This Chickpea Cucumber Tomato Feta Salad comes together in minutes with no cooking required. It’s fresh, colorful, and tasty and perfect for a light lunch, a quick side, or a healthy dish for a summer BBQ.
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Why You'll Love This Salad
This salad combines canned chickpeas, crisp vegetables, and creamy feta in a light lemon vinaigrette. It’s quick, fresh, and full of flavor.
The dressing is made with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. It brings out the best in the Mediterranean ingredients without overpowering them.
Serve it for lunch, as a side dish, or a light dinner. It’s perfect for last-minute meals and easy to customize with whatever you have on hand, like cucumbers or cherry tomatoes.
Ingredients
- Chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans) come canned and are easy to find in any grocery store. You’ll need one 15-ounce can. Drain and rinse them under cold water to remove excess starch.
- Feta cheese is salty and creamy. The best versions are made from sheep’s or goat’s milk. I like to use imported Greek feta when I can. If you’re avoiding dairy, just leave it out. The salad still works without it.
- Olives: Use one small can of sliced olives. Look for olives packed in water and salt. You can also use kalamata olives packed in oil.
- Cucumbers should be fresh and firm. If yours have seeds, slice them in half lengthwise and scoop the seeds out with a spoon. Persian cucumbers or Kirbys work great here.
- Cherry or grape tomatoes
- Fresh basil or curly-leaf parsley for a pop of flavor and color
Substitutions and Add-ins
- No chickpeas? You can use black beans or white cannellini beans instead.
- If you’re out of feta, try fresh goat cheese.
- Want to change it up? Add hard-boiled eggs, lemon zest, chopped bell peppers, fresh dill, or mint leaves.
For The Dressing
This is a lemony salad dressing that you can just whisk together in a small bowl. You can also pour all the ingredients into a screw-top jar and shake it up before dressing the salad.
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Fresh lemons
- Dijon mustard
- Garlic
- Italian seasoning (a blend of dried herbs including oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme, and parsley found in the spice aisle). You can also use dried oregano.
- Salt and black pepper
Chickpea Cucumber Tomato Feta Salad
- Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl or screw top jar.
- Dice the salad ingredients and add them to a large mixing bowl. Gently fold the dressing into the salad using a rubber spatula.
- Cover the salad with plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour before serving to allow the flavors to blend.
- Season with additional salt and pepper to taste before serving.
Storage
Store the salad in an airtight glass container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Freezing is not recommended.
Serving Suggestions
Serve Chickpea Feta Salad cold. It’s a great side for grilled chicken or a fresh topping for leafy greens. Or just eat it as-is for a quick lunch.
For guests, garnish with parsley, basil, or lemon slices.
You can serve the feta on the side. Put out at least a cup—they’ll likely take more than if it were mixed in.
What Goes with Chickpea Feta Salad?
This cold, refreshing salad goes well with meats, shrimp, and chicken entrees.
You can also make a deli platter with Baked Salmon Salad, Veggie Tuna Salad, NY Egg Salad, and some toasted bagels.
Takeaway
This Mediteranean-style chickpea salad is fresh, colorful, and easy to make. It combines chickpeas, crisp cucumbers, and tangy feta in a simple lemon vinaigrette. It's packed with protein, fiber, and nutrients.
Perfect for summer get-togethers, BBQs, or a day out on the boat. You can double or triple the recipe to feed a crowd.
Chickpea Cucumber Tomato Feta Salad
Ingredients
FOR THE DRESSING
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- juice of 2 medium lemons
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic (1 large clove)
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
FOR THE SALAD
- 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans) rinsed and drained
- 2 Persian cucumbers, sliced and quartered
- 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
- ⅓ cup diced red onion
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped curly leaf parsley, rinsed to remove sand
- ½ cup sliced black olives (1 small can)
- ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl or screw top jar.
- Dice the salad ingredients and add them to a large mixing bowl. Gently fold the dressing into the salad using a rubber spatula.
- Cover the salad with plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour before serving to allow flavors to blend.
- Season with additional salt and pepper to taste before serving.
