Chickpea Avocado Salad

This Chickpea Avocado Salad is a fresh and healthy dish, perfect for light lunch or meal prep. It includes tender canned chickpeas, creamy avocado, sweet cherry tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, and salty feta cheese.

This healthy chickpea avocado salad aka garbanzo bean salad takes 15 minutes and 5 simple steps to make. No cooking, no fancy ingredients. And yet, it is one of my favorite salad recipes to make for lunch and dinner because of the burst of Mediterranean flavors in every bite.

It is the best salad to serve for a party as it virtually takes no time, but is crunchy, zesty, savory, colorful, and tastes amazing!

Everything You’ll Love About This Recipe

• Foolproof recipe with 5 steps.
• No kitchen equipment, no cooking, or super expensive ingredients. Only simple ingredients, fresh and healthy. 
• Delicious and addictive.
• Healthy and great for weekly meal prep.
• Works as a side, as a meal, or in wraps, in pita bread, and sandwiches.
• Completely vegetarian.

Salad Ingredients Notes

This chickpea salad recipe is 100% vegetarian, to make it vegan, do not add the cheese or use nutritional yeast. But for meat lovers, I will share a tip on how to easily bulk it up with leaner meat or amazing seafood.

I use Greek-style lemony and light salad dressing for my chickpea avocado salad recipe but you can also make your favorite creamy dressing.

• Chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and pat dry. 1 can of chickpeas is enough to make 4 portions of salad. For the record, chickpeas and garbanzo beans are the same thing:) If you prefer homemade, soak the chickpeas overnight and cook before assembling the salad.
• Diced avocado, pick a large ripe avocado. Ripe avocados are soft to the touch but not too soft. Softer overripe avocados will get mushy in the salad, but we want the pieces to hold the shape. Dice avocado just before assembling the salad, avocado slices will turn brown if they sit too long, but when in a salad, the lemon juice will keep them from browning.
• Cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes halved. Small tomatoes are meaty and juicy enough but don’t have as much excess liquid as big tomatoes like Roma tomatoes. Smaller size tomatoes are also better for salad aesthetics and faster to cut.
• Red onion, finely chopped. Red onions are best for salads, they taste better uncooked and also add a nice color to the salad. Yellow onion won’t do, but you can substitute red onion with shallots.

Seasonings

• Chopped cilantro. Fresh herbs are great for this salad. I love fresh cilantro. If you don’t eat cilantro, replace it with fresh parsley, arugula, or fresh dill. You can use fresh basil leaves to decorate too.
• Olive oil is the main dressing for the salad. Use extra virgin olive oil for salad recipes.
• Fresh lemon juice or lime juice for the light acidity.
• Salt and pepper to taste. To make this recipe Tex Mex style, add red pepper flakes, taco seasoning, and/or cayenne pepper.
• Crumbled feta cheese (optional) for a more Mediterranean chickpea salad. Instead of feta, you can use any strong-flavored crumbly cheese like Cotija, goat cheese, tofu, halloumi, or nutritional yeast. Do not use pre-crumbled feta, it can be too dry.

You’ll Need

• salad bowl, I prefer to use a large mixing bowl to mix all the ingredients comfortably.

The best part about this easy salad is that you don’t need to have any fancy equipment, no food processors, blenders, and such. Just chop and mix. 

How To Make Chickpea Avocado Salad

1. Prepare the salad base. Combine the chickpeas, avocado, cherry tomatoes, red onion, and cilantro in a large bowl.
2. Drizzle the dressing. Use olive oil and lemon juice.
3. Gently toss all the ingredients together until well combined.
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Sprinkle the crumbled feta cheese on top before serving (if using) and gently stir not to break the cheese.

Serving Suggestions

Serve alongside the main course or on its own with bread of choice, as a healthy snack, especially if you add more fresh vegetables and/or chicken.

As a side dish, chickpea avocado salad pairs nicely with burgers, chicken, turkey, salmon, and seafood dishes.

Storage

Store leftovers of this avocado chickpea salad in the fridge. It will stay fresh for 2-3 days covered with plastic wrap or in an airtight container. Do not freeze.

Leftovers can be used in a wrap or pita, alongside the main meal, or bulked up with more veggies.

Making Ahead

If making ahead, don’t mix all the ingredients together.

