Savory and Simple Chickpea Salad Recipe

This simple chickpea salad recipe, with chopped cucumbers, carrots and a simple apple cider vinaigrette dressing, is a quick and nutritious lunchtime meal idea. Make a large batch on the weekend to enjoy all throughout the week.

I often find it difficult to get the protein I need in my diet without eating meat. “Meat and potatoes” have been the base of our meals all my life. However, lately I’ve been trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into my weekly diet.

This recipe with chopped cucumbers carrots and chickpeas is simple to make and refrigerate’s well for 3-4 days. So I make a batch on the weekend and have quick lunches for the rest of the week! Since it doesn’t need to be constantly refrigerated, it makes a great side dish to bring to a potluck, picnic or summer barbecue.

Although you can buy canned chickpeas and simply rinse them prior to making the salad, I prefer to buy a big bag of dried chickpeas and cook them. It’s cheaper and I can control the amount of sodium that is in the dish (thank you high blood pressure).

If you are using dried chickpeas, be sure to soak them overnight to shorten the cooking time. Just before cooking, rinse them. Cook on low heat until they are tender, about 1-1.5 hours.

While any vinaigrette dressing would be delicious with this salad, our favorite to use is our own homemade apple cider vinegar. This salad makes a great side dish for our grilled chicken shish kebabs or these delicious turkey cheddar lunch roll ups.

I like to make a larger batch of this chickpea salad on the weekend and then pack it for my lunches throughout the week. A couple of the kids also really like the chickpeas and enjoy this for their lunches.

Do you have a favorite way to cook with chickpeas?

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