Raw Chopped Veggie Salad With Chickpeas
As the temperatures rise, I tend to cook lighter dishes, and we incorporate a lot more salads into our weekly menus. Although I love to cook, and both my husband and I love to eat, I try my best to keep our meals healthy as much as possible. I avoid fried foods, red meat, processed foods and try and incorporate as many plant-based dishes into our weekly meal plan as possible.
For our lunches, I love preparing hearty vegetable and grain soups or big crunchy salads. I say it all the time, but my favorite salads have lots of texture, color, are full of flavor but must be healthy for you as well. This salad has all that and much more!
What is great about this salad is that you can play around with the ingredients depending on what you have on hand, what’s seasonal, or what ingredients you prefer.
As well as the vegetables I used in the photos, other options would be spring peas, baby fava beans, sweet corn, chopped cauliflower, or broccoli florets. Just try to vary the colors of the vegetables you choose to keep it as visually appealing as possible. I included some chopped Kalamata olives and capers in this salad to add a briny piquancy and chickpeas for added protein.
Still, you could use whatever beans you prefer or eliminate them altogether. I dressed this salad in a vinaigrette made with white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a touch of Dijon mustard and completed the salad with some crumbled Feta cheese.
You could use crumbled goat cheese in place of the Feta and even add some lightly toasted chopped walnuts or almonds if you like. I tossed in some chopped fresh parsley leaves and peppery arugula, but fresh basil or mint would work well in this salad as well.
This is a great salad to take along to a picnic or barbecue and holds up well in the refrigerator for a couple of days, although it may not be as quite as crunchy as it was when you first made it. The addition of chickpeas makes this a very satisfying salad that could easily become the main course during summer’s scorching days.
The key to making a chopped salad such as this one is to carefully chop the vegetables into a small uniform dice and use the same amount of each vegetable. This makes a big bowl of salad that will feed 8 to 10 people, but you can easily reduce the size, just remember to use the same amounts of each ingredient.
Buon Appetito!
Deborah Mele
Raw Chopped Veggie Salad With Chickpeas
A combo of diced raw veggies are combined in this crunchy summer salad.
Ingredients
- 3/4 Cup Finely Chopped Onion
- 3/4 Cup Finely Chopped Sweet Red Pepper
- 3/4 Cup Finely Chopped Carrot
- 3/4 Cup Finely Chopped Celery
- 3/4 Cup Finely Chopped Zucchini
- 1 (14 Ounce) Can Chickpea
- 3/4 Cup Finely Chopped Fennel Bulb
- 3/4 Cup Finely Chopped Summer Squash
- 1/2 Cup Roughly Torn Parsley Leaves
- 1 Cup Roughly Chopped Arugula
- 3/4 Cup Chopped Kalamata Olives
- 1/4 Cup Drained & Chopped Capers
Dressing:
- 1/4 Cup White Balsamic Vinegar
- 1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Teaspoon Dijon Mustard
- 1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
- Salt & Pepper
To Serve:
- 1 Cup Feta Cheese Crumbles
Instructions
- In a large bowl toss together the salad ingredients.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients, then pour over the salad.
- Toss well to coat, taste, and adjust dressing ingredients, salt and pepper as needed.
- Sprinkle the Feta crumbles on top of the salad and serve.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 cupAmount Per Serving: Calories: 272Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 741mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 5gSugar: 7gProtein: 6g
I made this it was delicious. The only changes I made was adding a jalapeño to the salad and adding garlic powder and honey to the dressing.