This Tomato Chickpea Salad with Cilantro & Lime has all sorts of good going on. It’s full of nutrition, can be made in minutes & is packed with fresh, citrusy flavour!
I thought that after Tuesday’s One-Minute Cinnamon Roll in a Mug naughtiness, we should put something extra nutritious on the menu today. Not that there is anything wrong with having a treat once in a while, although it seems the sugar and carb police disagree. I came up against quite a few of them this week. The current diabetes epidemic is apparently all my fault……😱
Enough of the grumpiness. Let’s fill our faces with this delicious Tomato Chickpea Salad with Cilantro & Lime instead.😉
LOADED TACO FRIES REINVENTED
The idea for this recipe came from my Loaded Taco Fries with Lime Crema. When I last made it, I was running a bit low on potatoes so ended up with lots of the chickpea topping leftover. I ate it for my lunch the next day and realized how lovely it was as a salad. So I tweaked it a little bit to improve it further and here we are with this very refreshing, light and deliciously healthy salad recipe.
This very simple yet incredibly tasty salad has only 6 ingredients and takes just a few minutes to make. It is packed with flavour and has so much good going on, it will be sure to make up for any Cinnamon Roll or general dessert madness.
THE PERFECT SIDE
This salad is the perfect accompaniment to so many things. It’s particularly good with veggie burgers, in particular my White Bean Artichoke Burgers and my Zesty Black Bean Burgers. It is great with curries too, and I am sure it will also be wonderful in the summer with grilled food. I like it on it’s own for a light lunch or snack and it would be perfect for packed lunches and picnics. I have also eaten it with some leftover cold rice stirred through it to bulk it out a bit. It is incredibly versatile!
HOW TO MAKE MY TOMATO CHICKPEA SALAD WITH CILANTRO & LIME
- Open a can of chickpeas, drain and rinse (make sure to save that lovely aquafaba. You can make all sorts of yummy things with it like my oil-free Loaded Taco Fries, my Cheese & Onion Roasted Chickpeas and my scrumptious Omelette).
- Chop some tomatoes and red onion then mix with the chickpeas.
- Drizzle over some olive oil and lime juice and season well to taste
- Add some cilantro leaves and stir again.
- Leave to sit for at least 10 minutes for the flavours to mingle.
LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!
If you give this salad a try, be a ☆ and let me know what you think in the comments below. You can also share a pic on Instagram. I am @avirtualvegan. Use the hashtag #avirtualvegan to be sure I don’t miss it!
Tomato Chickpea Salad with Cilantro & Lime
Ingredients
- 2 cups | one 540ml can cooked chickpeas
- 1 medium red onion chopped finely
- 4-5 large juicy tomatoes diced
- 2 big handfuls cilantro - flat leaf parsley is a good sub stems removed
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil omit to make oil-free
- 1 large lime zest & juice
- salt & black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the chickpeas, onion and tomato to a large bowl.
- Drizzle over the olive oil and lime juice and sprinkle over the zest then stir well so everything is coated. Season well with salt and black pepper to taste. Be generous. It really brings out the flavours.
- Add the cilantro leaves and stir again.
- Leave to sit for about 10 minutes to allow the flavours to mingle.
- Stir well before serving.
Recipe Notes
This salad is best on the day it is made but leftovers can be stored in the fridge and are ok for up 2 days after. The cilantro leaves go a bit limp after the first day but it's still perfectly edible.
Stir well before serving.
Jo says
Looks Lovely! I have all the ingredients with the exception of limes- I have lemons. Will lemons work?
A Virtual Vegan says
Lemon would be good too!
Julie McGrail says
This is a family favorite! I used cherry tomatoes and added feta cheese.
A Virtual Vegan says
So glad you are enjoying it!
Alan says
I’ve made this once, and plan to again this week. I cook just for myself, so this was enough for about three meals. I found it was fine after 3-4 days. I didn’t have any cilantro so I subbed plain old salad in bag. I also added some pasta to part of it one day, and some croutons the next, and both worked out very well. Very tasty and easy to make, this will definitely be part of my regular meal rotation from now on.
A Virtual Vegan says
Great! I’m so glad you enjoyed it Alan and your additions sound lovely. It’s a pretty versatile recipe as you have found. Thanks so much for stopping by to let me know!
Shanasy says
Thank you Mel for this wonderfully quick recipe. I have featured this (link) on my FB site “Super Quick Plant-Based Recipes” https://www.facebook.com/SuperQuickPBRecipes/ where I feature recipes that only take 20 min. or less to prepare and use as few ingredients as possible! If you have any other super quick recipes, just email me and I’ll be happy to feature you again!
A Virtual Vegan says
That’s great. Thank you so much for the feature! I will take a look at your page. 20 minute or under recipes are always good to have on hand!
Marla says
HI Mel,
Sounds quite tasty, healthy and very colorful. Love your combination of flavors and ingredients. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & tweeted.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Marla 🙂
kimmythevegan says
Simple salad, yet it sounds so refreshing. I’m looking more to salads like this as the weather warms here. I like how you left the cilantro larger, I usually chop the heck out of it. I’m not sure why since I love it so much.
“although it seems the sugar and carb police disagree. I came up against quite a few of them this week. The current diabetes epidemic is apparently all my fault……😱”
Are you kidding me????? This makes me slightly happier at not having a very well-known/popular blog. Damn. Life is about balance. It took me SO LONG to figure this out, but even when I was stuck in my restrictive phase, I never made others feel guilty about enjoying whatever foods they wanted. Meh.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thanks Kimmy. I left the cilantro larger so it was more like salad leaves, plus it looks so pretty. And as for negative messages, you wouldn’t believe how many I get if I post something with white flour, or powdered sugar (or white death as someone called it yesterday 😂). 90% of my recipes are healthy. I’m not perfect and my recipes are the actual food that I eat in real life, so I don’t feel bad about posting the odd one with those ingredients. In fact those recipes often do better than my healthier ones so it goes to show that most people don’t mine and enjoy them. You can’t keep everyone happy. You have to develop a thick skin in this blogging business!
kimmythevegan says
Still can’t believe flour & sugar haters. Everything in moderation, right? Life is about balance.
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for sharing this awesome salad at Healthy Vegan Fridays – I’m pinning & sharing =) Hope you’re having a great week, girl!
A Virtual Vegan says
Oh yes, totally! And you’re welcome. Thank you for sharing it. And yes, having a good week so far. Hope you are too!
Amy Katz from Veggies Save The Day says
This is my favorite kind of salad! Is there anything the mighty chickpea can’t do?
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Amy. There is literally nothing the might chickpea cannot do! I go into panic mode if I start running low on them. I use them so much!