Do not dice avocado beforehand, refrigerate beans separately, and prepare the dressing 1-3 days ahead.

Once ready to serve, add avocado and chickpeas to the salad bowl. Dress the salad 10 minutes before serving.

Add-ons & Substitutions

I love this perfect summer salad as is, for a healthy lunch, and leftovers in a chickpea avocado salad sandwich. 

However, this base salad is so versatile that you can make it again and again with a little twist here and there – and you will enjoy it every time!

• More veggies: first thing I would add crunchy cucumbers (English or Persian cucumbers), but also grilled zucchini, canned or grilled corn, marinated artichoke hearts, olives bell peppers, chopped green onions, baby spinach, and any leafy greens – it will make a perfect salad for weekly meal prep. To prep veggies you will need extra time and may need to adjust seasoning if you use cooked or canned veggies (in case they are already salty/spicy, etc). Leafy greens don’t hold up well in the fridge for long, so if you’re planning weekly meals, prep them to add at the last minute, as well as dressing.
• The salad dressing add-ons: to make the dressing more flavorful and pungent to balance sweet tomatoes you can add 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar, a dash of Dijon mustard, and/or finely minced garlic. It will be absolutely delicious. I like light dressings, but you can make a creamier salad dressing like vegan mayonnaise, or Greek yogurt.
• To add texture use pumpkin, sunflower seeds, sprouts, pine nuts, or cashews.

More Options

• To add extra flavors, roast the chickpeas. I promise it is worth it. Simply coat them with oil, smoked paprika, salt, black pepper, and some onion and garlic powder, and roast over medium heat in a skillet for about 10 minutes. They become so flavorful, crunchy, salty – simply yum!
• If you don’t like chickpeas, replace them with any other beans you love like white beans, kidney beans, or Pinto.
• Optional, protein add-ons. I’m making the basic vegetarian avocado chickpea salad recipe, without the chicken or any meat, but if you want to make it a complete meal, add leftover rotisserie chicken, grilled chicken turkey, or grilled shrimp. You can turn this recipe into a tuna salad easily too.

Tips To Make The Best Chickpea Salad With Avocado

• How to cut the avocado. First, cut the avocado in half with a knife, lengthwise. Hold the half with the pit, and confidently tap it with the blade of the knife. The knife will be stuck in the pit and we can easily remove it. Once the pit is out, use a tablespoon to scoop the flash from the skin.
• Red onions for the salads should be sliced. They look pretty and bright when added as long strips.
• To keep avocado from browning, only cut it right before adding to the salad, the lemon juice in the dressing keeps the diced avocado fresh. If you have leftover avocado, don’t remove the pit, if possible, and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Browning is only a sign of avocado interacting with oxygen, so it is still good, but not pretty. You can cut off browned parts.
• If adding any veggies or greens, make sure they are dry. All the water and juices will get to the bottom of the bowl and make the salad soggy.
• You can turn this salad recipe into a sandwich filling. In that case, do not dice the avocado, but mash it with a fork or potato masher instead, and lightly mash the chickpeas too. The smashed avocado chickpea mixture should stick together well.
• For meal prep get firm avocados to make sure they will not turn mushy during the week.

Popular Questions

Why Is Chickpea Salad Good For You?

This chickpea salad recipe is really healthy as each ingredient is packed with nutrients. Chickpeas are a great source of plant-based protein, while tomatoes are rich in vitamin C, avocado is loaded with fiber and healthy fats, and red onions are good for preventing diabetes and cancer.

Is There Anything Unhealthy About Chickpeas?

Raw chickpeas are hard to digest and may contain some toxins. Cooked chickpeas are overall healthy, but may cause light bloating in people with sensitive gut as they are considered legumes.

People who take medication for heart diseases should eat chickpeas in moderation as they can interfere with the pills.

Are Chickpeas Healthier Than Rice?

Both rice and chickpeas are healthy, but they are very different. Rice is much starchier. Chickpeas are great vegan protein and have lots of dietary fiber. 

If you love this easy side dish recipe, you’re going to love these other sides too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

More Great Chickpea Recipes

Mediterranean Chicken Breast Recipe

Panera Bread Turkey Chili Recipe

Greek Stuffed Peppers

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