Garbanzo Bean Salad Recipe

When you’re in the mood for a salad that’s incredibly delicious, fun to eat, and super nutritious, this garbanzo bean salad is what you’re going to want to make! Made with crunchy and fresh veggies, satisfying garbanzo beans, and a homemade vinaigrette, this salad can be prepped ahead for quick and healthy lunches or served as a side dish to your favorite protein.

I originally shared this recipe back in 2017, when I had a brand new baby and was relying on nutrient-dense meals like this one that could quickly and easily fuel me between feeding sessions. The ingredients have changed a bit, but this is also the beauty of salads like this one – they are endlessly flexible and can be used as a guide, depending on what you have or what you’re in the mood for.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Salad Ingredients

• Oil – I’ve used olive oil for the Mediterranean dense bean salad, but you could use your favorite vegetable oil. Canola or avocado oil would also work.
• Vinegar – I used balsamic vinegar for big flavor, but red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar would also be delicious or a specialty vinegar with Mediterranean flavors would also be nice.
• Mustard – The Dijon mustard acts as both a flavor enhancer and an emulsifier for the dressing.
• Honey – Honey is another emulsifier that also helps to balance the flavors.
• Sea salt and black pepper
• Garbanzo beans – Obviously the star of this bean salad recipe! Garbanzo beans (also called chickpeas) can be found cooked in a can or you can buy dried chickpeas and cook them yourself if you prefer.
• Cheese – I’ve used mozzarella pearls (they don’t require any cutting or prep), but you could use larger fresh mozzarella and chop it or use another cheese like feta for a different flavor.
• Cucumbers – Crisp cucumbers are the base veggie of the salad – use your favorite cucumbers. I lean towards English cucumbers or Persian cucumbers which have a delicate skin that doesn’t require peeling. If you’re using a conventional cucumber, give it a quick peel before chopping.
• Bell pepper – You can really use any color of bell pepper. I tend to lean towards sweet bell peppers (yellow, orange, or red) in salads, but green would also be delicious. You can use regular-sized bell peppers or mini ones.
• Olives – The olives add a nice salty bite to the salad. Castelvetrano olives are favorites of ours so that’s what we’ve used here, but kalamata olives, black, or green olives will all work. I would use pitted olives so you can easily chop without having to deal with the pits.
• Fresh parsley – Fresh herbs add such bright and fresh flavor, I highly recommend including them. Add more or less, depending on your own preference.
• Onion – Red onion is nice in this salad, but yellow or white or even green would also work! If you don’t love onions, you can mellow them out by soaking them in cold water for 5-10 minutes. Feel free to adjust the amount of onions, too. I kept it on the light side as I don’t love a ton of raw onions.
• Extras – As I mentioned above, this salad is pretty flexible so you can easily add in or swap other ingredients. Cherry or grape tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, avocado, tuna, chicken, sunflower seeds, etc.

How to Make Mediterranean Dense Bean Salad

This is an overview, the detailed instructions can be found below in the recipe card.

1. Prep ingredients. Drain and rinse beans, dice cucumbers, bell peppers, and red onion. Chop olives and parsley.

2. Mix dressing. In a large bowl, add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, sea salt, and cracked black pepper. Whisk until emulsified.
3. Mix salad. Add beans, mozzarella balls, cucumbers, bell peppers, olives, parsley, and red onion together and toss together until coated with dressing.

FAQs

Storage

Store the salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. I find the salad gets a bit soggy after more than three days so I don’t recommend prepping for a week at a time.

More Healthy Bean Recipes

If you like this garbanzo bean salad recipe, you might also like some of these other healthy bean recipes:

• Feel-Good Minestrone Soup
• Cheesy Turkey Taco Skillet
• Black Bean Quinoa Salad
• Our Favorite Refried Black Beans

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Food styling and photography by Loren Runion.

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