Lebanese Chickpea Salad with Smoky Tahini Dressing

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This Lebanese chickpea salad combines smoky tahini dressing with fresh vegetables and the Mediterranean spices for a unique flavor. This wholesome, gluten-free dish will not only satisfy your appetite but will introduce you to the tastes of Lebanese cuisine. Best of all, it is easily tossed together with simple ingredients readily available at your local grocery store.

In preparations for Easter Sunday dinner (or any holiday celebration, really), I always do these three things:

1. make my menu
2. organize my shopping list by the grocery aisles
3. buy flexible clothes for binge eating…

…which also brings me to eating light the week before the holiday. Makes those trips for seconds and sometimes thirds justified. Ha!

My go-to light meal is this salad from Lebanon. It’s packed with fiber, protein, minerals, and vitamins and above all, flavor! The smoky tahini dressing is off the charts! It smells and tastes like the Mediterranean summer. It’s exotic and cozy at the same time, and comfortable like your old slippers.

A bowl of this salad with chickpeas is perfectly huggable and comforting when your calendar says it’s spring, but you can still see your breath. Poor Easter Bunny will need his winter coat coming to our neck of the woods.

There’s a nursery rhyme I used to sing to my daughter when she was little and now my granddaughters equally love it. It’s about a bunny who is very sad because the forest’s creek is frozen and snow-covered, thus he can’t find it. It’s so sad, we all cry when I sing it…or maybe they’re crying because I’m singing. 🤔🤷‍♀️

It’s for that nursery rhyme I nicknamed my daughter Bunny. When my friend Lorraine got me a pair of bunny slippers, she had no idea of the significance. The “silly gift”, as she called it, brought many happy days to my two little Bunnies this past year.

Grandma even brings the slippers when she visits because grandma is always cold. Sadly, the bunnies got too many miles chasing giggly girls around the house and acquired holes on the bottom. They need to retire this Easter. 🐰

Ava, my 5-yo, exclaimed that she loves the bunnies as if that could save their lives. I know, you especially loved pulling on their ears, said grandma, to which Ava whispered softly: I’m so sorry. Yet another bunny is bringing tears to her eyes and this close to Easter, nonetheless. 😭

Grandma browsed the stores in search of a new pair of bunny slippers, but only found shelves stacked with flip-flops and no summer in sight.

I sat down by the window to dream of summer, old bunnies warming my feet for the last time and Lebanese chickpea salad on my lap. Both so comforting and cozy.

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Lebanese Chickpea Salad with Smoky Tahini Dressing Recipe

INGREDIENTS:
Serves 2-4

Salad

• 2 roasted red bell peppers (jarred or homemade)
• 3 cups cooked or canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 seedless cucumber, sliced or diced
• 4 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 small avocado, sliced or diced
• 8 ounces marinated artichoke hearts
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• ½ cup pitted black olives
• 6 oz crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• Fresh parsley, roughly chopped

Dressing

• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

~ Free Tip ~

If your tahini dressing is too thick, thin it with lime juice or water to desired consistency.

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, toss together all ingredients for the salad.
2. Blend together olive oil, tahini, vinegar, garlic, smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, and black pepper. Pour dressing over salad and toss.

Lebanese Chickpea Salad with Smoky Tahini Dressing

This wholesome, gluten-free Lebanese salad with chickpeas, fresh vegetables, and smoky tahini dressing brings Mediterranean flavors to satisfy your appetite.

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Course: Salad

Cuisine: Lebanese, Mediterranean

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 4

Author: Jas

Ingredients

Salad

• 2 roasted red bell peppers jarred or homemade
• 3 cups cooked or canned chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 1 seedless cucumber sliced or diced
• 4 plum tomatoes seeded and diced
• 1 small avocado sliced or diced
• 8 ounces marinated artichoke hearts
• 2 green onions thinly sliced
• ½ cup pitted black olives
• 6 oz crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• Fresh parsley roughly chopped

Dressing

• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• In a large bowl, toss together all ingredients for the salad.
• Blend together olive oil, tahini, vinegar, garlic, smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, and black pepper. Pour dressing over salad and toss.

Notes

~ Free Tip ~

If your tahini dressing is too thick, thin it with lime juice or water to desired consistency. 

Tried this recipe? Rate it below!Mention @all_thats_jas and tag it #allthatsjas

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