A Cookable Feast

Health and happiness in a bowl: that’s this Zesty Greek-Inspired Salad with Crispy Chickpeas!

I adore salads: what a tasty way to get in your veggies! And Greek salad has become one of my major culinary crushes over the last few years. It’s such a flavor-saturated, satisfying dish! It’s also a beloved staple in diners here in the Metro-Detroit area (what we call “Coney” or “Coney Island” restaurants, based off of the iconic chili-topped hot dogs they serve).

It was about time I created a recipe that pays homage to this wonderful salad. Enter Zesty Greek-Inspired Salad with Crispy Chickpeas!

This salad is comprised of many of the same super-tasty ingredients you’d find in a Greek salad: earthy beets, zingy banana peppers, tangy feta, and bright red onion, cucumber, and tomato. Mixed greens lend the salad more heft than the chopped iceberg predominant in restaurant salads, while the dressing is my take on the flavor-filled one that’s the heart of a classic Greek salad.

The pièce de résistance, however, in this Zesty Greek-Inspired Salad with Crispy Chickpeas is an ingredient not typically found in Greek salads – and you can probably guess what that is given the salad’s name. That’s right: it’s the crispy chickpeas!

Do you have one of those foods in your life you can eat bowl after bowl of totally plain? That’s me and chickpeas. I adore the heck out of their subtle nutty flavor when I eat them au naturel. But tossing them in oil, garlic powder, and salt and roasting them in the oven until their outsides are nice and crunchy? Well, that breeds next-level adoration!

I like to think of the crispy chickpeas in this Zesty Greek-Inspired Salad as the healthier upgrade to a crouton. They’re certainly much more protein-packed!

One note before we’re on to the recipe: this dish calls for a roasted beet. Here’s an easy way to prepare it:

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
• Cut the top (shoots and leaves) from a large beet, then use a fork to poke several holes into it.
• Wrap the beet in tin foil.
• Place in an oven-safe baking dish and roast in the oven for one hour. Remove from the foil, and once cool, rub the skin off the beet and chop it into large chunks.
• Get ready to assemble your Zesty Greek-Inspired Salad with Crispy Chickpeas!

Alright, it’s on to the recipe! May making – and eating – this Zesty Greek-Inspired Salad with Crispy Chickpeas bring you the health and happiness it brings me!

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Zesty Greek-Inspired Salad with Crispy Chickpeas

Who needs croutons when you've got oven-roasted chickpeas? Bright dressing, ample veggies, and feta cheese deliciously round out this take on a Greek salad.

Course Main Course, Salad

Keyword Beets, Chickpeas, Dinners, Feta, Greek, Salad, Vegetarian

Servings 4

Author A Cookable Feast

Ingredients

Crispy Chickpeas:

• 2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 2 tsp. oil with a high smoke point, such as grapeseed
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup + 2 tbs. olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tbs. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper

Salad:

• 8 tightly-packed cups mixed greens
• 1 large roasted beet, skin removed and chopped
• 1 cup crumbled feta
• 3/4 cup chopped cucumber (cucumber slices chopped into quarters)
• 3/4 cup chopped grape tomatoes (chopped into quarters)
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• 1/2 cup sliced banana peppers

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss chickpeas in the oil, garlic powder, and salt and distribute evenly on a baking sheet. Roast until the skins get nice and toasted looking, with the chickpeas crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. This takes about 40 minutes in my oven (which admittedly runs slow, so the process may be quicker in yours); I stir halfway through the cooking process to ensure even toasting.

2. Add the dressing ingredients to a mason jar or other vessel with a lid and shake well.

3. Mix the salad ingredients together in a large bowl, then toss with the dressing. Serve portions topped with crispy chickpeas and enjoy the zesty, crunchy, healthful goodness!