Chickpeas, or garbanzo beans, are wonderful beans to use in many different recipes. Throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East, chickpeas are used in soups and stews or pureed into bean dips. Growing up, I ate them sweet as part of certain Filipino desserts. I also like to incorporate chickpeas into cold salads with fresh chopped greens. This chickpea kale salad is a healthy salad, high in protein and super refreshing and flavorful, you’ll want to eat it everyday!
Any kind of chopped green would work like arugula or spinach, but I always have some kale at home, one of the healthiest greens out there. Adding lemon juice and garlic give this salad a nice kick. An easy salad that can be prepared ahead of time, perfect to eat for lunch with a slice of crusty bread.
* Update: After a reader request, I’m adding in the nutritional information for this recipe here
Click for recipe…
Prepare and chop your ingredients.
Mix all ingredients together thoroughly.
Store covered in fridge. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Chickpea Kale Salad recipe
- 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 3-4 leaves kale, chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1 lemon, juiced
- salt and pepper, to taste
- pecorino romano or parmesan cheese, grated to taste
In a bowl, combine chickpeas, kale, parsley, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice. Add salt, pepper and grated cheese to taste. Toss all ingredients together and mix well. Cover bowl and refrigerate. Best served at room temperature or chilled. Top with more grated cheese for presentation.
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 2-4 servings
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Perfect lunch idea for the Healthy New Year I’m working on!
Awesome, good luck with your resolution!
I just had it again, it’s even better on day two.
Chickpeas and kale–two of my favorites! Looks like a great workday lunch 🙂
Thanks for stopping by. Totally agree, great to bring to work, you can make it the night before and it’ll taste great the next day.
this looks amazing! i’ve had a bit of a poke around your blog and i’m going to subscribe. thanks! please stop in some time, I always like meeting fellow ‘foodies’
Megs
Thanks Megan! I’ll stop by for sure
This chickpea recipe looks really good.
I am always looking for new things to do with chickpeas. Love the kale idea.
Dan
Thank you, Dan! Chickpeas are wonderful to use in salads. Spinach would also taste delicious.
The best salad I can remember ever having. I also added some cilantro. I massaged the chopped kale with the lemon juice with my hands, before adding the rest of the ingredients. I doubled the recipe, so I could use my whole Bunch of Kale that had 8 stems.
Thanks so much Judy!
Love the idea of adding cilantro, need to try that next time. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Chickpeas and kale are one of my favorite combos! This dish looks absolutely delicious.
I agree, it’s a wonderful combination. Thanks for stopping by Kate!
Consider it done! Yum!
I made this two nights ago…so simple and deliscious. The lemon gives it that extra kick, makes you want to eat the whole thing…YUM. Thank you.
Yes, the lemon gives this salad a wonderful fresh flavor…and the best part is that it’s so simple to make 🙂 Thank you for the comment, Grettel!
Thanks for this recipe. I made it tonight for dinner. Replaced the cheese with feta and increased the amount of kale (I happened to use particularly large leaves). Added a little cumin to the salad. So delicious/easy and best of all, it will only get better over the next couple days.
Awesome 🙂 Thanks for the comment. Love the idea of adding feta cheese, will try that next time.
I just made this and it’s wonderful! Super healthy and super tasty; perfection! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thanks for commenting Jessica! So happy you liked it 🙂
Made this last night. SO GOOD and fresh tasting. Can’t stop eating. Easy to make and simple ingredients. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks so much Katie! Glad you enjoyed it, it’s also one of my favorites.
I made this last night and it was so yummy!! I only used 1/2 a lemon. I personally wouldn’t like more than that. I used a little more kale and some mixed greens so it was a little more leafy too. I have left-overs and can’t wait to get home and eat! Thank you for a great recipe that I will now make all the time.
That’s awesome, thanks for the feedback! Next time I also want to add other greens, glad you liked it.
would LOVE to sign up for newsletter…Great recipes!!!!!
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Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Oh, this looks so good! I’m definitely going to try it myself.
