Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes and Olives
I used fewer beans and more tomatoes, olives, and herbs for a more carb-conscious version of Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes and Olives. If Chickpeas are not your favorite, use a different type of bean for this tasty vegetarian salad.
PIN Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes and Olives to try it later!
For people with tomatoes in the garden, we’re approaching that point in the summer where some kind of salad that uses tomatoes is going to appear on the table nearly every day, and this Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes and Olives is lovely for a summer side dish, or even as a main-dish salad for a light meal. And if you have some fresh herbs in your garden, this salad is a perfect way to spotlight them.
I’ve always been quite a fan of chickpeas, but when I made this salad again recently to re-shoot the old photos, I decided to reduce the amount of chickpeas to make the salad a bit more carb-conscious. That gave me a chance to use more tomatoes, olives, and herbs, which in my opinion only made the salad better!
This salad was originally inspired by one I saw in Joanne Weir’s From Tapas to Meze (affiliate link) but I improvised on it after thinking about what needed to be used in the garden and what would taste good with chickpeas. And if you have a garden where you’re growing herbs, this is a great time to use plenty of them!
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- Red Wine Vinegar (affiliate link)
- fresh-squeezed lemon juice, I used my fresh-frozen lemon juice
- tomatoes
- Pitted Kalamata Olives (affiliate link)
- red onion
- chopped fresh basil
- chopped parsley
- salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- extra virgin Olive Oil (affiliate link)
- Red Wine Vinegar (affiliate link)
- sea salt
What makes Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes and Olives so flavorful?
Of course using fresh garden tomatoes and pungent Greek Olives adds flavor to this chickpea salad recipe. But please be sure not to skip the fresh basil and fresh parsley, which is definitely another thing that makes the salad so delicious. If you have other fresh herbs in the garden, throw some of those in as well!
What beans can you use for this salad?
If you’re not a fan of chickpeas, this salad would be delicious with other types of beans, especially Cannellini Beans or Pinto Beans.
What olives did I use for Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes and Olives?
I used Pitted Kalamata Olives (affiliate link) for this salad, but if those strongly-flavored Greek Olives are not your jam, just use regular black olives. I’d also love this salad with green olives if you like those.
How to make Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes lower in carbs:
When I re-shot the photos I made this salad lower in carbs by cutting it down to only one can of chickpeas, which gave me a salad with 17 net carbs in a serving. But I love the interesting idea in the comments from a reader who suggests replacing chickpeas with chopped pieces of cauliflower!
How to make Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes, Olives, and Herbs:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- Whether you soak chickpeas and cook them from scratch or just rinse canned chickpeas, don’t skip the step of marinating the beans in some red wine vinegar and lemon juice while you prep other ingredients!
- Then cut up tomatoes (and drain in a colander if they’re juicy), slice olives, and chop red onion and toss the other ingredients with the marinating beans.
- Chop up a generous amount of fresh basil and parsley, or any other fresh herbs you’re using. I used my favorite Herb Scissors (affiliate link) to cut up the basil.
- Toss herbs with the marinating ingredients.
- Then whisk together red wine vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper to make the dressing.
- Add the dressing to ingredients in the bowl, and toss the entire salad again.
- Season Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes to taste with salt and fresh ground pepper and serve.
- This will keep pretty well in the fridge overnight, but it’s definitely best freshly made.
Make it a Healthy Meal:
For a healthy dinner this Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes and Olives would make a great side dish for something like Grilled Chicken with Lemon and Capers, Grilled Sausage and Peppers, Marinated Beef Kabobs, or Chicken Cutlets with Mustard Sauce.
Want More Vegetarian Bean Salads?
- Pinto Bean Salad with Avocado and Tomatoes
- Balela Middle Eastern Bean Salad
- Black Bean Salad with Jicama
- Tomato, Cucumber, and Chickpea Salad
- Black Bean Salad with Black-Eyed Peas
Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes and Olives
This Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes and Olives is a delicious summer salad using fresh garden tomatoes and lots of flavorful fresh herbs.
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients:
- one 15 oz. garbanzo beans, well rinsed and drained
- 1 T red wine vinegar
- 1 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice (See notes)
- 2 diced tomatoes, cut in 1/2 inch pieces then drained
- 3/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, sliced into lengthwise slivers
- 1/2 cup chopped red onion
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (or more)
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley (or more)
- salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Dressing Ingredients:
- 5 T best quality extra virgin olive oil
- 3 T red wine vinegar
- 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/2 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper
Instructions
- Drain chickpeas into colander and rinse with cold water until no more foam appears.
