Chickpea Avocado Salad

Chickpea Avocado Salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta in fresh, lemony dressing is a quick and easy Mediterranean chickpea salad in minutes! This cold salad makes a perfect addition to summertime meals, BBQs, and potlucks.

Ingredients Needed

Easy. Simple. Delicious. These are just a few of the words that come to mind when I think of this mouthwatering garbanzo bean avocado salad that not only tastes amazing, but is good for you.

Salad: 

• Canned garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• Avocados
• Cucumber
• Grape tomatoes
• Red onion – Scallions or chives may also be used
• Fresh parsley – A variety of fresh herbs pairs sublimely with the ingredients, such as basil, oregano, mint, or chives.
• Crumbled feta – Omit cheese for a vegan, dairy free, and gluten free salad. Alternatively use other cheeses, such as goat cheese or fresh mozzarella.

Dressing: 

• olive oil
• lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• garlic
• dijon mustard
• salt and pepper

How To Make Easy Chickpea Avocado Feta Salad

Chickpea avocado feta salad hits all of the requirements to make a summer time meal dream come true. It requires minimal prep, can be made ahead of time, and is the perfect meal for a family picnic or a backyard barbecue.

1. In a large bowl, add your salad ingredients – chickpeas, avocados, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, feta, and parsley.
2. Next, in a small jar, add all of the dressing ingredients – olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, dijon, salt and pepper. Screw the lid tightly on your jar and shake vigorously until all of the dressing ingredients are well combined. Alternatively, if you don’t have a jar handy, add all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until combined.
3. Finally, pour your dressing over the chickpea salad ingredients and stir gently to combine.

Can I Use Roasted Chickpeas?

Although roasting the chickpeas adds an extra step, it is still quite easy and simple to do! Roasted chickpeas adds a little crunch and enhances the flavor before adding them to the chickpea and avocado salad recipe.

Follow these easy steps and have flavorful roasted chickpeas in no time:

1. First, drain and rinse the chickpeas.
2. Next, use paper towels to dry the chickpeas as well as possible.
3. Place the dried chickpeas on a baking sheet and lightly coat with extra virgin olive oil, or another oil of choice. Be sure to not add too much oil. If you add too much, the chickpeas will never reach the desired crispy texture.
4. You can add spices to the chickpeas if you desire. Some suggestions are: salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, rosemary, or curry powder.
5. Next, set the oven to 425 degrees F and roast for 25-30 minutes, shaking the pan halfway thru.
6. Remove and allow the chickpeas to cool completely before adding them to your chickpea avocado feta salad.

Is this recipe vegan?

Garbanzo bean avocado salad isn’t vegan because of the feta cheese, but can very easily be made into a dairy free and vegan salad.

Because the salad doesn’t include any animal by-product other than cheese, simply remove the feta, or use a dairy-free cheese substitute such as Daiya, Tofutti or Violife and – Voila! You have a delicious gluten free, vegan chickpea and avocado salad.

What Else Can Be Added?

They say variety is the spice of life and that’s definitely true with the foods we eat. One of the great things about garbanzo bean salad is ingredients can easily be added and removed to change the flavor.

Have a craving for tuna salad? Maybe you want a mediterranean chickpea salad? No problem. Consider adding any of these tasty items to your salad for a little variety:

• Tuna
• Cooked quinoa
• Chopped hard boiled eggs
• Kalamata olives
• Pepperoncini peppers
• Chicken, steak, or any meat of choice
• Red, yellow and orange peppers
• Panzanella – To make Panzanella, cut Italian bread (or bread of choice) into 1-inch cubes and arrange on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and heat in oven for 20-25 minutes at 275 degrees F. Remove from oven and allow to cool and combine with rest of salad ingredients.

How to Serve Garbanzo Bean Salad

Not only can you make this salad many different ways, you can also serve up your avocado chickpea salad many different ways, too! Try it on top of big, juicy slices of tomato fresh from the garden, or on your favorite toasted bread.

Here are some other yummy possibilities for serving your simple, yet amazing, chickpea avocado salad:

• On top of a bed of lettuce
• As a dip with crackers
• On toasted cocktail bread
• Inside of a hollowed out pepper
• On couscous or pasta
• With cornbread
• Stuffed in pita bread or on a sandwich – leave the salad as is or use a potato masher for Smashed Chickpea Salad

How Long Will this Salad Keep? 

Avocado chickpea salad will remain edible and tasty for up to 2-3 days when stored properly in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

However, the avocados will start to discolor. Because the avocados do brown, if you are planning to make your chickpea salad ahead of time, hold off on adding the avocados until right before serving.

You can also make your dressing up to 3 days ahead of time. After making your dressing, store in an airtight container in the fridge until you are ready to use on your salad.

Expert Tips

• Leave tomatoes whole instead of cut so salad doesn’t become overly liquidy.
• If making ahead of time, add the avocados right before serving so they don’t become discolored upon sitting.
• Leave out the feta cheese for a dairy free and vegan version.
• For a smashed chickpea salad to use in sandwiches, combine all the ingredients and then use a potato masher to lightly smash.
• If desired, roast the chickpeas first for a little added crunch.

Did you make this recipe? I love hearing from you! Leave a star rating and comment below the recipe card. It helps others when searching for recipes and I appreciate feedback from our community. You will always hear back from me! -Melissa