Kale Salad with Crispy Chickpeas, Avocado and Feta

This light Kale Salad with Chickpeas, Avocado and Feta is a great family-style salad for your next pot luck, or meal prep lunch for the week!

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Easy Kale Salad with Chickpeas, Avocado and Feta

This chickpea kale salad not only packs a serious flavor punch with its fresh and tart dijon and lemon vinaigrette dressing, it's also got the perfect balance of different textures. Loaded with creamy avocado, cool and refreshing cucumber, delicate shallot and crispy chickpeas, this delicious salad has it all!

Made with simple ingredients like fiber-rich kale and protein packed chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), this kale salad recipe is very filling and satisfying- making it a great side dish or lunch recipe!

Serve this tasty salad fresh and room temperature, or right from the fridge for a tasty meal prepped lunch!

Ingredients

Crispy Chickpea ("Croutons")

• A can of chickpeas, drained and dried. You'll rub them with paper towels or a clean kitchen towel to remove the skins so they get extra crispy in the oven!
• Extra virgin olive oil, or avocado oil.
• Garlic powder.
• Onion powder.
• Chili powder.
• Salt.
• Fresh ground black pepper.

Dressing

• Fresh lemon juice.
• Extra virgin olive oil.
• Organic Apple cider vinegar. I love Bragg.
• Honey.
• Dijon mustard. I LOVE the Country Style Dijon Mustard from Grey Poupon. It's soemthing I always have on hand, and it is great for salad dressings.
• Dried oregano.

Salad Components

• A bunch of curly kale or tuscan kale, chopped and cleaned. Make it super easy with a salad spinner!
• 1 avocado, thinly sliced.
• 1 medium cucumber, cut into half moons. Use the food processor if you like to make quick work of the slicing for the cucumbers and shallot.
• 1 small shallot.
• Crumbled feta cheese. I like to get mine in brine, and crumble it myself for better flavor and texture.

How to make the Kale salad with chickpeas

This is such a good kale salad, and one of my favorite things to make for easy weekday lunches! This delicious Kale Chickpea Salad is also a great side dish! Here's how to make it:

1. Prep: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drain chickpeas well, transfer to a plate or cutting board lined with several; paper towels. Lay a layer of 2-3 paper towels over the chickpeas and run back and fourth until all chickpea skins are removed and chickpeas are dry, changing towels if necessary as you go. Discard the skins, and toss dried chickpeas in olive oil and spices. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray and roast chickpeas for 45 minutes, tossing every 15 minutes, until golden brown and crisp. Remove from oven and cool while you prepare and assemble the salad.
2. Chop kale into 1” or smaller pieces, and massage with your hands to break down the fibers a bit. Slice cucumber into thin half moons, and thinly slice one small shallot. Toss all ingredients together with ¾ cup of grated parmesan or crumbled feta.

1. Add all dressing ingredients to a medium bowl or liquid measure and toss to combine, then dress the salad. I recommend dressing the salad up to 30 minutes before serving, as the kale is hearty and will not wilt, and the flavor improves as it sits.
2. Once chickpeas have cooled, divide tossed salad across 4 bowls, and top each evenly with sliced avocado and crispy chickpeas and serve! (Alternatively, toss all ingredients and serve family style).(See recipe card below for full ingredients list and instructions).
   

Storing the crispy chickpeas

Roasting the crispy chickpeas can be done up to a week in advance! Just cool them completely, and store in an airtight container (I like to use a mason jar). The crispy chickpeas also make a great snack, or mix-in for other salads. Once roasted and cooled, they will keep at room temperature for about a week.

You could even make a big batch and keep them around for another use!

This salad is easily adapted to work with your personal preferences, as well as what you have on hand in your refrigerator and pantry. Here are some great swaps and additons you can use to make this recipe your own.

Substitutions and Additions

• Instead of shallot, use thinly sliced red onion.
• Swap the honey for maple syrup.
• Use toasted pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, or pistachios in place of the crunchy chickpeas for great crunch while keeping the plant-based protein.
• This recipe work with any type of kale you like, from curly kale to Lacinato kale (aka dinosaur kale or tuscan kale).
• Use avocado oil in place of the olive oil to roast the chickpeas.
• Swap the feta for parmesan cheese.
• This salad would also work well with regular lettuce!
• Add some thinly sliced red bell pepper for some extra veg and crunch!

Storing leftover salad

Store any leftover salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. Store roasted chickpeas in an airtight container or mason jar at room temperature for up to 1 week.

This salad is super flavorful, and almost gets better as it sits. The hearty kale can really withstand the acidic dressing, making this a great candidate for meal prep or pot lucks. Be sure to omit the chickpeas from the salad until ready to serve.

More great salad recipes

If you love this easy Kale Salad with Chickpeas, Avocado and Feta, you'll love these tasty salad recipes, too!

• Kale Crunch Salad with Strawberries and Feta
• Butter Lettuce Salad with Avocado
• Fennel Salad with Apples and Goat Cheese Dressing
• Mediterranean White Bean Salad

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