I’m gonna get downgraded to a Level 6 Vegan for this, but I’m not much of a salad person. I have approximately 8 salad recipes on this entire website and I use that term pretty loosely; only about 1.5 out of 8 of the salad recipes are even made out of something leafy. Today we’re incrementing that number to 9 with another non-leafy salad: this Mediterranean chickpea salad with almond feta. (P.S. looking through the salad archive was a nice compact trip down memory lane w.r.t. the improvements in my food photography over the years…)
We experienced a record-nearing streak of 15 consecutive days of rain in early May, and now that the world is no longer permanently damp, I’ve been spending most of my spare time running (I have an ultramarathon coming up in July), biking, and playing soccer or tennis. Consequently, it feels like there’s not enough water in the world to keep me hydrated and my cravings lean heavily toward foods that are cold and comprised of vegetables and other things with natural water content.
I actually last made this Mediterranean chickpea salad a few weeks ago, pairing it with my baked almond feta and planning to share them both in quick succession; thanks to life getting in the way a delay happened there. But looking at the pictures again I’m reminded of how very delicious, satisfying, and refreshing this dish is, and planning to make another batch soon.
Creamy chickpeas, fresh herbs, sundried tomatoes, plump olives, and of course, salty and tangy almond feta, are the main stars of this dish. I added artichoke hearts as well; now that the summer produce is coming to life a little more, I think some other nice additions could be fresh red bell pepper, cucumber, and/or tomato. This Mediterranean chickpea salad is great for mixing and matching because all of the flavors just click together without much effort. If you don’t want to go to the effort, you can even skip the almond feta. I won’t tell!
June and July may be relatively quiet here on the blog, because I’m going to be moving later this month; and the kitchen at my new place doesn’t actually have appliances yet… but in addition to this Mediterranean chickpea salad I have one more delicious, fresh summer ‘salad’ recipe that is ready to be shared, and I’m trying to cram in a little bit more recipe development before things get crazy in a couple of weeks. So we’ll see how it goes! Happy almost-summer!
Mediterranean Chickpea Salad with Almond Feta
Ingredients
For the Mediterranean chickpea salad:
- 2 tbsp minced red onion soaked in cold water for 5 minutes and then drained
- 3 oz chopped olives
- 3 tbsp chopped sundried tomatoes (rehydrated if needed)
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley loosely packed
- 1 and 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (16 oz.)
- 8 oz chopped artichoke hearts
- 1 cup baked almond feta (1/2 of the recipe)
For the dressing:
- 3 tbsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 tbsp prepared mustard
- 2 tbsp drained liquid leftover from making the almond feta (link above); or 1 tbsp plain/unsweetened nondairy yogurt; or 1 tbsp additional olive oil
- 1 pinch dried oregano
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Whisk together all of the ingredients for the dressing, and season to taste.
- Optional: if you'd like to serve this Mediterranean chickpea salad as a sandwich filling, I recommend gently smashing and roughly chopping the chickpeas before proceeding to the next step.
- In a mixing bowl, toss together the dressing with all of the other ingredients except for the almond feta.
- Roughly chop or crumble the almond feta and fold it in. Serve at room temperature or cold. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
Nutrition
I'm Shannon, the writer and photographer of Yup, it's Vegan! I'm a morning person based in Baltimore, USA. My mission is to create healthy plant-based recipes that anyone would enjoy, using seasonal produce with inspiration from global flavors.
Piryanka says
I used Kite Hill ricotta because I didn’t have time for the feta. This salad was a hit!