- Let beans drain well, then place in large plastic bowl and toss with 1 T red wine vinegar and 1 T fresh lemon juice.
- Chop tomatoes and drain in a colander while you chop the onions and slice olives.
- Then add drained tomatoes, chopped onions, and sliced olives to the bowl with the marinating beans.
- Wash and dry basil and parsley, using salad spinner (affiliate link) or washing in the sink and drying with paper towels.
- Finely chop herbs, then add to marinating salad ingredients and gently combine.
- Put 3 T red wine vinegar and 2 tsp fresh lemon juice in a small bowl or glass measuring cup, then whisk in olive oil until dressing is emulsified. Stir salt and pepper into dressing.
- Gently mix dressing into salad, then season to taste with additional salt and fresh ground black pepper.
- The salad can marinate at room temperature for an hour or two before serving.
- I did refrigerate leftovers with pretty good results, but it’s definitely best when freshly made and before being refrigerated.
Notes
I like to use my fresh-frozen lemon juice for recipes that call for fresh squeezed lemon juice.
This recipe was inspired by a chickpea salad in From Tapas to Meze (affiliate link) with additional inspiration from Kalyn’s garden.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 275Total Fat 17gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 14gCholesterol 0mgSodium 476mgCarbohydrates 25gFiber 8gSugar 6gProtein 7g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes and Olives is great for any phase of the original South Beach Diet. With the reduced amount of beans, it has 17 carbs per serving which might work for some low-carb diets.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Salad Recipes for more Salads like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This salad was posted in 2008. It was updated with better photos and a lower-carb option in 2016 and the recipe was last updated with more information in 2023.
45 Comments on “Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes and Olives”
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Ribron, I love that idea; thanks for sharing!
Being low-carb, I make this salad with chopped cauliflower in place of the chickpeas. Have taken it to a couple of family gatherings and it's been a hit!
Richard, thanks (always appreciated!) So glad you enjoyed it.
This was delicious. I think it was even better the next day when the spices had more time to marinade in the olive oil and red wine vinegar. I shared the link on Facebook. Thanks 🙂
I love your name! So glad you enjoyed the salad.
Just made this salad last night and it was amazing. Chickpeas are a great ingredient to use. The fresh herbs added such a punch to the salad. Glad we got the kalamata olives! Can't wait to try more of your recipes!
Hope you like the salad. Thanks for the soaking tip, very interesting. I’ll definitely try it.
We’re freezing here, I would prefer melting!
Hi Kalyn, nice recipe. There is something about chickpeas they always look so nice in a salad or pasta, or even with rice. I cooked a bucket load of chickpeas yesterday so I will be making this salad tonight.
Can I share a chickpea trick I learned from Lucy of Nourish Me? Soak your chickpeas for several days in the fridge, in water with a tablespoon of yoghurt mixed in. It results in the softest creamiest chickpeas when cooked. The difference is very noticeable.
Or use a can. 🙂
Still very hot weather here – 2 weeks of 40C (approx 106F) temps. Melting….
Francine, so happy to hear your son liked it. All credit to Joanne Weir, this is mostly her recipe. I love the cookbook this recipe came from, so many good choices.
I found this recipe a couple of months ago and decided to try it for my son, the vegetarian. Wow! I didn’t have red wine vinegar on hand, so I substituted balsamic – and it was fantastic. I bought the dried beans and soaked them, and I really think it makes a tremendous difference, especially in the sodium content. The first time my son tried it, he was eating it a day after I’d made it. He enjoyed it, but I told him how much better it is first time around. A few weeks ago, I made it for him since he was babysitting our bulldogs. I mixed the dressing shortly before we left the house, so it would be just right when he got there. He ate nearly the whole recipe!
What a beautiful salad. I have just set some chickpeas to soak.
I think tinned legumes are fine in dishes served hot or pureed but for salads, you can’t go past freshly cooked.
Thanks everyone!
Jeanne, if we’re channeling each other I don’t mind a bit!
OK, now this is freaky – I made a very close approximation of this salad on 6 September for our annual big BBQ!! Clearly there was a ripple in the force 🙂
Kalyn, your food is always so colorful and just looks truly delicious.
What a great salad – truly – I love salads made with lots of interesting things and leave out the lettuce.
I love chickpeas, they are my favourite of the legumes.
I have been considering picking up this book, so thank you for the review.
I love your salad, so simple, light and healthy.
Your food is also so simple and delicious looking (and tasty–the ones I’ve made)! This salad looks great!
