Chickpea salad with tomatoes, carrots and spinach: have you ever tried it in a jar?

Excellent as a strengthening salad or as a protein-rich main dish to take to work. We're talking about chickpea salad.

Too often we relegate salads to a secondary role , as a pure accompaniment to something else. In reality, a good salad can become a perfect main dish for a light lunch or dinner and this chickpea salad will prove it to you. In fact, with a decent protein content it is also perfect for those who follow a vegan diet.

To prepare it you won't even need to turn on the stove, unless you decide to cook the chickpeas yourself. In this case I will give you some advice on how to obtain perfectly boiled legumes . The remaining ingredients will only need to be carefully cut and dressed with a light and tasty vinaigrette . Let's find out together how to prepare this cold dish.

How to prepare cold chickpea salad

1. It goes without saying that this recipe is disarmingly simple and requires no particular skills. However, if you are wondering how to cook chickpeas, I will reveal some tricks.

1. First, let them soak for at least 24 hours. This way they will rehydrate and cooking will be more uniform.
2. Then put them in a pan and cover them with double the water. Also add a piece of kombu seaweed and a drizzle of oil.
3. Cook them for 2 hours on medium heat (if you use a pressure cooker one hour will be enough). Then, once cooked, add coarse salt. Your chickpeas are ready to be used.
4. To prepare the salad, cut the carrot into julienne strips (alternatively use a grater with large holes).
5. Divide the cherry tomatoes in half and slice the purple cabbage . Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, placing the spinach on the bottom and leaving the others separated and distributed on the surface.
6. Season the chickpea salad with a vinaigrette obtained by emulsifying the oil, vinegar, mustard and a pinch of salt.

Have you ever tried chickpea salad in a jar ? In addition to being beautiful to look at, you can also add all the ingredients, season and then… shake! A different idea than usual and really fun !

Tasty variations of light chickpea salad

This quick salad lends itself to different variations thanks to the possibility of being seasoned with different ingredients.

Chickpea salad with rocket and cherry tomatoes

• 250 g of pre-cooked chickpeas
• extra virgin olive oil to taste
• 100 g of rocket
• Salt to taste
• 10 cherry tomatoes

1. Pour the pre-cooked chickpeas into a bowl, taking care to eliminate their liquid.
2. Wash the rocket, cut it into small pieces and place it in the bowl.
3. Take the cherry tomatoes, cut them into 4 parts and add them to the rocket and chickpeas.
4. Add salt, oil and mix: your chickpea salad is ready!

Chickpea and tuna salad

• 250 g of pre-cooked chickpeas
• 1 onion
• Salt to taste
• extra virgin olive oil to taste
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 50 g of salad
• 100 g tuna (fresh or canned)

1. Start by preparing the tuna. Cut the fresh tuna into cubes, put it in a pan with oil and brown it for about ten minutes . If using canned tuna, skip this step and remove only its oil.
2. Wash the salad and cut it into small pieces. After that, finely cut an onion and cherry tomatoes into 4 parts after having washed them carefully.
3. Combine all the ingredients together with the chickpeas in a bowl, season with salt and oil and serve: here is the best delicious recipe with chickpeas!

storage

Store the summer chickpea salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

If you are looking for other quick and easy recipes, here are all our detox salads !