Chickpea Kale Greek Salad

Tomatoes, Feta, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes plus kale and chickpeas?  It’s everything you want in a Greek salad but with kale!  This Chickpea Kale Greek Salad is a heartier, healthier Greek salad!

Ok, friends!  We’re in our second month of 2019, which means those New Year Resolutions that are still going strong, you’ve got this!  And if you resolved to add more kale to your diet, this Chickpea Kale Greek Salad is exactly what you need to keep you on track!

Ingredients Needed:

• Kale
• Tomatoes
• Olives
• Chickpeas
• Cucumber
• Red onion
• Feta cheese
• Fresh parsley

Like a delicious classic Greek salad (see my Greek-ish Salad), but knocked up a notch with the additional health benefits of kale and added protein from the chickpeas!

BTW, did you know you can make your own feta cheese from scratch?  It’s a labor of love, and let me tell you with two small kids it is not something we’ve been able to do recently, so we’re using one of our favorites, Athenos Feta Cheese.  But in a couple of months I think M will be ready to help as she’s getting to be more and more excited to be in the kitchen!

How to make Spicy Chickpeas:

• In a small bowl mix cumin, cayenne, paprika, and salt.
• Lightly oil chickpeas
• Mix season chickpeas
• Bake until nice n’ crispy!

Tips for Crispy Chickpeas:

• Make sure to rinse and drain chickpeas
• Dry them with a towel to make sure they’re fully dry!
• Add them to a tray and then gently rub them with a paper towel. This will help loosen to then remove some of the skins as they can also hold moisture which can prevent the crispiness!  Don’t worry if they’re not all removed, just get what you can.

Massage the Kale!

Now this is a very key step. In order to cut the bitterness of raw kale, you need to “massage” it with some olive oil and salt.  This is literally just drizzling some oil, sprinkling some salt, and then gently squeezing it and “massaging” it with your hands.

Doing this will dress the kale a little bit and then you can choose how much more you’d like your salad dressed. Personally, I like to just squeeze some fresh lemon juice over it all and call it good.  But if you prefer a more dressed salad, then I highly recommend some simple lemon vinaigrette that we use in our Greek-ish Salad.Then it’s just adding all of the veggies and feta to a bowl, adding the fresh lemon juice or vinaigrette (before adding the chickpeas) and boom, a delicious Chickpea Kale Greek Salad.  Full of nutrition, the classic flavors of a Greek salad, plus the spice and crunch from the chickpeas.

Other Great Kale Recipes:

10 Minute Garlic Kale 

Chickpea Kale Curry Soup

Cranberry Walnut Kale Salad

Kale Chips 

Ahh Kale. The perfect way to stay strong with those New Year healthy eating resolutions!  Oooor don’t, ya know because life is too short, make those Chocolate Glazed Munchkins, too 🙂

Enjoy, friends!  As always, please let me know if you make it and how much you love it! I love to hear from you on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram!

Chickpea Kale Greek Salad

Tomatoes, Feta, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes plus kale and chickpeas. Everything you want in a Greek salad but with kale, this Chickpea Kale Greek Salad is a heartier, healthier Greek salad!

5 from 9 votes

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Course: Salad

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Cooling Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 4 people

Author: Tracy

Ingredients

Kale Greek Salad

• 1 bunch kale, cleaned and trimmed1 bunch kale, cleaned and trimmed
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3/4 cup feta cheese3/4 cup feta cheese
• 1 large English cucumber, diced1 large English cucumber, diced
• 6.5 oz sliced black olives6.5 oz sliced black olives
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley, minced1/3 cup fresh parsley, minced
• 1/2 lemon juiced1/2 lemon juiced

Chickpeas

• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and dried 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and dried
• 1 tablespoon olive oil1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayanne1/4 teaspoon cayanne
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Simple Lemon Vinaigrette

• 1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed
• 1/2 cup olive oil1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Mix all of the spices for chickpeas in a small bowl.  Add olive oil to chickpeas and mix before sprinkling on spices and stirring well.  Add them to baking sheet and spread into a single layer.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes until crispy - check at 15-20 minutes to make sure they're not burning and give the tray a little shake. Let cool for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, add trimmed kale to a large bowl and drizzle 1/2 - 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt.  With both your hands, massage oil and salt into kale until all is well combined and kale begins to soften. This will release some of the bitterness of the kale. 
• Add the rest of the salad ingredients to the bowl - tomatoes, cheese, cucumber, olives, and parsley and mix well.
• To make the vinaigrette whisk together the juice, oil, salt, and pepper. Set aside. 
• Now you can choose to just add juice from 1/2 a lemon to the bowl and mix, or add some of the vinaigrette to taste, and then mix.  
• Top with crispy cooled chickpeas before serving and enjoy!  

Notes

Make sure you massage the kale to reduce the bitterness. 

For crispy chickpeas, make sure all of the moisture is removed: dry with a towel and then also remove the skins.  

 

Nutrition

Serving: 4g

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