That looks so incredibly yummmmy!
In my new kitchen (whenever I get it) I’m going to be cooking more chickpeas and other beans from dried, too. Why does the idea of a new kitchen become so inspiring for this kind of thing? hahaha!
Great looking salad!
It’s your salads that have me always coming back – whenever I lack inspiration I know who I can rely on!
MsBlueKatt, when I write “1/2 cup chopped basil” in a recipe it means a half-cup measure packed with chopped basil. One thing I like about Fine Cooking magazine is the explanation of these kinds of things. You could write 1/2 cup basil, chopped if you mean to measure the basil after chopping. But thanks for the question; I could certainly make it more clear in the way I write it. BTW, in a salad like this I think the measurement of herbs doesn’t have to be that exact. If I made it in the winter when I had to buy basil I’d probably be using less, but I have a lot of basil in my garden right now.
This salad sounds delish and I can’t wait to try it. I’ve been soaking and cooking my own garbanzos for hummus for a while now and really do think they are preferable over canned.
One question: When a recipe states “1/2 cup chopped basil,” does this mean you measure 1/2 cup of basil and then chop it OR you chop basil and measure 1/2 cup? You wind up with more herbs the second way (I think!).
It looks heavenly. I have a can of garbanzo beans in my pantry which I will use for this recipe soon later this week.
The photo is simply lovely. Great colors too.
This is stunning! And I agree, soaked and cooked-from-scratch chickpeas taste so much better than canned varieties. This salad looks so fresh and delicious!
I think the downside of using the canned food is high ammount of sodium. However, you can always rince the chickpea to lower the ammount of sodium.
Love the way bloggers share ideas with each other. Barbara, I like your idea of crushing some chickpeas to add to the dressing. Sara, also a great idea to cook a lot of chickpeas and freeze. Thanks everybody for nice thoughts.
Delicious-sounding, as usual!
Paz
That’s the kind of salad I love! Healthy, fresh, tasty and very pleasant! I could eat chickpeas at every meal!!!
Cheers,
Rosa
Lovely and delicious looking. Mr CC would love it if I made this for him!
I’ve been cooking up large batches of dried beans and freezing them in 2 cup portions. I agree with you, they taste much better than canned, plus they’re cheaper.
This salad looks wonderful. Until recently I soaked and cooked my own chick peas. Just lately I’ve been using canned ones and they just aren’t the same. I often crush a spoonful of the peas and add to the dressing – it gives it a creamy consistency.
I really appreciate the nice feedback on the recipe and photo. This is one of my favorite salads of the summer this year!
more and more, I’m struck by the vibrancy of your pictures. all of the practice is surely paying off!
Ya know, the great thing about the healthy dishes you post is that they always look lovely enough for people to actually want to make them. They look delicious and enjoyable. I don’t know if that even makes sense :P.
I guess it’s that sometimes I see people who only cook healthy stuff and it sometimes seems so boring and bland. Yours never does and it’s very encouraging to those of us who really need new and interesting nutritious dishes. So thank you.
I came across your blog on blogher. Fantastic picture! Your salad looks just wonderful!
www.katelynsfood.blogspot.com
this is so colourful. i love any salad that has any kind of beans in it, chickpeas salad is yummy. love boiled kidney beans salad too. love the fresh ingredients here.
This is so colorful! It looks gorgeous!
I love garbanzo beans. But since I’ve had such bad luck with dried beans in general I think I’ll try this with the canned stuff 🙂
I’m going to soak the beans today and cook them tomorrow. Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
That looks like such a yummy and fresh tasting salad!
Naten-n-annie, I think if you rinse the garbanzos well, it helps with the downwind problem!
It’s purely a personal choice whether to use canned or fresh beans. Yes, the canned beans are great when time is an issue. But if you buy the beans at a reputable store where they’re likely to not be overly old, I think it’s well worth the trouble to soak and cook them, and MUCH cheaper.
I really do use the two types of parsley interchangeably, since I have both in my garden but I used curly parsley in this recipe.
Maria, thanks!
I love using chickpeas in salads. A great source of protein and they are super tasty!! I am sure the herbs boost it up a notch too!
This is a really delicious and beautiful salad. I should eat garbanzos more, as they are an excellent source of protein and fiber. But after that I have to stay downwind of everyone 😉
If you can’t control the freshness of rehydrated beans, wouldn’t canned be better for standardizing cooking times? Or does the lower cost of bulk dried beans outweigh the time spent cooking them?
Another question – did you use flat Italian parsley or curly parsley?