Bonus Recipe: Chickpea Salad
A quick recipe to perk up your lunch
Sometimes I think that the best part of working from home is that I don’t have to pack a lunch. Mostly, I eat leftovers from last night’s dinner or I throw together a random salad with bits and bobs from the fridge.
Today, however, there weren’t any dinner leftovers to scavenge and I didn’t feel like lettuce. I started mixing together one of my favorite bean salads instead, when suddenly one of those cute little idea lightbulbs clicked on above my head.
I should share it with you!
This simple salad is made with canned garbanzo beans, grated carrot and chopped celery (optional). A dollop of mayo, a squeeze of lemon and a scattering of fresh herbs give it creamy, lemony flavor. I often add red onion or shallot, and sometimes a squeeze of mustard or hot sauce.
It’s a perfect vegetarian lunch, both light and satisfying, with a surprising amount of texture and flavor. You can make a small batch, or double it for several lunches during the week.
Different variations of this chickpea salad have been floating around the internet for years. The recipe made its debut as a vegan alternative to tuna sandwiches and it actually is pretty tasty between two slices of good bread. You can also scoop up the chickpeas with crackers or pita chips, or just eat it straight out of a bowl.
This salad is also an easy side dish for dinner, especially with chicken or fish. It’s also really good served next to grilled sausage.
Chickpea Salad
Servings: 2 to 4 (it’s easy to double)
Cooking Method: No cooking, just mixing and chopping
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Questions? If you have any questions about this recipe, just ask in the comments!
A printable pdf of the recipe can be found at the bottom of the page.
Ingredients
1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1 large carrot, grated
2 stalks of celery, finely diced
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot or red onion
1/4 cup or so freshly chopped herbs (like parsley or dill)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Between 2 tablespoons and 1/4 cup mayo
Salt and pepper
Optional additions: Mustard, hot sauce, chopped pickle
Instructions
Pour the chickpeas into a bowl. Use a fork to mash about half of the chickpeas, so that the salad has more texture (leave some of the chickpeas whole).
Mix in the carrot, celery, shallot/onion, lemon juice, herbs and 2 tablespoons of mayo. Taste, and then add more mayonnaise if you want. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
The celery and onion can be optional, and so can the fresh herbs if you don’t have any on hand.
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