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Chickpea and pickle salad with a lemon dressing
A substantial cold salad of chickpeas, diced pickles, red pepper and parsley with a simple mustard lemon dressing.
In this guide5 sections
A tin of chickpeas makes a useful lunch
Whole chickpeas are good at turning a sharp pickle salad into something substantial. We keep the dressing simple and let the red pepper bring sweetness and crunch. Dice the vegetables to a similar size so the chickpeas are not surrounded by pieces too large to share a forkful.
Yield: 3 light lunch servings or 4 sides. Prep time: 20 minutes. Cook time: 0 minutes. Use two 400 g tins of chickpeas, providing about 480 g drained. This salad has no mayonnaise, but it still belongs in the fridge; a lemon dressing is seasoning rather than a storage method.
Ingredients
- 480 g (17 oz) drained canned chickpeas, rinsed
- 150 g (5 oz) drained dill pickles
- 1 red pepper, about 150 g after trimming
- 30 g red onion, finely diced
- 15 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 30 ml (2 tablespoons) olive oil
- 20 ml (4 teaspoons) lemon juice
- 10 g (2 teaspoons) Dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Method
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then leave them in a sieve while preparing the vegetables. Shake the sieve well; dressing will cling more readily when there is no rinse water sitting at the bottom of the bowl.
- Remove the pepper stalk, seeds and white inner ribs. Cut the flesh into small cubes. Dice the pickles to a similar size and chop the red onion finely enough that it will not dominate a mouthful.
Cut the pepper and pickles small, with the onion finer still. - Whisk olive oil, lemon juice, mustard and black pepper in a large bowl. Keep whisking until the dressing looks cloudy and combined rather than separate pools of oil and juice.
Whisk until the oil and lemon look cloudy and combined. - Add the chickpeas, pepper, pickles and onion. Fold with a broad spoon, lifting from the bottom so the dressing coats the beans evenly without crushing them.
Lift from the bottom to coat the chickpeas without crushing them. - Wash and dry the parsley, chop the leaves and tender stems, then fold them through. Let the salad stand in the fridge for 15 minutes if time allows. Stir once more before portioning it out.
Keep the onion in proportion
Thirty grams of red onion can look small beside two tins of chickpeas, but raw onion carries a long way. Finely dicing it is more useful than increasing the quantity. If you prefer a gentler flavour, rinse the diced onion in a sieve under cold water, drain and blot before adding it.
This is a convenient salad to divide into lunch portions before serving. Keep any planned leftovers separate from the bowl that goes on the table, and add the parsley shortly before eating if you want its freshest texture. The beans themselves need no extra cooking.
For a spreadable version, blend chickpeas into pickle hummus. Try a beetroot salad with the same sharp-sweet balance when you want a different vegetable base.
Keep the next portion cold
Keep covered and chilled. We recommend eating it by the next day for crisp pepper and parsley; use the library guidance when packing it for a picnic.
Keep cold during storage and serving; see the recipe library’s storage guidance.
Keep the jar open
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