Greek Chickpea Salad, made with chickpeas, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, olives and Feta is perfect to make ahead for lunch for the week!
Or, pair it with my Mediterranean Salmon Sheet Pan Dinner for an easy Mediterranean-inspired dinner.
Greek Chickpea Salad
If you’ve been following my free meal plans, you probably know I’ve been incorporating more meal prep recipes in them, recipes you can make once that can be served for the week. I love chickpeas in my salad and this doesn’t get easier because there is nothing to cook! Made with a fresh lemon vinaigrette, you’ll be counting down the minutes until lunch time! More meal prep lunches I like to make is are Taco Salad, Greek Chicken Meal Prep Rice Bowls, and Honey Sriracha Chicken and Broccoli.
I’m obsessed with chickpeas and Greek Salad, so this salad combination is one I could eat everyday! When I was in Greece, I ordered Greek salad every chance I could. What was interesting was they never added lettuce, just cucumbers, olives, red onion, bell pepper and Feta cheese, which is perfect to make for meal prep because you don’t have to worry about the lettuce wilting.
Sometimes known as garbanzo beans, chickpeas are extremely popular in the Mediterranean diet and are high in protein and fiber. They are also a good source of carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals making this salad satiating and great to serve as for lunch. I like using glass meal prep containers, these are the glass meal prep containers (affil link) I have and love.
Greek Chickpea Salad Variations
- If you don’t like chickpeas you can use white beans instead.
- Add some chopped Romaine for a more bulky salad.
- Use larger tomatoes, sliced up in place of cherry or grape tomatoes.
- Roast the chickpeas for some added crunch.
- Make it dairy free with a vegan cheese in place of Feta.
Types of Feta Cheese
We love Greek, French or Bulgarian feta in brine for its creamy, smooth texture but you can use any feta cheese you have on hand. Avoid fat-free Feta which is chalky and dry.
More Salad Recipes I love:
- Chickpea Salad with Cucumbers and Tomatoes
- Kale with Quinoa and Cranberries
- Caprese Salad
- Greek Pasta Salad
- Vegan Caesar Salad
Greek Chickpea Salad
Ingredients
- 15 ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 2 cups diced Persian cucumber
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced
- 1 1/3 cups grape tomatoes, halved
- 20 kalamata or gaeta olives
- 1/4 cup red onion, sliced lengthwise
- 4 ounces fresh feta, sliced thick
- Dressing:
- juice of 2 fresh lemons
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons fresh oregano leaves, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In each of 4 (4-cup) containers or bowls, arrange 1/3 cup chickpeas, 1/2 cup cucumber, 1/4 green pepper, 1/3 cup tomato, olives and red onion, top with Feta cheese.
- In a small bowl whisk the lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper.
- Serve about 1 1/2 tablespoons dressing with each salad.
This tastes AMAZING!! My only problem is staying out of it after lunch. 😋
This has been my favorite meal prepped lunch for at least two years now (if not longer). It’s SO easy, which fits into my busy lifestyle. I love salads, but keeping greens fresh is difficult. This goes around that. I love that you also don’t have to do any exact measurements, and you can also tweak it as desired (ex. I don’t love raw onions, so I typically don’t include those). It feels balanced and healthy while also being delicious. Thank you for this!
Yes it is so versatile! Glad you enjoy it!
Quick and easy to meal prep, I used crumbled feta as I prefer it mixed into the salad and added a little pepperoncini juice to the dressing. To keep it fresh for 4 days, I waited to 1/2 the cherry tomatoes right before eating tossed with dressing and yum ! Ate with a few crispy pita chips for crunch
Quick and easy! Doesn’t take a lot of time for someone that’s busy and helps me avoid fast food and of course a lot more healthier!
I have made this a few times and enjoyed it every time! It’s great to work once and then have four lunches ready to go. I omit the olives but otherwise follow the recipe exactly. Delicious!
I love this recipe. However, I dislike olives. Any ideas on what I can sub them for?
Maybe capers? I don’t like olives either so I just don’t put them in the salad. Sometimes I just add extra garbanzos
Easy – check! Delicious – check! Satisfying AND light – check! I used a good Greek full-fat feta and pitted Greek olives with herbs and olive oil and sweet cherry tomatoes. New favorite!
Absolutely Delicious
5 stars
This is definitely one of our go-to recipes year round!
I don’t really care for chickpeas so I used red beans and dried oregano instead of fresh. I can’t believe how easy and fast this was to prepare! I had it as a side at first and then made it a meal with some of Gina’s yogurt-marinated chicken and it paired perfectly.
Smaller size,alternated cheese as everyday same boring, didn’t need onion as this I felt was too strong. Otherwise grate idea.
