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This lentil chickpea salad makes a hearty lunch for busy days! It cooks up in less than 30 minutes using simple, budget-friendly ingredients. A vegan chickpea salad that’s perfect to carry with you on the go if needed!
Lentils and chickpeas make a surprisingly tasty combination in this easy vegan salad recipe. A quick and easy tahini sauce makes a tasty topping that brings all the flavors together.
If you love this recipe you might also enjoy this Mediterranean lentil salad, easy lentil salad, or this orzo chickpea salad.
Why This Recipe Works
- This chickpea lentil salad is a solid base to get creative using a mix and match of veggies and spices.
- Incredibly quick vegan chickpea salad! It’s ready in just minutes.
- Great for meal prepping.
- Tastes great warm or cold making it even more flexible for meals.
What Goes Into This Lentil and Chickpea Salad
This easy salad recipe uses a few pantry staples and fresh veggies. Nothing is too difficult to find and you should be able to gather up what you don’t already have on a quick run to the grocery store.
- Olive oil: Just a touch to cook the veggies for lentil and chickpea salad.
- Onion: I prefer cooking with yellow onion in this recipe.
- Bell pepper: Colored peppers are sweeter than green. Choose a red, orange, or yellow bell pepper for the best flavor.
- Seasoning: Garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- Legumes: We’re using garbanzo beans, AKA chickpeas, and lentils. For the lentils, I recommend using green, brown, or other varieties that hold up well when cooked. Avoid using red or yellow which cook up rather mushy.
- Spinach: An easy fresh green that makes a tasty addition to this chickpea and lentil salad. You can also use kale, arugula, or other greens.
- Tahini: A paste made from sesame seeds that’s great for making a creamy vegan salad dressing.
- Lemon juice: Use fresh lemon if possible for the best flavor.
How To Make Lentil Chickpea Salad
- 1) Cook the onions and peppers in a skillet with olive oil over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, or until slightly browned. Add one-quarter teaspoon of garlic powder, salt, and pepper to the cooked veggies.
- 2) Add the garbanzo beans to the onions and peppers and cook for an additional 4 minutes.
- 3) Add the spinach and water to the skillet and cover with a lid, cooking until the spinach is wilted.
- 4) When it’s ready, add the lentils to the chickpea salad mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
- 5) Combine the tahini, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and one-quarter teaspoon of garlic powder in a small bowl. Add the warm water and whisk until smooth.
- 6) Drizzle the tahini dressing over the chickpea lentil salad and toss everything together.
- 7) Enjoy warm or cold!
Expert Tips and FAQs
- Avoid using red or yellow lentils when making this lentil and chickpea salad. They’re too soft and mushy.
- Be sure to drain the lentils and chickpeas well so they don’t add liquid to the salad.
- Store leftovers in the fridge for up to five days. I don’t recommend freezing this salad. Serve it up cold or reheat it in the microwave or a skillet until warm.
Either one will work but I highly recommend cooking them at home. You will have more control over the texture. For salads, lentils are best cooked with a little bite left in them. Here’s a guide to lentils for reference.
The beauty of this recipe is both work great! This makes the dish so much more flexible when it comes to serving it up.
How to Serve
Really, this lentil chickpea salad is an entire meal in one bowl but here are some ideas for serving if you’re looking for something a bit more substantial.
- Make a batch of free-formed bread or some vegan dinner rolls.
- Add some fruit with this ginger fruit smoothie or summer fruit pizza.
- Serve up a simple soup such as vegan tomato soup or creamy roasted red pepper soup.
- Add a different dressing. Try it out with an avocado cream or green goddess dressing.
More Lentil Recipes You’ll Enjoy
If you’re loving my recipes and would like a more comprehensive resource, check out my cookbooks!
Vegan Lentil Chickpea Salad
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Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon of olive oil
- ¼ cup of diced yellow onion
- ½ medium red orange or yellow bell pepper, diced
- ½ teaspoon of garlic powder divided
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup of cooked garbanzo beans
- 1 cup of cooked lentils
- 2 ½ cups of spinach
- 1 Tablespoon of water for the spinach
- 1 ½ Tablespoons of tahini
- 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice
- 1 to 2 Tablespoons warm water for the dressing
Instructions
Salad:
- In a frying pan over medium heat, pour olive oil and onions and peppers, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until slightly browned. Add ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- Next, add garbanzo beans to the onions and peppers and cook for an additional 4 minutes.
- Once 4 minutes is up, add spinach and water and cover until spinach is wilted.
- Add the lentils to the chickpea salad mix, add salt and pepper again, and set aside.
Dressing:
- To prepare tahini drizzle: combine tahini, lemon juice, salt, pepper, ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder, and add warm water and whisk until smooth.
- Lastly, drizzle tahini over lentil salad and toss together.
- Enjoy warm or cold!
Notes
- Avoid using red or yellow lentils when making this lentil and chickpea salad. They’re too soft and mushy.
- Be sure to drain the lentils and chickpeas well so they don’t add liquid to the salad.
- Store leftovers in the fridge for up to five days. I don’t recommend freezing this salad. Serve it up cold or reheat it in the microwave or a skillet until warm.
The recipe ingredients list 1 Tbl of water. But, in the instructions, water is added both with the spinach into the skillet and also is added to the tahini dressing. What measurements of water should I use for each? Thank you! Can’t wait to try this – looks delicious!
Great question, Anne! Use the 1 Tablespoon of water with the spinach so it steams and wilts. For the tahini dressing, whisk in warm water 1 teaspoon at a time, about 1 to 2 Tablespoons total, until it’s smooth and pourable, since tahini brands vary in thickness. I hope you love it!
Yummy this is definitely a great treat!
Excellent! Loved it! I added some whole grains and it was awesome.
Yum! Love that addition!
This Vegan Lentil Chickpea Salad was so yum! I’ve been looking for ways to get more beans and veggies into my diet and this is it.
This is definitely a great way to do that!
Such a hearty and flavorful salad!
Gotta love the hearty salad recipe!
Love all the flavors in this salad! And I can’t believe how fast it was to make! Definitely a new lunch time fave!
The flavors go so well together!
This lentil chickpea salad is incredible! The tahini dressing is perfect as well.
Right?! The dressing really is the cherry on top!
This vegan lentil chickpea salad is so good! It makes the perfect healthy lunch … thanks for the recipe!
My favorite is that it’s so easy to whip up too!
I am loving this lentil chickpea salad! It’s packed with flavor and super easy to make.
Right?! So tasty and flavorful!
Always looking for new lunch box ideas. This is ace, thank you.
This is a great one! So easy on the go!
Love how simple this yummy and filling salad is to whip up!