An easy little salad for all seasons…packed full of healthy and hearty goodness.
No matter the time of year, I love eating salad, and this particular one is a favorite. Featuring chickpeas, feta, red onion and fresh basil lightly dressed with a flavor-packed vinaigrette, this salad makes a great vegetarian meal by itself, or a tasty accompaniment to another veggie or meat dish. It’s hearty and comforting, and yes…healthy. And it’s so easy to make, what’s not to like about it?
I first tasted this salad years ago at a neighborhood health food restaurant and deli. For many years I’d go in and buy a little carton of this salad for my lunch, all the while thinking that I should just make some myself…but then seemed to never get around to it. Then one day I had a craving for this salad, had all the ingredients on hand and I finally constructed my own version of it which I not only love, but I think it’s even better than the restaurant’s version. I’ll let you be the judge!
But before we move on to the recipe, I need to take a moment to say some heartfelt thank you’s to a few of my fellow blogging friends who have bestowed their most kind words and honors on me lately. I don’t really participate in these awards anymore, but when someone is so kind as to think of me or mention me or my blog, it is such an honor that I feel I must take the time to show my appreciation, and I hope you’ll go and visit these folks and see why I think they are so very special, too.
First up is Chocolate Chip Uru from Go Bake Yourselfāa quite brilliant and talented Aussie teenage (17!) baking wunderkind who epitomizes versatility by juggling school, family life, baking and blogging very successfully. She recently gave me the Versatile Blogger award, and if you’d like to see my answers to this award’s challenges you can check that out in a post from last fall rightĀ here. Thank you again, Uru, for your support and kind words and for all the truly scrumptious and decadent sweet treats you post! And to my readers…if you like sweets or baking at all…you ain’t seen nuthin’ until you go and check out this amazing gal’s site. You won’t be disappointed, in fact, you’ll be salivating all over your keyboard.
Next I need to thank the very creative Sawsan of Chef in Disguise for awarding me both the Versatile Blogger award and the Very Inspiring Blogger award. I just discovered Sawsan’s blog this past spring, and could only think to myself…where has she been all my blogging life? Talk about inspiring, she’s a most talented chefādisguised or otherwiseāand an equally talented photographer who documents the process of making her lovely and delicious dishes in a very approachable and educational way. Hailing from Jordan, the food she makes is not only based on family and traditional middle eastern, Levantine and arabic recipes, but her dishes represent cultures from around the world. I’ve never seen anything on her blog that I wouldn’t want to eat, and that’s the highest praise I can give! Do please go and check her out for yourself.
And lastly, but not the least for sure, is a big thank you to the beautiful Karista from Karista’s Kitchen, who so kindly nominated me for the Beautiful Blogger award. Karista is a professional personal chef and teacher whose every plate of food makes me not only want it, but feel like I can make it, too. In fact I’ve made a few of her recipes and they are always delicious and, well…beautiful! Her colors and flavors are so lively and perfectly balanced, and I can’t tell you how many recipes I have bookmarked to make. She lives on the west coast of the U.S. with her Ranger husband, and shares some of their ranging experiences from time to time as well. She’s also spent some time in my current home territory of Georgia, so she often can relate to some of my own ranging experiences, which is quite fun for me! But don’t just take my word for it, go and see her lovely food and site for yourself.
Applause please, and thanks again to all three of you for your kindness! You can also find these good folks…and me, of course, on Facebook and follow us there!
And now for today’s recipe:
A B C, it’s easy as 1 2 3, it’s simple as Do Re Me…
Chickpea, Feta and Basil Salad
(Makes about 6-8 servings)
2-15 oz. cans of chickpeas, low or no salt, drained and rinsed well
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 cup fresh basil leaves, cut into thin slices (chiffonade)
5 oz. crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 1/2 Tablespoons Tamari
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or more to taste
In a large bowl, combine the chickpeas, red onion and basil, then gently stir in the feta cheese. To make the dressing, in a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, dijon mustard, tamari, lemon juice, salt and pepper, until well blended and emulsified. Pour the dressing over the chickpea, onion, basil and feta mixture and toss gently to coat all of the ingredients. You can serve immediately or place in the fridge for an hour to allow the flavors to blend. This keeps well for several days in the fridge.
bits and breadcrumbs 
Congratulations my friend on so many awards – you are very deserving š
And I appreciate your very sweet shout out!
Loving this salad today, the combo of chickpeas and seems to be a winner!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Hi Uru, and you’re so welcome for the shout out…my pleasure! I hope that all is going well with school for you. š
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haha I was just coming to post on your blog that I have nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award š when I saw this post. Congrats! You are liked by many! I enjoy your recipes and I am super glad I found your blog.
I am making the Summer Squash and Tomato galette this week! Super excited!
