Chickpea and bean salad

My chickpea and bean salad is done with a sweet and sour dressing. Spiced up with tomatoes, red onion rings and fresh parsley, it tastes great as a barbecue side dish or as a starter salad with some freshly roasted bread. This salad is really tasty and wonderfully uncomplicated, as the chickpeas and kidney beans are tinned or in glass.

Have I caught your interest and would you like to try this simple but yummy salad? I have heard a “yes” 🙂 So let’s get started.

What ingredients are used for the chickpea and bean salad?

You only need a handful of ingredients for the salad. You’ll have most of them in stock at home anyway. In addition to a tin of chickpeas and a tin of kidney beans, you will need cherry tomatoes, a red onion, a spring onion, some parsley, vinegar, oil, honey, salt and pepper.

Chickpeas and kidney beans

Tinned chickpeas and kidney beans are perfectly fine for this recipe. Before proceeding, be sure to put them in a colander and rinse them well.

The right type of tomato

Especially in very simple recipes with few ingredients, the product quality is very important. The aroma of the tomatoes plays an important role in whether the chickpea and bean salad tastes just ok or extremely delicious. Of course, tomatoes from your own garden or fresh from the farmers’ market are best. I used cherry tomatoes for my salad. Of course, you can also use any other type of tomato.

Which type of onion to use for the salad?

The type of onion you use for the chickpea and bean salad of course always depends on your own preferences. I chose a medium-sized red onion for my recipe alongside spring onion, as this type of onion is milder than the common yellow onion and simply looks more appealing in salads. If you like it even milder, you can use shallots or more spring onion instead of the red onion.

What else do you need?

For the chickpea and bean salad, you will also need a good quality extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar, honey, parsley, salt and pepper.

Chickpea and bean salad – How to make it

You can find instructions with all the steps and the list of ingredients in the recipe card below. For tips, hints and recipe suggestions, just keep reading here.

Prepare the kidney beans and chickpeas

Put the tinned chickpeas and kidney beans in a colander and rinse well with water. Then let them drain a little and put them in a large bowl.

Cut the other ingredients into small pieces

Peel the red onion, wash the spring onion under running water and remove the root. Cut the red onion and the spring onion into rings. Now wash the cherry tomatoes, remove the green and the stem and cut them into wedges or bite-sized pieces (if you are using a different type of tomato). Finely chop the parsley leaves and add to the bowl with the bean-chickpea mix along with the other ingredients.

Prepare the dressing

Put the vinegar, olive oil, honey and a pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk until a creamy and cloudy consistency is reached. At this point, the ingredients will have mixed perfectly and combined into an emulsion.

Add the dressing to the salad

Pour the dressing into the bowl with all the ingredients and mix very well. Now season with salt and pepper to taste, cover the salad and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This gives the salad the time it needs to release all the flavours and combine with each other. After the chilling time, stir well and season again with salt and pepper if necessary.

I hope you have fun making the salad. Bon appétit 🙂 I would be happy if you share this recipe on facebook.

As always, you can find a summary of all the ingredients and working steps a little below in the recipe card index.

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