Chickpea salad with baby spinach. Chickpea salad is very easy to prepare. Legumes are rich in proteins and this salad is extremely fresh.

Perfect to enjoy at lunch or dinner as a side dish or a main course when we want a lighter meal.

The chickpea salad with baby spinach is a fresh and light dish that we can rely on in numerous occasions during hot days: as an appetizer or a light second course, as a single dish to enjoy during lunch break at the office or to take to the beach. However, in these cases, I advise you to dress it just before eating (just bring the dressing in a jar).

Tasty and colorful, the summer chickpea salad is prepared in a few simple steps and if you choose to use pre-cooked chickpeas, you won’t even need to turn on the stove!

I used dried chickpeas soaked the night before and cooked in a pressure cooker. But pre-cooked ones are also fine. It’s important just to rinse and drain the chickpeas.

To prepare the summer chickpea salad, you can use the vegetables you prefer: to have a good balance of flavors and also a pleasant colorful note, I recommend using, aside from the boiled chickpeas, cherry tomatoes (datterini or Pachino), a bit of cucumber, some baby spinach, a few black olives, and, if you like, some finely sliced onion.

For an extra touch of flavor, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

If you wish, you could use this recipe as a base to dress a rice salad, pasta salad, or grain salad according to your taste.

Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Affordable
Preparation time: 20 Minutes
Portions: 4 People
Cooking methods: Stove
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

454.50 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 454.50 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 54.86 (g) of which sugars 11.01 (g)
Proteins 22.55 (g)
Fat 15.06 (g) of which saturated 2.05 (g)of which unsaturated 6.50 (g)
Fibers 15.42 (g)
Sodium 113.91 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 200 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients

Chickpea Salad

5.3 oz dried chickpeas (or 14 oz canned cooked weight)
10.6 oz cherry tomatoes
1 cucumber
1.8 oz baby spinach
fresh spring onion
to taste olives
to taste chives (optional or basil)
to taste extra virgin olive oil

Tools

Pressure Cookers
Mandoline

Steps

Chickpea Salad

If using glass jar chickpeas, skip this step.
(ADVICE: if using canned chickpeas, make sure to rinse them multiple times under water to remove their preserving liquid.

Let them drain until all excess liquids are removed.

STEAMED CHICKPEAS WILL BE PERFECT FOR THIS RECIPE).

If using dried chickpeas, follow this procedure.
After rinsing them under cold running water to remove all impurities, place the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover them with room temperature water.

The advice is to soak the chickpeas for at least 8/10 hours, making sure to change the water at least twice during this time.

The proportion is 1:4, so 2 liters of water for 500 g of chickpeas.

To facilitate the softening process of the chickpeas, you can add a pinch of baking soda to the water, which helps break down the fibers present in the legumes.
Once soaking is complete, rinse and drain the chickpeas, they are ready to be cooked.

Pour the chickpeas into the pressure cooker, adding water so that it covers the chickpeas by 5 fingers, with herbs and without salt.
(Optional herbs like bay leaf, onion.)
Close the lid and put on the heat on high flame.

At the first whistle, lower the flame and cook for 25/30 minutes.
“The cooking time depends on the seed: the larger the chickpeas, the longer it takes”.
Turn off, let the steam out before opening the lid.

(If you don’t have a pressure cooker, use a regular pot, obviously the cooking times are longer, taste occasionally).
Wash the cherry tomatoes and slice them.
Wash the cucumber and slice it thinly.
To make it more digestible, you can peel it.
Wash the baby spinach thoroughly, dry it, and tear it with your hands. If they are small and tender leaves, leave them whole.
Slice the onion very thinly. Pit the olives.
Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
Emulsify the oil with salt and pepper in a glass, then use the emulsion to dress the summer chickpea salad.
If you like, add finely chopped chives or hand-chopped basil leaves.
Serve the summer chickpea salad immediately or store it in the refrigerator for a maximum of a couple of days.
If stored in the fridge, do not dress it; dress it at the time of serving.
Enjoy your meal.