I love this chickpea salad because it involves little more than opening jars, it keeps well for days and the chickpeas keep me full for longer. It’s like an antipasto platter, in the form of a protein-laden, good-for-you meal!
Antipasto Chickpea Salad
Professional food writers would probably describe chickpeas as a blank canvas for flavour. I’m not that eloquent. I’ll just say bluntly – I find chickpeas rather bland.
So when you see chickpeas in a recipe of mine, they are always with big, bold flavours. Think – Indian curries, chorizo stew, Moroccan tray bake, Brazilian stew, Greek Marinated Chickpea Salad.
Today’s recipe is no exception. Take canned chickpeas and toss with lots of punchy flavoured antipasto things – sun-dried tomato, roasted red peppers, artichokes and feta – tossed in a dressing made using the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomato.
Boring chickpeas? Not in my world!!
Ingredients in Antipasto Chickpea Salad
OK! Let’s get cracking opening jars. 😂 Here’s what you need.
Add-ins
Canned chickpeas – I use canned for convenience but if you’d prefer using dried, you will need 1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas. 8 to 24 hours soak, 30 to 45 minute simmer.
Sun-dried tomato – Get the type in oil as we are using the oil from the jar to make the dressing!
Other antipasto things – Artichokes, roasted red peppers, olives. Feel free to switch out as you wish!
Baby rocket/arugula – Nice perky, slightly pepper leafy greens that works well with the bold flavours of the antipasto. Plus, it holds up better in salads than crisper leafy greens, like iceberg, when kept overnight.
Cherry tomatoes – Bursts of fresh juicy sweetness.
Danish feta, or Green feta – I like using Danish feta in this because it’s creamier and kind of goes smeary when tossed. But Greek feta works just as well from a flavour perspective.
Coriander/cilantro – Fresh herby goodness that works so well with the flavours in this salad!
Dressing
Sun-dried tomato oil – The oil reserved from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes. Free flavour!
Sherry vinegar – A slightly smoother vinegar with a little more layers of flavour. Substitute with champagne vinegar, white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar.
Garlic – Minced using a garlic press or finely grated using a microplane, so it melds into the dressing.
Coriander – For a hint of subtle, warm spicing.
Salt and pepper – Only 1/4 teaspoon of each, because the antipasto items are already salty.
How to make this chickpea salad
A lot of jar opening! 😂
Strain 5 tablespoons of oil from the sun-dried tomatoes into a jar to make the dressing. Top up with extra virgin olive oil, if you’re short.
Dressing – Add the rest of the ingredients into the jar and shake well until combined. I like using jars to make dressing – fast and effective way to mix the dressing up thoroughly, and useful to store leftover.
Drain & roughly chop the artichokes, roasted red peppers and sun dried tomato.
Combine all the salad ingredients in a large bowl, but reserve a little feta and coriander/cilantro for garnish.
Pour over dressing.
Toss gently. Some of the feta will go a bit smeary and creamy – I love this! If you are after a more pristine look, then just hold the feta back until the end and do it throughout the salad.
Now THAT is a bowl of chickpea deliciousness.
Make this for dinner tonight, work-lunch tomorrow then have any leftovers on the side of whatever you’re having for dinner the night after.
I can’t wait for you to get hooked on this as I am! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Antipasto chickpea salad
Ingredients
Dressing:
- 5 tbsp oil reserved from sun-dried tomatoes jar (in salad, below), or extra virgin olive oil
- 2 1/2 tbsp sherry vinegar (Note 1)
- 1 medium garlic clove , minced using garlic press (or finely grated)
- 1/4 tsp ground coriander
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt/kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Salad (Note 2):
- 2 x 400g/14 oz cans chickpeas , drained (Note 3 for dried)
- 3 packed cups baby rocket/arugula leaves , roughly torn by hand into 2.5cm / 1″ pieces (Note 4)
- 350g/12 oz jar roasted red pepper strips , drained, roughly chopped into 2.5cm/1″ pieces
- 200g/7 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts , drained, roughly chopped into 1.25 cm / 1/2″ pieces
- 1/2 cup sliced black kalamata olives
- 3/4 cup sun-dried tomato strips in oil , chopped into 1.25 cm / 1/2" pieces (reserve oil from jar for Dressing) (3 oz)
- 250g/8oz cherry tomatoes , halved
- 1/3 cup coriander/cilantro leaves , roughly chopped
- 200g/7 oz Danish feta (or Greek) , crumbled
Instructions
- Dressing – Shake ingredients in a jar to combine.
