Mediterranean Chickpeas Salad with Herb-Citrus Vinaigrette
A flavorful, lite, and healthy dinner salad, in just 10 minutes!!!
A 10 minute hearty dinner salad packed with proteins, vitamins, anti-oxidants, and a flavorful herb-citrus dressing! Wherever I'm time-pressed, this superfast and filling salad is my easy fix, for a lite and healthy summer dinner or even a lunch!
Past few weeks, my schedule has kept me very busy..... feels like time just flying!! Today, while sharing this post, I realized, we are already 6 months into year 2015 and it feels like New Year Eve was just yesterday!! Isn't it? Am I the only one feeling this or you can relate too?
Whenever I have a busy or uptight schedule, I love keeping some hearty and easy food options to serve for dinner or lunch! Like when Vishal is too busy in office and has too late evening or too-early morning office-hours, Or when blog is keeping me extra-busy, my quick and healthy salads always keep me dinner-worry-free!
I'm sure, I shared with you before that my family is not vegetarian. However, even though we are not vegetarians, there are many days in week when don't eat or cook meat/chicken due to religious reasons. Luckily, vegetarian dinners or lunch are even easier to ready in tight-schedule!
I always make sure that my 10-minute dinners have good serving of protein and are low in fat to keep our health on track! And chickpeas are one of my favorite legume which does this job very efficiently!
It is vegetarian, packed-with-lean-protein, healthy, and a blank canvas to pair any flavor you like it with!
Good part for me, Vishal likes chickpeas as much as I do. So, often my hearty, vegetarian, quick dinner salads have a good serving of vegetarian chickpea protein.
Today, I paired chickpeas salad with a very lite and delicious herb-citrus dressing. For clean Mediterranean flavors, I have used fresh oregano and mint herbs. Some natural sweetness of fresh orange juice gives this dressing savory notes. If you prefer very sharp, traditional Mediterranean tart taste in your salads, feel free to add a tablespoon of red wine vinegar. However, I did not feel the need of it.
As you can see, since I was time-pressed, I have not done a very-good-job taking pictures. :(
For my love of chickpeas, many variations of this salad often appear in my weekday menu, sometimes for lunch and sometimes for lite summer dinner. I'm thinking to take few clicks whenever I make this salad next. For now, I hope these pictures are delicious enough to make you crave some "Mediterranean Chickpeas Salad", today!! :)
Now, a few words about "health benefits" of this Clean and Lite Dinner Salad!!
1. This Chickpeas Salad is VEGAN. With delicious brine-y taste of water-packed olives, I did not feel the need of Feta Cheese in this salad.
2. It is also GLUTEN FREE. Chickpeas and most legumes are naturally gluten free and good source of slow-carbs. So, it is GOOD for you!!!
3. Low Calories - Salad has less calories per serving. Stay with me, I will update this recipe with exact Calorie Count, later today.
4. This mighty salad is packed with vegetable proteins, anti-oxidants, vitamin-c, good fats and ton of flavor!!! Do you really want me to sell this any more?! ;-)
5. Okay, last but not the least, if you are not in mood to eat JUST salad for dinner. Feel free to serve this vegan salad as side with grilled chicken or fish.
I'm sure you will notice, this salad has no leafy greens. You can add some if prefer. However, I have kept it leaf-free for few reasons:
1. There is already good serving of crunchy vegetables in this salad: bell pepper, red onion, cucumber, and even tomatoes.
2. No leafy greens make it perfect - pack-for-lunch or a picnic salad. You can even layer this salad in single-serve jars and it will travel great with you! How good does that sound?
I hope you are enjoying your day!
Cheers to healthy eating!! -Savita
Few of my favorite quick and hearty Vegetarian Dinners ever!
Mediterranean Chickpeas Salad with Herb-Citrus Vinaigrette
(5 reviews)
Ingredients
Herb-Citrus VinaigretteDirections
- 1. To make dressing, in a wide salad bowl, add juice and zest of orange, zest and juice of lemon, with olive oil and fine minced oregano. Whisk with hand-whisk to emulsify the oil and citrus. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
- 2. Drain chickpeas and add to salad bowl with dressing. Also add chopped onion. Mix then set aside to let chickpeas and onion marinate in dressing while you cut rest of the veggies.
- 3. Once all veggies are sliced, add into salad bowl and toss well to combine. Also add olives and fresh mint. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Savita's Notes:
Dressing in this salad is very lite and uses very less oil per serving. However, dressing recipe doubles easily. If you want, you can also double batch.
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25 Responses
Phoebe
I make this a lot. The dressing is so refreshing and delicious. The only thing I do differently is double the dressing recipe.Savita
Thanks for letting me know.Phoebe
I love this recipe! I make it frequently. The dressing is so refreshing. Its great to have in the fridge as a healthy snack.Savita
Thanks for letting me know. It is indeed a healthy snack.Deeksha
Looking so yummy. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.Chief TB
We love love love this healthy salad. I didn’t have olives so I used some capers and it was delish!!!!Stephanie
I love this salad so much. I am a single parent with two toddlers always keeping my busy. I prepare a big batch of this salad and eat several times a week. Thanks.Savita
Stephanie. I'm glad you enjoy this salad. Thanks for sharing feedback.Shea
Good salad but I don’t think it can be prepared in 10 minutes if chopping all the veggies. Double the prep time for sure.Savita
Shea, you can also use chopper to dice veggies or slice using slicer.Katherine
Hi Savita, Your Mediterranean Chickpea Salad is just amazing. I would love to feature this in our website, Greenthickies. Would it be okay if I used one of your images here for it? I will not be posting the actual recipe, but only one image, title, a small quote and link back here. Will that be all right? Thanks a lot :) Katherine, GreenthickiesTanisha
Do the chickpeas need to be cooked ?Savita
yes, chickpeas are cooked.Gayle @ Pumpkin 'N Spice
Oh I love that this salad only takes 10 minutes to make, Savita! And it looks so gorgeous. I love the fresh flavors in here! So perfect for the summer.Savita
thanks, Gayle!Oriana @ Mommyhood's Diary
This salad looks so summery and fresh. I also love easy dinner, especially during busy days. Love it!!Savita
thanks, Oriana! I agree, I always look for easy and healthy foods for busy days!Manali
I clearly need to make more salads after all the treats I have had in the last months. Time to get back on track and this salad sounds like the perfect way to start! Love it!Savita
thanks! I hope you have great time eating more salads, my friend!Annie @ The Garlic Diaries
This looks so so so yummy and fresh! I love the flavors here, and I love your addition of pomegranate!Savita
Annie, thanks my friend! I'm glad you like it.Gauri
I absolutely can relate to you, time is just flying this year!!! The salad looks amazing... such power packed :)Savita
thanks, Gauri! I'm glad you like it, my friend :)Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy
I actually had something very similar for lunch today, but I love that you put pomegranate in yours. I am going to try that next time.Savita
thanks, Dannii! Pom seeds make this salad more special for me.