Summer Greek Chickpea Salad

A delicious way to use the overabundance of the season, this Greek chickpea salad is both filling and refreshing – and bonus, no heat needed. It’s not so hot in our region this year but no one really wants to cook and bake so much in the summer.

With creamy chickpeas, piles of summer veg, and a simple lemon vinaigrette, this is an easy dinner or packable lunch. A tiny bit of onion goes a long way here to really boosting the overall flavour.

While feta is (obviously) missing here, and so are olives, it’s definitely inspired by a classic Greek salad. What better way to use some garden vegetables?

Ingredients

• Chickpeas: cooked or canned. There are instructions in my book about how to cook chickpeas at home.
• Tomatoes: cherry or small plum tomatoes are ideal.
• Sweet Pepper: red or yellow, but not green.
• Cucumber: english, in this case, but other types would be fine.
• Avocado: a little bit to replace the texture of feta, but great for the healthy fats, too.
• Onion: finely diced, to avoid a mouthful of onion.
• Oregano: fresh makes a big difference – see below for substitutions.
• Vinaigrette: olive oil, lemon juice, honey, mustard, salt, and pepper.

Notes and Substitutions

If you like vegan feta, it could be added here, no problem. I’ve never found one I like – they just taste like salty tofu – so can’t recommend a brand or recipe. If you eat cheese, of course sheep feta can be used.

I think preserved lemon might add a bit of that salt kick if you’re craving it but don’t want to use cheese. I’ve only just started a new batch so haven’t tried this, but it seems like it’d be really good.

Don’t have oregano? Mint or basil are good substitutions, but make sure to use fresh herbs. Dried won’t be nearly as nice here and may overwhelm the salad. Parsley would work in a pinch too.

The salad can be made up to 24 hours before you serve, so it makes for a good packed lunch or picnic meal. Leftovers will keep well for the same amount of time.

Change up the vegetables based on what you have on hand. The onion can be left out if you have a propensity to heartburn, and keep in mind that if you make this a few hours before you plan on eating it, the onion will mellow a lot in the lemon vinaigrette.

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This post was first published in September 2018. It has been updated with slight improvements to the recipe as of July 2021.