Go ahead and make extra. You’re going to want it!
This salad is scrumptious! I thought the lemon dressing would be too lemony but it was perfect. I think I’m addicted!
I love this recipe! It is a great lunch prep for the week and tastes so good. One of my go-to’s for sure!
Diced the green pepper smaller than pictured, and I had some red/yellow bell pepper I had to get rid of so I threw that in, too. Topped with crumbled Feta. You really can’t go wrong with this. SO easy and good!!!
Would love to have your recipes for Salads. Loved the Chick Pea. salad especially.
https://www.skinnytaste.com/recipes/salad/ 🙂
Wow – this is REALLY good!!! Easy to make, and tastes amazing.
This is one of my faves for meal prep and work lunches..Never gets old.
Meal prepped this salad for lunches for the week. Delicious and very easy to make. Highly recommend!
A new favorite salad!!!! I made it exactly as written — perfect.
I loooove making this! I eat it multiple times a week for lunch. The only difference is that I don’t include olives, and I roast my chickpeas first with a mix of olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Adds a nice little crunch!
I thought this was excellent. I added some romaine just to bulk it up, making it again tonight.
Delicious! I love the combination of all the flavors, and it’s been my lunch and dinner the last couple days.
Delish and holds over for several days. I threw it all together like a regular salad and just divided over four days. I didn’t add the feta and dressing until I was ready to eat. What I really like about this dish is it’s not only tasty, but when I eat it for lunch, it def holds me until dinner with no hunger pangs
fab
This is so easy to make and has such great flavors! Just completed my meal prep for the week and made this as my Sunday lunch too. Was soooo good! Thanks Gina for helping me think outside the traditional salad or leftovers as my only lunch options.
Awesome!!
I just input the nutrition information into the WW Calculator and came up with 10 points per serving, not 6 points like the recipe states. How did you come up with 6 points?
Delicious!! Goes together quickly and is so good!! Prepared as printed.
Made this from the new meal prep book though I had seen it before. I still have fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers from the garden so it was the perfect choice. I have to weigh out the feta or I use too much. I blended the dressing using fresh oregano from the garden as well. I poured the dressing on in the morning so that the veggies could absorb the flavors before lunch. Delicious!
This recipe is delicious! I was a little heavy handed with the feta 🙂 but my husband and I loved how fresh and easy this was to put together. Thanks for noting the WW points. That is always super helpful!
We made this today with some modifications based on preference and what we already had in our fridge:
– big tomatoes instead of cherry
-lime just from limes that I needed to use instead of lemon juice
-homemade vegan feta (tofu based & super delicious!)
– roasted the chickpeas instead of having them just out of the can.
It was really great, thanks for the wonderful suggestion!!!!
DELICIOUS!! And hearty with the beans.
This is so delicious!!! Thank you for so many wonderful ways to enjoy chickpeas 🤗🤗🤗
I made this exactly as written, and all I can say is, WOW! I am not a salad person, which has been hard since I’m trying to change my eating habits, but I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t like salad. Now I know why! I’m not a lettuce person! I love all of the fresh ingredients in this “salad,” and the dressing is the bomb. I’m able to take this to work with me for lunch because I don’t have access to a refrigerator or microwave. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I don’t really see how greek salad can be seen as “American cuisine”. It’s Mediterranean. Other than that, I will try it this week.
Very refreshing and quick salad to make. I served it with a side of garlic naan bread.
I’ve made this several times this summer and every time I love it! Every day, more than one person has commented on how good it looks and smells. I did leave out the onions and olives since I don’t like either, and added in two peperocini to each serving, which adds a mild kick. So good! Thank you!
This is my second week in a row making four of these and eating for lunch or dinner. I add chicken breast or boiled shrimp. So simple and so good! Thanks for the recipe and for the WW point totals!
I’ve been meaning to make this for months, and finally got around to it this week. This salad is so delicious! Super fresh and tangy, with plenty of protein from the chickpeas and feta to keep me (and my husband) full. I feel like this could easily be used as a big side salad for picnics, or thrown in a pita with some hummus, too.
So happy you liked it!
I love this recipe. It is so easy to assemble. I use kidney beans instead of chickpeas because I prefer them and the color of kidney beans compliments the presentation. I doubled the recipe and took it to a cookout. It was the hit of the meal. Many people asked me for the recipe. I have also used it as a topper to salad greens. Also tasty.
Easy recipe that’s flavorful and filling. Yum!
Thanks for the reminder about this salad. I always have these ingredients on hand, and it’s always delicious! Sometimes I even have it for breakfast!
The freestyle points come up to 10, not 6? Any idea why the points are so different?
