It’s a new year so it’s time to add a new favorite funky salad…
Perfect Chickpea Salad is that salad!
How good is this salad?
Usually I have a couple of recipes in the pipeline for Idiot’s Kitchen and make choices depending on what we’ve had lately. For instance, we just featured Beef Stew so I wouldn’t want another beef dish right away. Getting carried away with cookies? Try something loaded with veggies. You get the idea.
Well, this recipe is a new league record for Idiot’s Kitchen because I just made, and happily ate it less than an hour ago and here I am posting it without delay.
It is SO good, you do not want to wait even one day to try this one!
Light, Healthy, Quick, Easy, EXTREMELY Tasty…this salad has it all going on. And don’t faint, it’s gluten free, vegetarian, and even vegan if you sub out the mayo.
What does it have? FLAVOR GALORE!
Here’s what you need:
Chick Peas, Celery, Bell Pepper, Pickle, Green Onion, Lemon, Mayonnaise, Fresh Dill, Dijon Mustard, Salt & Pepper
Click here for a Perfect Chickpea Salad Shopping List
What I love even more about this recipe is the story behind this cookbook…
I was joking on Facebook that it felt like I received “ALL the cookbooks” for Christmas. You know how much I love cookbooks and thankfully I have friends and family who feed my addiction.
Well, minutes later, my lovely friend Barb says, “Well, you don’t have ALL the cookbooks yet…I’d like to send you my favorite.” AND she did!!!
This fabulous gift arrived at my doorstep and hours later it was bookmarked and post-ited within an inch of its life. Sooooo many recipes I can’t wait to try!
Go visit Barb’s blog and you’ll see one reason why we are friends. She has a cat named Edward who looks EXACTLY like Henry! Twins!
Perfect Chickpea Salad is the second Oh She Glows recipe I’ve tried (the first, a soup is coming soon) and it is a lunchtime game changer!
Drain and rinse 1 (15 oz.) can of chickpeas. Put them in a large bowl and use a potato masher to break them apart so they are flaky in texture.
Don’t worry that the skins will come off the peas first and look sort of bizarre…they will blend in later.
This step does take a little oomph and elbow grease but mash, mash, mash away until most of the chickpeas have been broken up.
Finely chop 2 stalks of celery and 2-3 small green onions. I use all the white & green parts of the green onions.
Add the veggies to the bowl of chickpeas. (You could also add a clove of garlic but I’m going to work and don’t want to gas out the flute section.)
Finely chop up ½ of a bell pepper (any color you’d like) to equal about ½ cup. Chop up 1 nice dill pickle, and add 2-3 Tablespoons of mayonnaise to the bowl.
I’m using light mayo but feel free to use regular or vegan. I’ve never bought vegan mayo but it occurs to me that it might be an interesting addition to the pantry because since it doesn’t include eggs it wouldn’t necessarily need to be refrigerated to be safe to eat. Anything that makes this salad portable so I can eat on the go, works for me.
Give the salad ingredients a gentle stir to combine then add 1½ teaspoons of dijon mustard.
Fresh dill is the secret ingredient for this salad. You can either grown your own or simply buy a small packet in the produce section. Most stores sell fresh herbs very affordably these days.
Remove the tender fluffy fronds from the stems and chop them to equal about 2 teaspoons.
The original recipe says that the dill is optional but I highly encourage you to use it. Save any extra dill in your packet and toss it with some little boiled red skin potatoes. Delicious!
Squeeze in the juice of ½ a lemon and season to taste with salt & pepper.
Stir it all together to combine. If you are patient or plan ahead, the flavors will be even better if this has a chance to sit in the fridge for an hour or so.
Pile this onto some nice crusty wheat bread for an awesome sandwich.
Pile this onto a nice bed of leafy greens or spinach for an awesome salad plate.
Pile this into half of an avocado for a spa type lunch that they would easily charge you $12 for in a restaurant.
Eat this straight out of the bowl with a fork because it is SO GOOD!
I served this to Jim without telling him what it was and he loved it. He likes veggies so I wasn’t trying to pull a fast one, just wanted to get his opinion without my influence.
You could almost trick people into thinking this was chicken or tuna salad because the flavors and textures are so hearty.
This is absolutely going into the funky salad rotation!
Many thanks to Barb for the thoughtful gift. I have plenty of recipes marked to keep us all eating healthy and tasty foods well into the New Year! Now I just need to come take a yoga class too!
Here’s the recipe – Adapted from The Oh She Glows Cookbook
Oh…those other Christmas cookbooks? Here’s a sneak peek!
Time to get busy!
10 Responses
Brilliant! I would boil the chickpeas in a little water for a while first, to avoid gaseous results in some eaters. What a wonderful recipe. Vegan mayo is quite good, btw, and yes, a fairly good shelf life. I use the stuff from earth balance, same guys that make my vegan butter!
Good idea. I’d never head of the boiling trick until you posted your hummus recipe. Thanks for the tips on vegan mayo!
Is it a regional thing to call them garbanzo beans?
According to the google, chickpeas comes from French and garbanzos from Spanish. They’re obviously interchangeable since it’s the same bean so you’re probably right that it is a regional thing.
Smalltown Me, we live in Tampa with quite a big Cuban/Latino Population. In Latino (Spanish) Language Chick Peas are called Garbanzos! They also make a great soup with ham hocks and Chorizo (spicy Spanish Sausage). Also a Latino Recipe!!! But not for Vegans! One of the best soups around, will stick to your ribs.
Since Vegans do not eat fat pork shanks, pork skin, sausages etc…..
This also looks amazing….I do enjoy a nice vegetarian recipe too; you know, to break up all that heavy meat! I’ll be trying this.
I’ve been debating the Oh She Glows cookbook and now I’m sold. This looks awesome and I would definitely eat it. I read it to my non-vegetable-lover husband and asked if he would eat it and he said “maybe” which is as good as yes around here. 😀
Although I have to say my cats will be disappointed if I make this instead of tuna…they love when I make tuna. 🙂
Ha! My cat’s totally know the words “tuna juice”. They don’t ever eat the actual tuna but they love the water from the can. I can’t buy the tuna in the foil pouches because it doesn’t have the beloved tuna “juice.”
I’ve only made 3 recipes from Oh She Glows but so far, so good. I love it! I have about 30 more bookmarked so stay tuned!