Mediterranean Chickpea Salad with Lemon-Herb Vinaigrette

This post has been compensated as part of my ongoing partnership with Barlean's. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.

This quick & easy Greek-inspired chickpea salad is packed with fresh veggies and a lemony herb-studded flax vinaigrette for a delicious Omega-3 boost!

Spring is officially here, and while it's still pretty cold most days here in New York, I'm channeling the warmth by making fresh, delicious salads more often.

For this particular salad, I decided to load it up fresh items from my produce drawer. To bulk things up and add some protein, I chose canned chickpeas.

You can really use any mix of crispy, colorful veggies (and veggies that are technically fruits, like tomatoes and bell peppers) along with your favorite canned beans. White beans would be great in this, too.

But every good salad needs a great dressing, right?

Barleans is celebrating a big anniversary this year! 30 years ago, they kicked things off with their very first product - flax!

I've talked about flax here before. Flax oil is perfect for dressings and sauces because it has a mild, nutty flavor and can easily adapt to the other ingredients in your recipes. It can be used in both sweet and savory applications, but it can't be heated above 225°F.

Some info on flax oil from the Barlean's website:

Barlean’s Fresh Organic Flax Oil provides a whopping 7,640mg of plant-based ALA Omega-3 fatty acid per tablespoon. Omega-3s are vital fatty acids that cannot be produced by the body, so we need to get them from foods or supplements. Flax is the best plant-based source. Barlean’s Organic Flax Oil is an award-winning unrefined organic flax oil, freshly pressed in the Pacific Northwest, and protected from damaging heat and light from seed to bottle.

And a bit about their ground flax:

Forti-Flax® premium ground flaxseed is a nutritional powerhouse delivering essential Omega-3 fatty acids plus fiber, all 10 amino acids, vitamins and trace mineral and phytonutrients including lignans. Our proprietary cold-milling process gently liberates these elements without damaging the delicate Omega-3s or altering the natural light and nutty flavor.

Once you open any flax products, they should be stored in the refrigerator to ensure that they stay as fresh as possible.

I love mixing flax oil with flax seeds in my vinaigrettes. Flax seeds also add great texture to parfaits. I like sprinkling them on cottage cheese or yogurt in the morning along with fresh and dried fruits.

The mix of veggies in this salad was inspired by the flavors of Greece, so I went that route when flavoring my vinaigrette.

Just a few dried herbs, some garlic, a healthy dose of lemon juice, and a bit of fresh dill really brought this vinaigrette to life.

My husband was a bit skeptical of this vinaigrette at first because he tends to find flax oil "fishy" tasting, but this wasn't at all!

He was blown away by the flavor combination, and went back for seconds!

This Mediterranean Chickpea Salad is a solid meal on its own. It has plenty of bulkiness from the chickpeas and veggies and proved to be a very filling meal for my family. It would also be great as a side dish alongside grilled lamb, chicken, shrimp, or tofu.

I decided to stuff some of my salad into pita bread to make a little sandwich and it totally blew me away! This would be perfect packed in your lunchbox with the pita on the side. When lunchtime rolls around, just stuff the salad in there and you're ready to rock!

I love that this was a no-cook way to have a healthy, delicious meal. It's going to be heavy in the rotation come summertime when I don't feel like turning the stove on.

I also really like that it's made with veggies that you can get year-round, not just in the summer.

If you want to make this vegan-friendly, all you need to do is omit the feta. It still packs tons of flavor without the dairy.

I served leftovers from this recipe along with leftovers from my Broiler Kebab Sheet Pan Meal that I cooked up on Facebook LIVE this past Friday.

The recipe post for that is coming soon. It's super simple and goes so very well with this Greek salad.

What are your favorite salads or no-cook recipes? I'd love to hear about them in the comment section below!

Looking for more of our favorite salads? Check out these 5-star recipes:

• Mediterranean Farro Salad with Spiced Beef Patties
• Falafel-Spiced Chickpea Salad with Tahini-Lemon Vinaigrette
• Taco Salad with Homemade Chipotle Ranch Dressing
• Quick Chickpea Salad with Lemon-Dill Vinaigrette
• Pax Romana’s Quinoa Salad with Mixed Vegetable, Goat Cheese & Orange Dressing
• Fennel + Citrus Salad with Shallots + Capers
• Roma Salad with Caper-Dill Vinaigrette
• Creamy Cucumber, Avocado, Chickpea, & Sun-Dried Tomato Salad
• Smoky Shrimp Salad with Green Goddess Dressing
• BBQ Ranch Chopped Chicken Salad
• Cantaloupe, Prosciutto and Shaved Parmesan Salad
• Triple Crunch Asian Salad

Doing some online shopping? Check out my Amazon Shop page for recommendations!

Recipe for Mediterranean Chickpea Salad with Lemon-Herb Vinaigrette

If you try out this recipe, please come back and give it a star rating and comment below. I’d love to know what you think of it!

📖 Recipe

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad with Lemon-Herb Vinaigrette

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 1 review

• Author: Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen - Ashley Covelli
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 0 minutes
• Total Time: 5 minutes
• Yield: 4 Servings 1x
• Category: Salad
• Method: No-Cook
• Cuisine: Mediterranean

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Description

This quick & easy Greek-inspired chickpea salad is packed with fresh veggies and a lemony herb-studded flax vinaigrette for a delicious Omega-3 boost!

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Ingredients

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For Vinaigrette:

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds (I used Barlean's Forti-Flax)
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground paprika
• ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons flax oil (I used Barlean's organic)

For Salad:

• 1 (15.5-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 2-3 small bell peppers, seeded and chopped (I used red, yellow, and orange)
• 1 English cucumber, seeded and chopped
• ½ cup halved grape tomatoes
• 2-3 ounces feta, crumbled
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced red onion

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Instructions

1. Make the vinaigrette: In a medium bowl, combine garlic, dill, lemon juice, flax seeds, oregano, salt, cumin, paprika, and pepper. Whisk in flax oil until emulsified. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. 
2. Make the salad: In a large bowl, combine chickpeas, bell peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, feta, and red onion. Drizzle vinaigrette over top and stir to combine.

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Notes

This salad is great alone, as a side dish, or stuffed into pita bread as a sandwich.

Omit feta to keep this salad vegan-friendly.

Nutrition

• Serving Size:
• Calories: 296
• Sugar: 3.4 g
• Sodium: 758.9 mg
• Fat: 19.2 g
• Saturated Fat: 3.6 g
• Carbohydrates: 22.6 g
• Fiber: 7.3 g
• Protein: 9.2 g
• Cholesterol: 12.6 mg

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