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This simple green salad is loaded up with zesty roasted chickpeas, cucumber, avocado, feta cheese, fresh herbs, and a tangy lemon vinaigrette.
As I mentioned in my post earlier this week, Barclay and I love roasting up a big pan of chickpeas at least once a week. And this big green salad, in particular, is one of our favorite ways to put them to use! ♡
We love it because it’s loaded up with so many of our favorite ingredients that taste so fresh and light, especially this time of year. We’re talking crisp greens, cool cucumber, creamy avocado, sliced red onions, tangy feta (or goat cheese), lots and lots of fresh herbs (we’re partial to dill and mint here), and a quick lemon vinaigrette. The whole salad comes together quickly and easily and is bursting with bright summertime flavors. And while it could work well as a side salad, we usually just make a meal out of it!
If you’d like to add in some protein, grilled shrimp, salmon, chicken or steak would all be delicious options. Or if you feel like making the salad completely vegan, you can just nix the cheese. However you make it, we hope that you love it as much as we do. It’s definitely a keeper in our house!
Salad Ingredients
Before we get to the full recipe below, here are the notes about the ingredients you will need to make this roasted chickpea salad recipe:
Roasted chickpeas: This is our go-to crispy roasted chickpeas recipe here in our house. It’s quick and easy to make with chickpeas, olive oil, and my favorite blend of spices, but feel free to use whatever seasonings you prefer.
Greens: I like a nice crisp green in this salad, such as Romaine or little gems, but just about any salad greens that you happen to have on hand will work.
Cucumbers: Mini cucumbers (or an English cucumber) add such a lovely bit of crunch to this salad.
Crumbled cheese: We alternate using feta and goat cheese in this salad — both options are delicious!
Red onion: I recommend slicing the onion extra thin for this salad. If you prefer a milder onion flavor, just rinse the cut onion in cold water and drain before adding it to the salad.
Herbs: I love adding lots and lots of fresh herbs to this salad! Fresh mint and dill are usually our faves, but basil, parsley or cilantro would be great alternatives too.
Lemon vinaigrette: This simple dressing is easy to whip up with olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon, garlic, salt and pepper.
Recipe Variations
This green salad recipe is incredibly flexible, so feel free to customize it as you’d like! For example, feel free to…
Add a protein: Shrimp, salmon, scallops, chicken, steak or bacon would all be great additions.
Add extra veggies: Any other salad-friendly veggies (such as bell peppers, carrots, radishes, snap peas, tomatoes, etc) could work well here too.
Add olives or capers: Either would be delicious.
Make it vegan: Use plant-based cheese or omit the cheese altogether.
More Green Salad Recipes
Looking for more big green salad recipes to try? Here are a few of my faves:
Make the vinaigrette. Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl (or shake all ingredients together vigorously in a sealed jar) until completely combined.
Toss the salad.Combine half of the chickpeas, lettuce, cucumbers, feta, avocado, red onion, mint and dill in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle evenly with the prepared vinaigrette and gently toss until combined.
Serve.Serve immediately, garnished with the remaining crispy chickpeas, and enjoy!
Prep time: The prep time listed above is to prepare the chickpeas for roasting. The prep time for the remainder of the salad is included within the amount of time that the chickpeas bake (although it will likely take much less than 45 minutes to prep).
Great recipe! Flavorful and fresh and even simple enough for this husband to have prepared. Although I could not find the ground sumac which was sitting on the shelf in plain sight!
Absolutely love this! I’m not much of a salad person, but the roasted chickpeas are a brilliant addition. I definitely see myself making this more during this summer.
This is a wonderful recipe. My husband actually said it was very good, and that is something he doesn’t say often. So consider yourself complimented. I added some chicken to increase the protein. And I had some trouble with the chick peas. That started with overcooking and all the skins coming off, so I had to pick those out, which was quite time consuming. They came out of the oven nice and crunchy, but overnight they became soft and mealy, even though I stored them as instructed. The only thing I can figure is that the high humidity in our house right now (monsoon season plus swamp cooler) was the source of the problem. For our second meal I tried heating them in a frying pan and shaking the pan occasionally, and they re-crisped nicely. Anyway, this salad is a definite keeper, one I will make regularly. I’m always happy to find a good salad.
This sounds SO yummy! I’ve been in the mood for fatoosh lately, but this has so many of the qualities of that yet seems simpler.
Thank you!
Great idea for a salad, never cooked fried chickpeas, I wonder how it turns out, thanks!
This was excellent! Great balance of flavors and textures and not too heavy.
Great recipe! Flavorful and fresh and even simple enough for this husband to have prepared. Although I could not find the ground sumac which was sitting on the shelf in plain sight!
I am totally in favor of this healthy giant recipe. where did you get inspiration for it?
We absolutely loved this salad!!! Really, really delicious.
Absolutely love this! I’m not much of a salad person, but the roasted chickpeas are a brilliant addition. I definitely see myself making this more during this summer.
Had great breakfast with the healthy green salad. It was delicious as well.
This is a wonderful recipe. My husband actually said it was very good, and that is something he doesn’t say often. So consider yourself complimented. I added some chicken to increase the protein. And I had some trouble with the chick peas. That started with overcooking and all the skins coming off, so I had to pick those out, which was quite time consuming. They came out of the oven nice and crunchy, but overnight they became soft and mealy, even though I stored them as instructed. The only thing I can figure is that the high humidity in our house right now (monsoon season plus swamp cooler) was the source of the problem. For our second meal I tried heating them in a frying pan and shaking the pan occasionally, and they re-crisped nicely. Anyway, this salad is a definite keeper, one I will make regularly. I’m always happy to find a good salad.
Made for company and was a big hit!