A few years back when I was on a huge Greek and Mediterranean food kick I decided to whip up this super simple healthy chickpea salad for spring. It’s full of fresh veggies, tomatoes, spices, feta, olives, and protein-packed chickpeas!
The best part about this chopped Greek salad recipe is that there’s no cooking required; all you’ll do is chop the veggies and toss them with the light lemon dressing. You can marinate it in the fridge for an hour or so, but it isn’t necessary.
Normally I like to eat this salad for lunch over mixed greens or spinach but you can also enjoy it as is. It’s full of plant-based protein from chickpeas, a great option to pack for lunch, or even as an easy side dish for a BBQ or potluck, so let’s do it up!
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What’s in a Greek salad?
I’ve loved Greek salads for as long as I can remember because they’re so fresh, flavorful, and super satisfying. Traditional Greek salads are filled with beautiful veggies like red onion, tomatoes, cucumber, and bell pepper, along with kalamata olives, and blocks of feta cheese. They’re dressed simply with good quality olive oil, oregano, salt, and vinegar like red wine vinegar. Unlike many other salad recipes, Greek salads don’t have any leafy greens in them.
It’s common to keep the feta and the veggies in larger chunks, but in my take on a Greek salad I’m chopping everything up a little more finely (aka a Greek chopped salad!)
Ingredients in the best chopped Greek salad
This delicious Greek chickpea salad is packed with a rainbow of veggies and light, fresh flavor from a lovely lemon dressing. Here’s everything you’ll need to make it:
- Veggies: we’re packing this baby full of fresh vegetables like red, yellow & green bell pepper, red onion, grape or cherry tomatoes, and cucumber. I love the crunchy texture that all of the veggies create.
- Chickpeas: gotta have that wonderful, plant-based protein from chickpeas!
- Mix-ins: like a true Greek salad we’re mixing in kalamata olives and some crumbled feta cheese. YUM. Feel free to add a diced avocado, too, for additional healthy fats!
- For the dressing: you’ll need some olive oil, fresh lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt & pepper to make a light Greek salad dressing. So easy and SO fresh.
More delicious protein options
This chopped Greek salad is super easy to customize with your favorite proteins! Here’s what I can recommend:
- For additional plant-based protein, try adding in a cup of cooked quinoa.
- Cooked, cubed chicken would also be delicious (if you’re not vegan/vegetarian). I recommend my Baked or Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken!
- Baked or grilled salmon would also be delicious. Try my Honey Lemon Garlic Salmon.
- Grilled shrimp would be another great option.
Making this Greek chickpea salad for a party?
I recommend doubling everything to feed all of the guests! You can even make the salad 1-2 days ahead of time as the veggies will marinate beautifully in the dressing.
Storing tips
Store any leftover salad in the fridge for up to 3-5 days. After a few days, the cucumbers will break down a bit, so I recommend enjoying it within 3 days of making the salad.
More salad recipes you’ll love
- Vegan Curried Broccoli Chickpea Salad
- Roasted Carrot Cauliflower Quinoa Salad with Sunshine Dressing
- Avocado & Tomato Chickpea Pasta Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette
- California Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad
- Spicy Cashew Chickpea Broccoli Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing
Get all of our salad recipes here!
I hope you love this chopped Greek chickpea salad! If you make it, be sure to leave a comment below and rate the recipe! You can also snap and picture and post it on Instagram using the hashtag #ambitiouskitchen.
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
The Easiest Chickpea Greek Salad
Ingredients
- For the salad:
- 1 (15 ounce) can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- ¼ cup diced red onion
- 15 grape tomatoes, halved (about 1 cup halved grape tomatoes)
- ⅓ cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped if desired
- 1 medium cucumber, sliced and quartered
- 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled or cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- For the dressing:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Place all salad ingredients into a large bowl and toss to combine.
- In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and oregano. Pour onto salad and toss again to well combine. Taste and add salt and pepper as you'd like.
- Place in refrigerator for 1 hour to marinate, or serve immediately. Salad is best enjoyed within 2-3 days after making.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published March 17th, 2015, republished April 2nd, 2019, republished May 18th, 2022, and republished on April 4th, 2024.
One of my most made recipes for years. Super easy and delicious for meal prep on its own, for a potluck or as a side for a protein (salmon, chicken, etc.). Sometimes switch things up by adding black beans +/- serving over spinach for some extra greens. Love it!
Love that! This one’s great for customizing 🙂
Easy and delicious! I’ll definitely make this again. And again.
Glad you enjoyed!
One word: Delicious! Ok, two words: Easy! We loved this. Served with roast chicken. Yum!
Very good.
I love this salad. I have made It more than 5 times and always come back to it.
The best!!
