Cold Chickpea Salad

On June 10, 2025 by admin With 0 Comments - Cooking

This is a recipe for a cold chickpea salad base. You can eat it just as it is here. It is delicious. But, you can also add just about anything you like to make the recipe suit your personal tastes. If you want to eat it over a few days, it is easy to add different ingredients to change it up. The ingredients I am including in this basic version can sit for a few days in the oil and vinegar dressing without degrading.

When I was little, especially in summer, there was always some kind of homemade cold salad in the fridge. Potato salad, pasta salad, egg salad… My new-Canadian parents refused to use air conditioning (or the dishwasher haha) so it was always nice to have something ice cold to snack on in the hot and humid weather! This recipe is the latest variation and I ate it at mom’s house recently.

Chickpeas are a great source of cheap protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals. And they taste great!

Ingredients:

  • 400gr (2 cups) dry chickpeas
  • 1/2 red onion small dice
  • 1 red pepper small dice
  • 3 green onions (scallions) sliced
  • 1 carrot
  • 2 cloves of garlic minced
  • 2 Tablespoons hot chillies in oil (or chopped fresh chillies)
  • 2 Tablespoons diced dill pickles
  • 90-100ml (6 tablespoons) olive oil
  • 45-50ml (3 tablespoons) vinegar
  • 1-2 teaspoons salt
  • 1-2 teaspoons black pepper

I am using dry chickpeas because I like the flavour and texture. Soaking and cooking them is very easy but it takes a little more time. Feel free to substitute an equal amount of canned chickpeas. Just be sure to rinse them thoroughly in cold water to remove all the slippery brine.

Use a good extra virgin olive oil. I have used apple cider vinegar in this recipe but any good vinegar works. As for the chillies, I am using delicious chopped red chillies in olive oil which I recently found at a local Italian grocery. You can substitute with any fresh chopped chilli or leave them out if you don’t like the heat.

Process

Before anything else, we need to rehydrate (soak) the dry chickpeas.

dry chickpeas
You can look through them quickly to make sure there are no little rocks or other debris in them. I think these days it is pretty rare to find stones but it doesn’t hurt to look.
soaking chickpeas
Cover with water (at least twice as much water as peas) and soak for a minimum of 6 hours. I soak mine overnight in the fridge.
Make sure there is enough water and enough room in the container. They will suck the water up and expand a little.
showing plum chickpeas after soaking
The next day…nice plump chickpeas ready to cook.
raw ingredients for cold chickpea salad
Raw ingredients: soaked chickpeas, red pepper, red onion, green onions, garlic, carrot, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper.
chickpeas in pot
To cook the chickpeas, put them in a pot with at least 3 times as much water as chickpeas. Do not add salt to the cooking water.
boiling chickpeas
Bring to a boil and boil hard for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat and simmer them until they are tender (this will take between 45 and 60 minutes).
draining chickpeas
Drain them completely.
rinsing and cooling chickpeas
Rinse with cool water.
cut ingredients for cold chickpea salad
While the peas were cooking, I diced all the veg, measured liquids and ran the carrot over the Benriner veggie slicer to make matchsticks. At this point i decided to put some pickles in here…that’s why they weren’t in the first picture.
mixed cold chickpea salad
Mix everything together and add salt and pepper. I ended up using around 1.5 teaspoon of salt and around the same amount of pepper. Start will small amounts, taste and add. This amount worked for me but you can decide how much salt and pepper you like in yours.
cold chickpea salad served with chopped avocado, cherry tomato and fresh parsley
Tonight I decided to add chopped avocado, cherry tomatoes, baby cucumbers and fresh parsley for a big veggie feast. This was very good!

Variations

As I mentioned at the start, I keep this basic recipe limited to the veggies that will be able to sit in the oil and vinegar for a few days without spoiling. Feel free to add anything you like to this starting recipe just before eating.

Some other things I have used:

  • blanched or raw asparagus
  • corn
  • zucchini
  • celery
  • chopped kimchi
  • diced sour apple
  • parmesan cheese
  • any and all fresh herbs
  • crispy diced bacon
  • pan fried anchovies (myeolchi bokkeum)
  • cumin is delicious and classic but try any spice you like
  • tobasco, cholula or any other hot sauce

This kind of a salad is a good match for any picnic foods and especially grilled meats. And, although it is a cold salad, there is no reason why you couldn’t heat it up in a pan and serve it hot as well. As a warm dish, I think it would work perfectly under a piece of grilled fish.

Hope you enjoy. If you have any questions or comments or interesting variations, please leave them below. I am always happy to hear from you.

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