- Toss – Set aside a bit of coriander/cilantro and feta for garnish. Place all remaining salad ingredients into a big mixing bowl. Pour dressing over salad, and toss gently together to combine well. The feta will get a bit smeary – love it!
- Serve – Transfer to serving dish. Garnish with reserved feta and coriander/cilantro. Dig in!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Food even trumps playing. Like owner, like dog!
This salad is so easy and so delicious. Will definitely make it again.
Delicious. I read a book about balancing your blood sugar and if recommended having a “Green” starter before any carbs. So I made a batch of this and it was amazing. The second time I made it I followed a recommendation to separate the dressing and only put it together as I ate a portion. Perfect as it’s a large dish and is great for my hubby and I over several days. Yum. Just lovely
We enjoyed this last night with a rack of lamb. Superb! 🙏🏻
This salad was delicious! Perfect for the hot weather and it also tastes great the next day, unlike lots of other salad recipes. Will definitely be making it again 🙂
I’ve tried several of your recipes and have loved them all, except this one. To me, the flavors don’t marry well, it’s a tad oily and the stem like arugula makes it hard to get a cohesive bite.
This salad is delicous. The flavors blend so well together.
I had romaine lettuce( chopped bite size) and loved the crunch it gave to the salad.
My family and friends loved it!
This dish was absolutely delicious. Everything blends so well together to make a perfect and tasty summer salad. I’ll be making this again, and again, and again!
You are full of surprises,beautiful ones.
Thank you a lot!
This salad was delicious! I switched the coriander for flat leaf parsley. Really fresh and filling. Another success!
This is super delicious! Made with kale because I had some in the fridge, but otherwise made as directed. Yum!
I made this last week, it was so good I’m making it tonight for guests! I add a can of good tuna in oil.
So good! My husband who is kind of meh with chickpeas loved it. I used kale instead of arugula since that’s what I had. Any reason you don’t marinate the chickpeas like in you Greek marinated chickpea salad?
I made this recipe for lunch today and I loved it. It’s definitely one that I will be making again.
Very nice recipe chef 👍👌👏. I just had it for lunch, I didn’t have artichokes and also I couldn’t resist throwing in about 100 grams quinoa yammy 😋. Thank you for your effort 🌹🌞😎. Give a big hug and a 🥩 to Dozer 🌞😎
Love hearing that Jason!! So glad you enjoyed it – and hugs passed on and happily received! N x
This looks amazing but I’m one of those unfortunate people who thinks cilantro tastes like soap. Any alternate herbs that could be used here? Maybe oregano or parsley?
Morning Julie! Parsley will be great, just topping that in the notes now! N x
Hi Nagi. I am in charge of making everyone’s favourite cake for their birthday. I made your vanilla cake for my grandson’s birthday whose only request was “not chocolate”. The cake was a great hit and has now been requested as the birthday cake for everyone. Thanks for such a great cake recipe.
LOVE HEARING THAT!! N xx
I make a similar recipe. Only difference is I roast the chickpea’s for added crunch.
Funny you mention that, I was literally just talking about sharing roasted chickpeas as a separate recipe! I eat them by the handful 👌🏻
Looking forward in making this great recipe .
We are so thrill for you Nagi with your book award ,it is so well deserved ,and all your hard work with your charity food bank you work so hard for .
You have made such a difference around the world during the dark days of covid lockdown ,you have made so many people happy with your wonderful recipes and pictures of dozer with encouraging stories .
We love you and want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts .
Your success is from hard work and also about the caring person you are.
You also have to take care of yourself and take some rest ,we will survive if we miss a few recipes each week, because we care about you .
Hugs & Thank you — JJ
Thank you so much for the lovely message Jen! I am really trying to take a holiday someone in the coming months 🙂 HUGS! – N x
Hey, Nagi! Nice article in the Washington Post with your crispy no oil chicken recipe. Whoo hoo! Nice to see you in my morning WaPo read! xo
https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/05/30/recipetin-eats-cookbook/
NO WAY!!! Really!!! Popping over now to check it out – N xx
I just think you are a genius. Period. Thank you for sharing.