I love this salad. I made it more than 5 times and always come back to it
All textures and flavors compliment each other. And you can add any number of additional toppings. I did beets and avocado and bacon.
Absolutely! This one’s great for customizing 🙂
Absolutely amazing. The dressing was perfect, although next time I am goi
I made this salad for a neighborhood block party pot luck picnic. It was one of the only salads that wasn’t pasta and was the most eaten. It is beautiful and delicious. I will make this a lot. It’s especially good for now since there are fresh yummy vegetables available.
Amazing! Glad it was a hit!
This was great – really fresh! It definitely took me more than half an hour to prep all the ingredients though 😂 thank you!
Glad you loved it! Feel free to chop your veggies ahead of time, too, to save time 🙂
“This blog really helps us to achieve victory, come play with me on this blog Sagatoto“
amazing salad, quick and easy
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed.
Just made this recipe. Super easy. I did cut the bell peppers into half the recommended amount. Can’t wait to take this to my next party.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
I love how easy this is to make, and it is so healthy. What a great salad with so many wonderful ingredients. I don’t eat a lot of chickpeas and this is the perfect way to enjoy them.
Absolutely! So fresh and delicious.
So refreshing and crunchy. Perfect salad for summer gatherings or simply when you do not feel like cooking because it will heat up the house. I just chopped everything into smaller bite size pieces because of my kiddos. Definitely worth a try unless you do not like the lemon taste.
YUM! I am so glad you’re loving this salad and it turned out great for you, Laura ❤️
This. I made it last night and it was an instant a family fav. I made it per recipe except omitted one pepper (used red and green only). I also added a side of orzo pasta for those that wanted to have something extra. The recipe makes a big batch, and thought in future I would half it since there are only three of us, NOPE!! multiple midnight raiders finished the salad. It’s healthy, looks beautiful, and yummy. I used as a side with salmon burgers, but will use for main dish in future.
Ah this is the best! Glad you and the fam loved this recipe 🙂
I loved this. I didn’t include the olives because I can’t eat them in any food. Just a personal thing, but this salad was wonderful without them. I will make this again-that’s for sure! Thanks for the great recipe!
this is a delicious salad!! love it as written thanks for sharing!
Easy and delicious. This is the perfect side dish when it’s too hot to cook. I prepped this for dinner and made Greek burgers to go along with it. It’s healthy and so flavorful!
LOVE this salad! The dressing adds just the perfect flavor, and each ingredient in the salad adds so flavor AND color! ‘Can’t wait to serve this to company!
This one’s perfect for entertaining!
Your cooking is great. Thank you for this Salad
Obsessed is an understatement right now. Has been my go to for lunches or dinners for a few weeks straight. I crave it. I also throw in some chunks of chicken. LOVE.
My go to for a summer bbq side dish!! So easy and everyone wants the recipe!! Thanks for sharing!!
Delicious! I added some orzo and grilled chicken to make it a complete meal.
Really delicious!! This is perfect to take to an outdoor summer party since all ingredients hold up well. I made it as written with the addition of a couple stalks chopped celery and an extra splash of red wine vinegar. Yum yum yum!
Yes, such a good one for summer gatherings! So glad you love it!
As well, I also made a greek salad with Cous cous and shrimp as my protein. I am not a fan of chick peas personally so I love how the options are there for substitutions. I used Tzatziki for my dressing this time! Love it!
OMG Love this salad! So quick and easy and full of flavor! I probably used more olives than the recipe calls for, but that’s just personal preference. Thanks for always having the best recipes!
Yay!! Happy you love it, Katie. Totally fine to add more olives!
This is sooo good! Love all the vegetables and the greek flavors. I doubled for two of us and will have no problem eating all of it up!
Yay!! So happy you tried and loved it, Linda 🙂
My fave salad ever! I have eaten it 4 out of 7 days for the last 6 weeks, no joking. Ha I have been using this as a meal prep over quinoa. Lasts about 4-5 days in the fridge. I’ve added pepperoncini too. So good! Thanks for a fantastic recipe.
I make this salad all the time – it is delicious. I use vegan feta and add 1/4 cup of peanuts or cashew nuts. If you can wait until the next day it is even better.
Yummm I love the idea of the nuts in here! So glad you love it 🙂
Very good–excellent recipe. Super flexible. I only had a couple of tablespoons of Feta, My peppers were HUGE, so I only used 2. It was delicious, I’m looking forward to eating these veggies for several days. I recently read on SkinnyTaste of a “savory breakfast” of cut veggies over cottage cheese, sprinkled with bagel seasoning. I plan on using these cut up veggies over cottage cheese or plain greek yogurt for breakfast! Easy peasy.
I’m so happy you loved it, Kim! Thank you 🙂 And oooh that’s such an interesting breakfast idea!