Creamy chickpea salad is a fun twist on the dense bean salad trend. It’s a healthy meal full of nutrition, amazing flavors, and textures! Using mostly pantry ingredients and kitchen staples, this recipe is budget-friendly, healthy, and high in fiber and protein.
Greek yogurt and tahini are combined with fresh herbs, spices, lemon, and vinegar to create a simple yet flavorful salad dressing. It’s essentially a garbanzo bean salad, since the two are the same. Perfect for a quick lunch or as an easy side dish, this is one you can make time and again. Add this one to your weekly meal prep menu, gluten-free recipes, and high-protein meal ideas.
As part of my weekly ingredient prep, I make a bean salad. They’re a quick and healthy meal perfect for work and school lunches. With summer quickly approaching, I’m embracing fresh, simple recipes, and now we can’t get enough of this creamy chickpea salad!
The tahini provides healthy fats and protein as well as a rich, nutty flavor to the dressing. Greek yogurt adds creaminess and lightens the dish. Crunchy veggies add nutrition, texture, and taste. Use what you like and already have. Recipes are guides, not rules. In an ongoing effort to prevent food waste, I rarely go to the store to buy one or two ingredients for a recipe. I adapt and make it work with what I already have on hand!
Creamy Chickpea Salad Recipe
The beauty of the salad is in its versatility. Prefer a white bean salad? Use cannellini or navy beans. Don’t have Greek yogurt on hand? Sour cream works just fine. And if you don’t love bell peppers, literally any crunchy veggies will work. It lasts for several days in the refrigerator, making it one of my favorite quick and easy meal prep salads.
Main Ingredients
The ingredients in my creamy chickpea salad are simple. In fact, most of them are for the dressing, which makes the whole salad!
- Chickpeas. You can’t have a creamy chickpea salad without them! I used canned to keep this quick and easy, but dried and cooked would work well, too.
- Veggies. Fresh and crunchy veggies add texture, flavor, and nutrients. I’m using bell peppers and scallions. The veggies also add volume, which helps stretch the dish and lower the calories!
- Dressing. You’ll want to make extra because it’s so darn good! It combines Greek yogurt, tahini, olive oil, lemon, apple cider vinegar, fresh garlic, Dijon, and seasonings—and you want to pour it on everything.
- Fresh herbs. I use a generous amount of fresh Italian parsley, which adds a delicious, earthy, herbaceous flavor.
 | Organic Smooth Tahini Organic Smooth Tahini Sesame Paste | Kosher, Vegan, Keto, No GMO, Gluten-Free, No Peanuts | 2 Jars |
How to Make Creamy Chickpea Salad
This can be ready to enjoy in about 20 minutes! As always, detailed instructions are included in the recipe card below.
- Make the sauce first so the flavors can begin to come together.
- Add the dressing ingredients to a bowl and whisk until smooth
- Add a teaspoon of warm water as needed to smooth out the sauce.
- Add the beans, vegetables, and herbs to the sauce, reserving some of the herbs for garnish.
- Gently but thoroughly mix the salad until well combined.
- Taste and adjust the salt, cover, and chill for at least an hour.
- Just before serving, garnish with the remaining fresh herbs, and enjoy!
Pro tip. As shown in the picture above, I start every recipe with everything prepped and ready to go. The fancy French term for this is mise en place, pronounced (MEEZ ahn plahs). It translates to “everything in its place,” and makes the cooking process less stressful.
 | Glass Mixing & Storage Bowls Large Glass Mixing Bowl Set | Clear Bowl for Baking, Cooking, Serving, Food Prep | (4.5QT, 2.7QT, 1.1QT) |
Helpful Tips & Substitutions
- When choosing Greek yogurt, I recommend full-fat. The additional fat adds to the creaminess and richness of the salad. If using nonfat or low-fat Greek yogurt, add a little more olive oil for extra richness.
- Having a variety of canned beans in your pantry allows you to pull together quick meals like this in minutes. Bean salads are incredibly versatile and a great way to incorporate protein and fiber into your diet. My Italian cannellini bean salad is another one of our favorites.
- Don’t like bell pepper? Use any veggies you want or what you already have on hand.
- Fresh herbs add a ton of flavor to this salad, and I use a generous amount. Today, that was fresh Italian parsley. Fresh basil, thyme, and oregano are all delicious!
- This creamy chickpea salad is loaded with protein, but if you want to add even more, we’ve added leftover cooked chicken, shrimp, and canned tuna, with great results!
- To make this dairy-free for vegetarians, use your favorite plant-based alternatives instead of Greek yogurt.
- This recipe is ideal for meal prep and will last up to four days in the refrigerator. It’s normal to see a little separation at the bottom of the bowl. Just give a good stir before dishing it up!
If you’ve tried my creamy chickpea salad recipe or any recipe on my site, please leave a comment below!
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Creamy Chickpea Salad Recipe
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 15- ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup diced bell peppers
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- Creamy Tahini Dressing
- 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons smooth tahini
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Zest from juiced lemon
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 garlic gloves, grated
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon Redmond Real Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
Instructions
- Make the sauce first so the flavors can start coming together.
- Add the tahini, yogurt, vinegar, lemon, garlic, Dijon, olive oil, some of the parsley, and seasonings to a bowl.
- Whisk the dressing until smooth, adding a teaspoon of warm water as needed to smooth out the sauce.
- Add the beans, veggies, and herbs to the sauce. (I reserve some herbs for garnish.)
- Gently but thoroughly mix all of the ingredients until well combined.
- Taste and adjust the salt, cover, and chill for at least an hour.
- Just before serving, stir it and adjust the salt and pepper one last time.
- Garnish with the remaining fresh herbs, and enjoy!
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