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 main course. It's perfect for last-minute meals and easy to customize with whatever you have on hand.
Ingredients
- Chickpeas, also called garbanzo beans, come canned and are easy to find in any grocery store. You'll need one can of chickpeas. Drain and rinse them well under cold water to wash away excess starch and canned flavor.
- Feta adds a salty, creamy bite to the salad. The best creamy feta cheese is made from sheep's or goat's milk. Imported Greek feta has the best texture and flavor if you can find it. If you're avoiding dairy, leave it out.
- Use one small can of sliced olives. Olives packed in water and salt work well here. Kalamata olives packed in oil are also a good option.
- Cucumbers should be fresh and firm. An English cucumber is ideal since it has thin skin and very few seeds. Mini cucumbers are another great option and don't need peeling or seeding. Persian cucumbers or Kirby cucumbers also work well. If your cucumber has large seeds, slice it in half lengthwise and scoop them out with a spoon before chopping.
- Cherry or grape tomatoes add a little sweetness and color. Slice them in half so they mix evenly through the salad.
- Fresh herbs make the whole salad taste brighter. Use basil or curly-leaf parsley. Use a mix of both for extra flavor and color.
- Dressing: Extra-virgin olive oil, lemon or red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, Garlic and Italian seasoning
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.
To change it up, try adding hard-boiled eggs, lemon zest, chopped bell peppers, fresh dill, or mint leaves.
Lemon Vinaigrette 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 in its place.
- Salt and black pepper
How To Make Chickpea 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 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 fresh 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?
You can also make a deli platter with Baked Salmon Salad, Veggie Tuna Salad, NY Egg Salad, and some garlic butter pita chips or toasted bagel chips.
Takeaway
This Mediterranean-style chickpea salad is a simple cold salad made with chickpeas, fresh veggies, tomatoes, and crisp cucumbers, finished with tangy feta and a lemon vinaigrette.
It's made with simple ingredients, high in protein and fiber, and can be prepared a day in advance.
This is the perfect side dish for BBQs, summer gatherings, or boat days, and it's easy to scale up for a crowd.
For another fresh option, try my White Bean Cucumber Salad.
FAQ
Yes. This salad can be made up to a day in advance. Store it covered in the fridge and give it a quick toss before serving.
It keeps well for 3 to 4 days when stored in an airtight container. The flavors actually improve after it sits for a bit.
Yes. You can leave out the feta if you're avoiding dairy. The salad still tastes great thanks to the lemon, olive oil, and fresh herbs.
It's a great side for grilled chicken, fish, burgers, or kebabs. It also works well as a light lunch on its own or tucked into pita bread.
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.
