Apple Chickpea Salad
Sweet and sour, crispy apple and earthy chickpeas salad with an amazing honey-mustard dressing.
Every bite of this salad has something to offer - sweet apples, earthy chickpeas, crunchy celery, and mouthwatering sweet and sour honey-mustard dressing.
This salad rocks the salad bowl for one reason: chickpeas can absorb any flavor you add to them. Specially, sweet and sour pairs exceptionally well with their earthy flavor notes.
Chickpea is one of my favorite legume. So I'm always thinking to invent new delicious ways to eat'em. We have one chickpea curry in our menu every-week. If I have soaked some extra, the other half is almost always a salad unless I'm making extra curry to freeze for later. (*Recipe calls for cooked chickpeas but I have also added method for cooking chickpeas, from scratch, in notes.)
So last week when I made Chickpea Cauliflower Curry.. I saved a batch to make this salad.
Actually, I won't lie to you but I was craving something sweet and sour a.k.a. (chat-pata in hindi). :) In India, we eat a lot of chickpea dishes which have sweet and sour flavor combination. Mostly, sugar is used for sweet and tamarind for sour. For this recipe, I captured the same sweet and sour flavors with sharp tang of mustard and sweetness of honey.
You can say it showcase a glimpse of kind of food I grew up eating and my never-ending love for salads. Growing up, I have vivid memories of eating a bowl of veggies + fruits, for lunch, all summer long. And a glass of salted yogurt lassi on the side. Even today, a bowl of fresh veggies with some sweet fruit makes my day. I literally crave for salads. (does anyone crave salads? Or it is just me going crazy! Haha)
Now, adding hearty legumes or grains such as chickpeas to a salad make'em filling yet keeps salad healthy. (This is my salad-love speaking). The addition of fruit adds natural sweetness and also sneaks-in a daily serving of fruit.
It's funny, for this salad, I added an apple for 3 cups of chickpeas but after I ate a bowlful… I added another apple. The crispy texture of apple was going so well with earthy chickpeas that I wanted some more. Hence, I updated the recipe to use 2 apples even though pictures were taken with one. I mean to say, don't skimp on apple, please.
What should you try this salad? No, no not because I was craving sweet and sour today! ;)
There are many reasons which will bring this salad to your dinner/lunch table tomorrow:
1) Travels Well: This salad gets better as it sits in spices, mustard and honey. So go ahead, make it a night before and it's flavor will amaze you.
2) Perfect crowd pleaser: Apple and Chickpea salad is filling and goes great with weekend bbq or potluck parties since it travels well and tastes good when served at room temperature.
3) Filling yet gluten free: You will be surprised to hear that this is a clean and light salad: is gluten free, vegetarian, low-oil, and low-carb too. Sweet component is naturally sweet honey but can be also replaced with maple or agave syrup.
Looking the pictures again, I'm thinking to include this scrumptious chickpea salad in coming week's menu again. I hope you too will get chance to try it soon.
Wish you all a wonderful weekend. -Savita x
Are you a chickpea fan? Here are few of my latest chickpea recipes:
Apple Chickpea Salad
(1 review)
Ingredients
Honey Mustard DressingDirections
- 1. Honey Mustard Dressing - For dressing combine all dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk until emulsified. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Set aside.
- 2. Apple Chickpea Salad - In a large salad bowl, add drained chickpeas, diced apple. celery, cucumber, herbs, and red onion.
- 3. Pour in dressing and toss well to mix everything. Add silvered almonds and serve. Salad tastes better when refrigerated 30 minutes. Best when kept overnight.
Savita's Notes:
*Cooking Chickpeas: You can use fresh chickpeas for this salad. To cook, soak chickpeas overnight in clean water. Next day, discard soaking water. Boil with fresh water and salt until chickpeas are tender to your preference.
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6 Responses
Kathryn
It was great! Good to way to use some apples from apple picking! I used red bell pepper instead of cucumber because thats what I had handy. I like that the dressing is nice but subtle, it doesnt overwhelm like store bought honey mustard dressing.Nazish
Hi! Can you please tell me if adding onions is okay? Because as you said this salad tastes best when refrigerated overnight, so won't the onion leave its smell?Savita
Hi Nazish, onion mellow down with vinegar in dressing. That said. We love onion in our home. If it bothers you, mix onion 20-30 minutes before serving. I hope it helps.Wendi
This recipe is a winner. Thank you! I made it twice and it is fantastic! Everyone gives it 5 stars. I skipped the cayenne (because it doesn't agree with me). The 2nd time around I forgot oregano and slivered almonds, but didn't realize it until re-reading the ingredients on your site. So it's also very forgiving if you need to skip an ingredient.Savita
Hi Wendi, I'm glad you enjoyed the salad! I agree, this salad is very forgiving. Like for me, as long as honey-mustard, apples and chickpeas are there.. it tastes delicious! Thanks for sweet words and taking time to share your experience! We really appreciate it!Kim
This is on my list to make soon. I'm trying it with split pea soup recipe from your blog. thank you for so many good recipes. :)