the cucumbers and tomatoes to the chickpeas then break the feta cheese into crumbles on top.
3In a medium bowl, make the dressing. Whisk lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, honey, and the fresh dill together then season with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Make-Ahead: This salad can be made a few hours in advance. If you plan to make it a day in advance, we recommend leaving the tomatoes out of the salad, and then cutting and adding them just before serving since they are more fragile and will wilt more quickly than the cucumbers and chickpeas.
- If you’re cooking chickpeas from dried, here’s our easy tutorial showing three ways to do it. We even show you how to cook chickpeas in a slow cooker.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
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Recipe updated, originally posted December 2012. Since posting this in 2012, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear and added a quick recipe video. – Adam and Joanne
This salad is absolutely and amazingly delicious, besides being super healthy! Thank you.
You’ve inspired me to go out of my “tried and true” lentil/garbanzo recipes and adventure on something new. Thanks!
Absolutely amazing and super easy to make.
This salad was amazing! I will never use canned beans again.
If you make this a day ahead would you refrigerate it or leave it out covered?
We keep this salad in the refrigerator.