OMG so I found this on Pinterest lat week and knew I’d love it, just didn’t know how much! Well last night I had some extra time as dinner was cooking and whipped this up to make 2 take to work lunches… well of course I had to taste it after I made it and it was love at first taste! I could have ate the entire bowl right then! But now I’m sitting at my desk at work eating it right now and WOW is it delish! 🙂 Thanks for an easy, quick, yummy, healthy lunch!
Wow, thank you so much for commenting, Autumn!! I’m so happy you enjoyed it before…and enjoying it now 🙂 I love this salad. It’s super easy, healthy and still tastes great the next day or two. It’s perfect to double or triple the recipe and serve during a summer picnic or BBQ. Have a great day!
UPDATE: I made your chickpea salad this week and it was great. I didn’t use kale, though, because I’m not a huge fan. Nevertheless, the salad was great and I didn’t know the chickpeas go so well with lemon!
That’s awesome, Julia! Glad you liked the dish. Maybe next time you can use another green like spinach or arugula in place of the kale.
I make a version of this w/o the kale but I think I’ll stick w/ your recipe from here on out! Delicious! I couldn’t stop eating it! Managed to save enough to serve over a bed of kale for lunch tomorrow. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe! I shared it on Pinterest too!
That’s awesome, Genelle! Serving it on a bed of kale sounds great. And thanks for the Pinterest love 🙂
Delicious, and so fresh tasting! Love the parmesan mixed in. Shared this recipe with some of my friends already.
Thanks, Traci. Glad you enjoyed this recipe.
I tried it this weekend and it was DELICIOUS!!! I recommended it to my sister and she made it up as well and enjoyed it.
That’s awesome, Karen! Glad you and your sister liked the dish 🙂
Made this and LOVED it except the raw garlic was VERY hot and biting to the tongue!! Will try it again using roasted garlic.
Hi Diane – So happy you loved the salad! I’m sorry the raw garlic was too hot for you! Let me know how the roasted garlic is next time you make this 🙂
I love basic healthy recipes like this!
I love chickpea in any form. Since we are strict vegetarians chickpeas, quinoa etc are the very available form of protein. Clicks are also gorgeous!
Shobha
Thanks so much, Shobha! We love chickpeas in anything as well 🙂
How many cans of chickpeas do you think I need to serve about 10-12 people? I got 4 and was going to up the kale. Do you think that would be good?
Sure, if you have other food served I think 4 cans plus more kale should work!
Ok great thanks!
Great salad! The lemon and garlic make it. A dash of red pepper flakes is a nice touch too. *Also, fresh soaked and cooked beans are far superior! I rarely used canned anymore; just put them on to soak when I go to bed. Then cook them as soon as I wake up, and am near the kitchen doing the morning routine anyway. By the time I leave for work they are done and ready for recipes when I get home in the afternoon. 😉
Hi Suzi – My husband likes to add red pepper flakes as well, they add a nice kick! Thanks for the helpful tips 🙂
Hi, I just found this recipe on Pinterest, and made it right away! I’ve never eaten chickpeas or kale like this (only in hummus or smoothies), but it looked and sounded so delicious and healthy, I had to give it a shot. It is fabulous!! I had to stop myself from eating the whole batch of it for lunch! 🙂 The only change I made was to saute the garlic in the olive oil before adding. That’s what I do for my hummus as well, so you don’t have the harsh garlic taste. Thank you for this recipe! I’m off to check out more of your recipes!
Wow that’s great, so happy you loved this recipe, Michelle! I’ll have to try cooking the garlic as well. Thanks so much for your comment and hope to hear from you again! 🙂
Hello,
I came across this recipe on Pinterest and had to try it 😀 Love Kale and chickpea… delicious recipe. However I did make some changes and shared it on my blog and linked to here for the original recipe 😀
http://lifescribblesovercoffee.wordpress.com/2014/06/04/kale-chickpea-salad/
Thank you for sharing!
How long do you think this would last in the fridge? I am thinking of making a batch and using it for lunches for the week.