Are you using the recipe builder? The only accurate way to determine any recipe’s SmartPoints® value is to plug the ingredients into the recipe builder on the Weight Watchers website (Click on “My Foods,” select “Recipe,” and click “Create a recipe.”) which does not count fruits and vegetables in recipes in the calculations as they are now 0 points.
The SmartPoints® calculator isn’t meant for recipes and will often give you the wrong points (usually higher) because it’s counting the fruits and vegetables. So if you see a recipe with a SmartPoints® value that’s different from what the calculator tells you, now you know why.
Great Salad, easy to do!
I just used the Recipe Builder and it still came up with 9 points per serving – not 6
Are they kept in the freezer or fridge until ready to eat?
Fridge.
O. M. G! This salad is amazing – and my entire family (kids included) loved it! As a matter of fact, I actually had to make more the next day bc we ran out and my son wanted some to take to work with him! ❤️ Thank you for sharing!
Awesome!
Just made this for my lunches for the week. It’s really delicious and light!
I added some rotisserie chicken, cutback on other ingredients and added tzatziki as a dressing. AMAZZINGGG!🥰
This salad is fantastic! I ate it with romaine and found it very filling. Love the dressing; so simple but so fresh tasting. Thanks, Gina, for making my lunch rock!
Yummo. Cannot wait to experience this tomorrow. 🤓
This is now my go to lunch!! So fresh & delicious. I did make a few changes to mine though. I left out the olives – I’m not big on olives. I also add a bit of truvia to the dressing. A little tart for my tastes. After that I’m in love!!
Made this for lunches this week. I used Trader Joe’s Fat free feta and added capers. (and omitted the green pepper because I didn’t have one).
Brought the points down to 3 freestyle (olives 1 , oil 2)
Not usually a fan of chickpeas, but this was very good.
I could totally see adding cooked shrimp to chicken or even a hard boiled egg. Will be making again. Thinking great for packing up for the beach in the summer.
Just made these and couldn’t even wait until lunch to eat one- so delicious, thanks!
Great lunch! Wasn’t sure how I would feel about the oregano in the dressing but it was delicious!!
Love this! Any other super easy meal prep ideas?
Just made this for the first time today and I loved it! It was so nice to prep everything for my lunches this week & have one less thing to worry about. I’m sick of sandwiches and frozen meals, this was so fresh and satisfying. The best part was when I was slicing everything and my 5 year old kept sneaking bites. Turns out she loves bell peppers and chickpeas! Thanks Gina!
Love this recipe. Thank you very much for sharing with us.
How many calories is this dish if you omit the dressing?
I love this salad for lunch! I am trying to eat healthier, so this is perfect.
Probably shouldn’t have waited until lunchtime to do this as I was already hungry and ravenous by the time I finished from having to handle all of the yummy stuff. But it didn’t take long and it was SO good and now I have three more just waiting for me in the fridge. So good!
This is SO delicious!!!! Definitely will be on my rotation for meal prep 🙂 Thanks Gina!!
This is amazing! The dressing? Oh my!! Hubby even liked it!
Love this! Have seen the recipe come up on my feed a few times and have meant to make it, but always tend to opt for greens-heavy salads. Well, with the current romaine recall, Gina reposted a collection of greens-free salads and this was one of them., so I finally made it! I added a bit of spinach to it to add some Volume. I love Greek salad and love chick peas- this really was a great alternative! Light but filling and the dressing was great! Will make this again in the future! Will probably make the chicken from the tzaziki chicken bowls (we always make a huge batch of that chicken…if you’ve not tried it, you should!) to bulk it up a bit and increase the protein further.
Prepped this yesterday for lunches this week, and it didn’t disappoint. So simple. So much flavor. So filling! I’m new to your site, and am looking forward to making the other meals from your plans. Thank you so much for putting these together!
Love this! Filling and tasty. Co-workers said it looks delicious. Will make again.
I used this basic idea for a salad and changed it to my tastes (no olive or red onion, Italian dressing) and it was fantastic! I really liked the mix of chickpea, cucumber, tomato, and feta. I’ll definitely be eating this again. Thanks for the great starting point!
I absolutely LOVE this recipe for meal prepping lunches. It is definitely one that I keep on heavy rotation. My only issue is, my dressing seems to coagulate overnight and is never the right texture when I go to eat the salad. What am I doing wrong?
Take your dressing out of the fridge about 30 mins before you want to eat it. Your olive oil is just cold!
YUM!! I have made this for lunch for the past 5 weeks! Sometimes I add rotisserie chicken with it. This is so simple easy and a nice change from lettuce salads!
Made this for 4 meals for my week and never got sick of it. I added Gina’s Chicken from her Chicken Tzatziki Bowls recipe and it was perfect! I kept the chicken separate and warmed it up and put it on top of the cold salad. So amazing!!