Click on the link http://goo.gl/clxov or visit my blog to see the details.
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Ha, ha! I know, that’s the way it goes, and when I was handing out the award it seemed like it happened to me every time. But I thank you so very kindly for thinking of me. I really am trying to bow out of the awards arena to make some room for other new up and coming blogs, but I do so appreciate people thinking of me…and I hope no one becomes offended. I’m so excited you plan to try the galette and while I thought I was already following you, I just remedied that misconception! Can’t wait to see more of your posts. Thanks again, Lilly Sue! š
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No worries, the awards can get to be very time consuming. It seems it is always easier to find the “older” bloggers though. And there are so many great blogs that inspire me but most of them have been around for a while which makes sense! š
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Thanks for understanding…I don’t necessarily mind the time, but feel that after a while both me and my readers have been there and done that and read the answers to the questions. It’s a great way to introduce yourself as a young blog, though, and it helped me “meet” a lot of other great bloggers in my first year. š
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Applause all round!
And a very me recipe, with wonderful favours and goodies
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Thank you very much, Miss Claire! š š š
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I love salads too Betsy and this one sounds perfect, light, flavourful and filling. What’s not to love? A simple grilled fish would be perfect with it.
Congratulations on all your awards, you certainly deserve them, you have such a lovely blog. Hope your having a great week!
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Thank you so much for your very kind compliments, Eva, and I’m glad the salad looks good to you…I think fish would indeed be nice with this! I should also congratulate you as I know you were mentioned when I was on some of these. This is my swan song on the awards, but so nice to have folks thinking of you!
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Meant to ask you when is your trip? I’m still catching up, so need to see your current post…you may have answered that already, or be gone and unplugged!
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Congrats on the awards! Well deserved.
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Thanks so much, Yummy. I need to come over and see what you’ve been up to…I’m still working my way around catching up with folks! š
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What a beautiful salad Betsy. I love the colours of it and it would be full of great textures and flavours as well as being so very good for you. And congrats on all of your awards too; it’s always lovely to be recognised by other bloggers xx
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Hi Charlie, and thank you…I’m glad you like the salad. It is colorful with the red onion. I was just reading Yummy’s post and her lack of enthusiasm for raw onion…which I understand as I used to hate them. The dressing in this salad mellows the onion, fortunately. Hope you’re having a good day!
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Hi! I’m a person of habits and I have just realized that I eat chickpeas with tuna fish 99% of the time. I’d love to try this version.
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Hi Alex, and thanks for visiting and commenting! You know, another blogging friend, Barb of Profiteroles and Ponytails, posted a chickpea salad with tuna that sounded out of this world and I’d planned to make it because I always make this one. I did make roasted chickpeas to put over a greek salad and that was a great variation, too. Need to try them with tuna sometime, though! š
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Congratulations on your awards and I so understand your position. Though you don’t participate, it is nice to know that people think highly of your little corner of the blogosphere. This recipe is really quite simple but it sounds delicious! For me, it’s the salty feta, the acid of the vinegar, and the sweet of the basil. Yum!
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Hi John! Thank you, and yes, it’s hard to be graceful and “opt out” so to speak. š I wanted to recognize the folks who mentioned me for sure. You said it so well and much better than I did in fact (!)…the salty feta, the acid (and the apple) of the vinegar and the sweet basil…a balanced and killer combo!
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A lovely salad and awards – wonderful! Congratulations on the deserved accolades.
š Mandy xo
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Thank you, Mandy, on both counts! Hope you have a great week! š
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Big ocngratulations on the well deserved awards. And two portions of the chick peas to go for us please! Glad to be “back” and looking forward to catching up with your posts over the next week or so š
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Hey Tanya! I’m still catching up from just being away a week, and I didn’t know you were back, but was planning on reading the two posts I missed as soon as I replied to comments. It’s great to see you here again, and glad you like the chickpea salad. Now I must go and see what I’ve missed in terms of the new house! Thanks for you comments, as always, and I missed you. š
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Congratulations on all of your awards! This salad looks delicious, I also love chickpea salads, especially with feta! Will be making lots of these in the warmer months to come š
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Hi Ali, and thanks for your great comments. This salad is a good one for anytime of year. The chickpeas are warming, but the rest of the salad is cooling, so it’s a seasonal win-win in my book! š
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This salad would make for a great vegetarian entree, love it.
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Hi Norma, and you’re so right, this is a great vegetarian entree and that is mostly how we eat it. It’s filling and satisfying.
