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Balela salad – a middle eastern chickpea salad – is hearty, refreshing, and bursting with fresh herbs, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and zesty flavor from the fresh lemon garlic dressing. So easy, so delicious, and so satisfying! Turn it into an easy, weeknight meal with some pita bread or flatbread. (gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free). This recipe was originally published on sept 22,2020
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Protein-packed, vibrant balela salad is such a satisfying side dish! This popular Middle Eastern or Mediterranean salad is so fresh and festive! Serve it as a side or spoon into flatbread or pita for a quick, flavor-packed lunch.
This salad has hearty chickpeas. It can also have black beans. You can use a combination of the two or just chickpeas. They pair beautifully with crunchy veggies, like cucumbers and peppers, fresh herbs, and a zesty sumac lemon garlic dressing that takes this chickpea salad to the next level.
Balela salad is simple, wholesome, bright, and flavor-packed and you will LOVE every bite of it!
Serve it as your summer salad or make wraps with pita bread or flatbread and tahini dressing! Pictured above with my gluten-free sweet potato flatbread.
Why You’ll Love Balela Salad
- no-cook bean salad packed with crunchy veggies and lots of flavor!
- versatile! Serve as a side dish or stuff into wraps for a quick lunch.
- easy mix-and-serve recipe
- naturally gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free
More Bean Salads
Balela Salad
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 2 15 ounce cans of chickpeas, drained or 3 cups cooked
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 bell peppers, diced small, use 1 red and 1 green, if possible
- 1 small cucumber, chopped small
- 1/4 cup chopped mint
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the Dressing
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, or a mix of balsamic and apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice, or more, to taste
- 1 teaspoon sumac, or use cumin, baharat, chipotle
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne , or red pepper flakes
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Chop up all your veggies. Add the washed and drained chickpeas, garlic, cherry tomatoes, and bell pepper to a bowl and toss. Add the mint and parsley, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and toss well.
- In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the dressing, and mix well.
- Add the dressing to the salad bowl, and toss well to combine, then season to taste with more salt and lemon. Serve immediately, or chill and store for up to 2 days.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients
- chickpeas – Use canned or home cooked chickpeas
- veggies – This salad is veggie-packed with garlic, halved cherry tomatoes, diced red bell pepper, and chopped cucumber. You can also add chopped olive and sun dried tomato, if you want even more veggies!
- fresh herbs – Parsley and mint add fresh flavors to this salad.
- oil and vinegar – Definitely use extra virgin olive oil, and you can use either red wine vinegar or a mix of balsamic and apple cider vinegars.
- lemon juice – Brings out this salad’s bright flavors.
- sumac – a citrusy-tasting, red Middle Eastern spice made from the berries of the sumac bush. Sumac looks a little like chili powder but is not spicy, but rather lemony. If you cannot find it, use lemon zest instead. Or use za’atar or cumin instead
- cayenne – For heat. You can use crushed pepper flakes instead, if you prefer.
💡Tips
- To allow for all the flavors to blend and develop, make the balela salad a bit ahead of time, at least half an hour before serving!
- You can use a mix of balsamic and apple cider vinegar instead of red wine vinegar.
- Feel free to add some chopped olives and sun-dried tomatoes to this recipe.
- Make this a whole meal by serving it in a pita and drizzling with tahini dressing.
How to Make Balela Salad
Chop up all your veggies. Add the washed and drained chickpeas, garlic, cherry tomatoes, and bell pepper to a bowl and toss.
Add the mint and parsley, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and toss well.
In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the dressing, and mix well. Add the dressing to the salad bowl, and toss well to combine, then season to taste with more salt and lemon.
Serve immediately, or chill and store for up to 2 days. You can serve this as a side dish or make it a quick lunch served in toasted pita bread or flatbread with hummus or tahini dressing.
What to Serve with Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
Balela salad is delicious as a side dish or part of a mezze platter. As a side, serve it with harissa cauliflower or a grilled veggie sandwich. For a mezze platter, pair it up with dishes like hummus, baba ganoush, falafel, pickles, and warm, toasted pita.
To make this chickpea salad into a meal, stuff it into warm pita or flatbread with some hummus, baba ganoush, or tahini dressing!
Frequently Asked Questions
Balela salad is naturally gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free.
I enjoy the herbs with the red wine olive oil dressing. The chickpeas turned out perfect, thanks for the instant pot tip.
Awesome!
This was really tasty!
I substituted white beans for the chickpeas because I forgot to make make cooked chickpeas from dried. I also didn’t add the mint because I didn’t have any. It was still really delicious, refreshing, and filling.
This one will definitely be on rotation with the warmer weather coming.
❤️❤️
This looks so tasty and healthy. thanks for the recipe.
This is exactly the recipe I needed this week! We’re about to take a road trip, and I was looking for something easy to pack in the cooler for lunch in the car. This is perfect.
Awesome
I made this on Friday for Lunch and my husband ate every last drop. This salad was delicious and satisfying. Leftovers on Saturday was even more delicious since the flavors had a chance to develop
Awesome
We loved this! It made a nice cool lunch during a warm early fall day. I was able to use vegetables and herbs fresh from the garden, only substituting chopped cucomelons for the cucumber. Very nice flavors in the vinaigrette. I used the cumin option. Will definitely make again while the garden is still going.
interesting!
Absolutely delicious recipe, Richa! I love how this is so delicious and so easy to make! Perfect for picnics/BBQs, and I love that it does not have to be heated! I added some harissa paste and some zaatar seasoning, and it added a great flavor! I don’t have sumac , so I followed your recommendation and added ground cumin and lemon zest. Sooo good!
Very nice recipe. We have to try. So easy, flavorful and delicious.
Made this today, and it is as refreshing as promised. Didn’t have sumac, so used cumin and lemon zest. Though I used the recommended amount of mint and parsley, ended up putting in more…just as well, my mint is taking up more than it’s fair share of garden real estate, and needed some beating back.
Awesome
This is on my list of MUST make.