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:
- make my menu
- organize my shopping list by the grocery aisles
- 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.
This post might contain some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
Lebanese Chickpea Salad with Smoky Tahini Dressing Recipe
[bctt tweet="Lebanese #chickpea #salad with smoky tahini dressing is #wholesome, #glutenfree, and packed with #Mediterranean flavors. " username="via all_thats_jas"]
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
- ¼ 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
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
~ Free Tip ~
If your tahini dressing is too thick, thin it with lime juice or water to desired consistency.
ESSENTIALS
for Lebanese Chickpea Salad with Smoky Tahini Dressing
DIRECTIONS:
- 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.
Lebanese Chickpea Salad with Smoky Tahini Dressing
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
- ¼ 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
- ½ 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
Pin it now: Lebanese Chickpea Salad with Smoky Tahini Dressing
Featured on: Pieced Pastimes, The Lazy Gastronome, Keeping It Simple, and The Cottage Market.
So many of my favorite salad flavors in this! That dressing is going straight to the top of my 'must try' list. Thanks for sharing with Party in Your PJs!
Hi, Linda! They are all of my favorites too and the dressing is super tasty 🙂
We sure enjoyed featuring your awesome post at Full Plate Thursday, and thanks so much for sharing it with us!
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
Thanks again, Miz Helen! It is super kind of you. Blessings
Ahhh the avocado stars, so cute!! I love how varied but filling this salad looks.
Thank you so much, Liv! Glad you like it and yes, the salad is very filling. 🙂
I love a good salad like this with a balance of carbs and all the nutrients.
Thank you! 🙂
What a beautiful plate of color!! Thanks for sharing the recipe with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Thank you, Jann! x
Pinning this beautiful salad - and printing. Think I'll make it for lunch this week! Thanks for sharing at the What's for Dinner Party! Happy Easter.
Thank you, Helen! Hope you enjoy! Happy Easter!
Looks like a nice light salad perfect for the upcoming spring weather
Thanks for sharing with Fiesta Friday! 🙂
Thank you, Abbey!
Wow this looks really good! I love a colorful plate! #trafficjam
Thank you, Tracy!
This looks AMAZING I love a good salad.
Thank you, Laura!:)
Jas this is something I would definitely eat! I've never added smoked paprika to my tahini dressing before - excited now to try it! Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday!
Oh, then you must try it! It gives it a certain depth. 🙂
Looks perfect for these already balmy days. That tahini dressing sounds amazing!
Thank you, it's quite satisfying. 🙂
This looks wonderfully refreshing and flavorful, and I love the presentation, too! I never thought to cut avocado into shapes. I hope you and your family have a lovely Easter weekend 🙂
Thank you so much! Wishing you the same 🙂 Blessings!
Always looking for new ways to use chickpeas. Found you on Bloggers Pit Stop
Thanks for stopping in, Candy!
This salad is something I would love to try! Pinned! Thanks for sharing on To Grandma's House We Go!
Thanks, Chas! Appreciate it.
I love those bunny slippers!! This salad is so vibrant and beautiful, and I'm all about that smoky tahini dressing! This is just what I needed to usher in Spring! #brillblogposts
Thanks, Michelle! I'm devastated that I can't find them in the stores. Maybe they'll be back come winter again.