Hi Gina: Can we please get exact measurements for the amount of lemon juice for the dressing? I used just one lemon, because the lemon I bought was so large, but it was super “lemoney.” Not sure if it turned out right. Thanks!
Delicious and super easy. Following Weight Watchers, so this is perfect 4 lunches done !
I added some rotisserie chicken to make it a dinner and it was delish!!
Ooh! What a good idea! Shrimp would work, too!
Such an excellent easy to make delicious salad. Talk about fast too. My family loved it. I just didn’t have the olives so I left those out, but my God was it good.
Best, easiest, and most delicious lunch. Thanks! I skipped the olives and added roasted garlic.
What can I use in place of cucumbers Audrey
You could try substituting a zucchini. I think that the flavors would blend well.
This is SO good! I’m prepping some today for the third week in a row. 🙂
Made this today! Going in rotation, so fresh and light and easy to make! Thanks Gina!
The dressing was not great. Did anyone tweak it?
Do you cook the chickpeas?
No.
Hi Gina – for the dressing can you substitute anything for the oregano ?
You can leave it out.
Should we cook the chick peas?
No.
Ate this all week-it was so good I am going to make again for next week-thanks!
This is so good and easy to put together. The shocking part was that I was completely satisfied when I finished. Thanks for the awesome recipes and weekly menus they are helping me stay on track.
great!
So delicious! Prepped this for lunches this week and it will be in constant rotation! I absolutely love the chickpea salads!
Halved the recipe to make lunch for the next two days!
So easy and a change from my regular WW lunch. Look forward to trying it.
Really fresh and filling!
I added some white wine vinegar as i like the flavor of vinegar..
Thought I’d miss the romaine but I was full with just the recipe as is.
Thanks!
My husband and I loved this. He loves olives I do not. It works well both ways. I love having something for four lunches without having to think about it. We both liked that it took a good 20 minutes to eat . I added a couple of corn muffins for the husband since he needs more calories than me. Thank you.
Made this for lunch this week very yummy. I also added some zero point shrimp and subbed dill for oregano in the dressing. Thank you for doing the cheese by weight, I feel like it’s so much more accurate than volume! More of that please!!
Hi I’m just wondering what makes this salad 6 freestyle points if most of the ingredients are free on weight watchers?
Oil and cheese
I was loving this til I saw the olives. Yicky!!! What would be a comparable substitute for them? Nuts maybe?
Just leave them out. I do that with olives since I’m not a fan.
This looks AMAZING! Gina, thank you so much for all the great ideas!
Gina, have you tried roasting garbanzo beans for salads (nice and chewy) or snacks with seasoning (chewy or more crunchy)? I much prefer this texture in salads and thought others might be interested as well. For me, it completely transforms garbanzo beans from a not so great texture to wonderful and tasty.
https://www.skinnytaste.com/roasted-chickpea-snack-2-pts/ 🙂
Exactly what I need for lunch! I work from home, & lunch is the most difficult meal. Can never think of something healthy. The meal prep aspect is the best; one & done! Thanks, Gina!
Looks amazing! I love Greek salad, too, and can’t wait to have this for lunch tomorrow. One question…chickpeas do not like me. Do you think white beans would be a good substitute?
Sure
I love the idea of this salad and would like to take to a pitch-in this Sunday. Anything I should keep in mind? Can I go ahead and toss with the dress ahead of time? Use crumbled Feta? Thanks
I think it would last longer without the dressing. Sure crumbled is fine.
School starts next week, this is going to be my easy, get back in the routine lunch!,
The recipe doesn’t specify how many cups diced of Persian cucumber? Also, is it 1 green bell pepper, diced?
sorry about that, not sure what happened. I just fixed it.
How is this 6 points per serving?At most I calculate 4 pt
3 for the feta and 1 for the oil
If you use recipe builder, you will see its 6. 11 total for the cheese, 8 for the olive oil, 4 for the olives, divided by 4 servings.
I calculated 4 points as well, but I also used reduced fat feta.
I am obsessed with your web site and absolutely love everything so far that I have made. I cannot wait to put this simple salad together. It has all the flavors that are my favorites. Thank you so much for the work you are doing. It is truly helping in meal prep and in losing weight. Otra vez, gracias!
Like the other comments, am looking for new and interesting lunch. This looks like the BOMB! Love your site and the fact that the freestyle points are listed. Thanks soooo much.
Patricia
Hi there,
What container do you put your dressing in? This looks yummy!
These https://amzn.to/2PwgLlh
This looks so good! Totally making it for lunch tomorrow!
Paige
Thank you! This is so simple and lately I’ve been losing all interests in bringing my own lunch lately. This is great and it looks yumm.