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Awww… thanks for the sweet words Betsy!! So glad to have found you and your lovely blog. I love the chickpea salad! I really should prepare more chickpea recipes but I never think of it. Well, I’ll start with this one. Looks delish! Thanks again friend! Hugs š
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You’re most welcome, Karista, and most deserving of a shout out, too! I’m glad you like the chickpea salad recipe. I find that I go through phase with chickpeas (and hummus) where I crave them and then it goes away for a while. Not sure what that’s all about! š
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Some well-deserved recognition Betsy. (I really look forward to your blog posts.) My youngest ponytail has become quite a fan of chick peas so I’ll have to make your version of a chick pea salad for her — the only questionable ingredient is the feta, so I may split it into two, as I would LOVE the feta (. . .which makes me think of the Flight of the Conchord’s song written by kids for the sick kids hospital that says “we’ll give them some feta, to make them feel betta” . . .)
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Thank you so much, Barb. I look forward to your posts as well! Hmmm. I have so much to learn about kid’s tastes. I’d think that the ponytails would love feta because it’s creamy and salty…but then maybe that’s why they wouldn’t like it. I didn’t like cheese much at all when I was a kid…but when that changed it changed with a vengeance, much to the dismay of my waistline! š Love the Conchord’s line!
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Congratulatons on your awards, Betsy! I think you’re the perfect choice for all 3 awards… you’re Versatile, Inspiring and Beautiful! Love your chickpea salad.. we’ve been just throwing them into salads with bottled dressing.. yours makes the chickpea the star of the show:)
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Oh shucks, Barb, I’m blushing…you are too kind, and thank you for such lovely words and compliments. š This salad is pretty much as easy as tossing one with bottled dressing, but better than most bottled dressing of course, so I hope you’ll give it a try!
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Congratulations on your wonderful awards..very well deserves Betsy
Love the chickpea salad. I think the feta is a wonderful addition here
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Thank you for awarding me, Sawsan! š The feta goes so well with the chickpeas. I’d made a salad a while back that was Greek inspired with Charles’ roasted chickpeas and that had feta as well, and I always think of feta with hummus, so in my mind they are peas in a pod!
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Sorry pushed the post button too soon, thank you kindly for your sweet words about me and my blog. I deeply appreciate them
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You’re most welcome and they are well deserved! š
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Congratulations on all of your well deserved awards. I love chick peas so packed full of protein and vitamins it is really a nice hearty dish even though it is a salad.
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Thank you, BAM. I agree, chickpeas are one of those perfect foods in many ways. I used to not care for them, but have come to love them in almost any form!
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Congrats Betsy!! So well deserved! I love chickpea salads and always looking for different variations as I almost always have a bowl of it prepared for the week!!
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Thank you so much, Linda! This version of a chickpea salad does keep well, so it would be a good option for making some and having some for the week…that’s what I do, in fact! š
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Really hard to go wrong with the combination of chickpeas, feta and basil, yet it seems you enhanced all the basic flavors with your recipe. Love it!
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Thanks, Jed! True, these are flavors made for each other.
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What a healthy and unique (to me) salad. I have not tried using chickpeas yet since my family is so picky but I do think this would make a lovely lunch for me to take to work. BTW…The Sound of Music is my all-time favorite movie.
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Hi Geni, I like the Sound of Music a lot, too, and if it’s on during the holidays, I have to watch it no matter how many times I’ve seen it before! š Glad you like the sound of this salad and thanks for your comment. It’s a good one, and chickpeas are so versatile…I love them.
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Morning darling, i just unfollowed you and refollowed you to try and get you back on my readers list. WP wiped me out!! Have a fab day! chickpeas and feta, YUM! this is probably one of my favourite salads. c
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Thanks, Celi, and glad to have you back. š Don’t understand why WP just does that sometimes…seems like every few months. Have a good night!
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I haven’t had chickpeas in such a long time, so this is a welcome dish for me. And Congrats on all of your awards :). You definitely deserve them š
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Hi Kay, and thank you so much for your kind words. Chickpeas are so good and good for you, and I forget about them too, from time to time. This recipe is so easy… you can whip it up in about 15 minutes! š
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Yum! Gotta love foods that’re healthy and delicious! š
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Indeed you do, Fati! Those are the foods I love best…then I don’t have to feel to guilty about eating them. However that still doesn’t keep me from eating things that are bad for me, too! š
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Is this from Rainbow Grocery? I just bought this salad and loved it and went to Google to find a similar recipe. Thanks so much for posting!
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Hi Emma, yes Rainbow is the neighborhood restaurant I mentioned in the post and it’s their salad I reconstructed here. I don’t think that my proportions or ingredients are exactly the same, but as I said it’s a close approximation, and one I like better…although I still do buy a little tub of their salad from time to time when I’m too lazy to make my own! š Here’s another recipe I fashioned after some muffins they quit making about 15-20 years ago that I loved, if you are interested. Thanks for your comment! https://bitsandbreadcrumbs.com/2013/03/05/quick-loaf-cranberry-apple-walnut-bread/
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