Mediterranean Salad – WellPlated.com

Whether or not you serve it as a lightweight meal or as a contemporary facet dish, this Mediterranean Salad goes to be a WIN. With salty feta, satisfying chickpeas, crisp veggies, and a zingy lemon French dressing, how may it not be?

A easy salad that’s swoon-worthy.

In case you’re not normally the kind to swoon over a salad, hear me out!

Maybe you’ve been burned by one too many restaurant salads that quantity to a pile of lettuce, a half-moon of dry cucumber, and two rock-hard croutons. Properly, this Mediterranean salad flips the script and delivers extra add-ins than greens for ALL the flavour, colour, and, texture.

Or perhaps your grievance is that salads aren’t very filling. Ba-bam! This one’s obtained chickpeas for protein and fiber, plus a beneficiant serving to of feta. You possibly can completely make a meal out of it when you divide it into 2 servings.

Not a fan of gloppy store-bought dressings? The sunshine lemon French dressing on this Mediterranean salad provides vibrant taste that ties every part collectively with out weighing the salad down.

This recipe is sort of a mashup between my Greek Salad and Chickpea Salad, including chickpeas to the traditional Greek salad equation, taking out the (polarizing!) Kalamata olives, and swapping the crimson wine French dressing for zippy lemon. Completely swoon-worthy.

Key Components

You’ll discover the complete record of components within the recipe card beneath, however listed here are some notes to bear in mind.

• Purple Onion. I like to make use of the leftovers to make this Pickled Purple Onions Recipe, which is superb on tacos and burgers!
• Greens. You should use peppery arugula, or spinach or combined greens for a milder taste.
• Chickpeas. Rinse and drain these effectively.
• English Cucumber. English cukes have fewer seeds than backyard cucumbers. You too can use Persian cucumbers or if you wish to use a backyard (AKA “common”) cucumber, reduce it in half lengthwise and scoop out the pulpy seeds within the center.
• Tomatoes. I exploit grape or cherry tomatoes, which don’t launch as a lot liquid into the salad as diced tomatoes. In addition they style higher out-of-season, so you can also make this salad year-round.
• Purple Bell Pepper. Yellow or orange additionally work; they’ve an identical gentle, candy taste.
• Feta Cheese. Crumbled feta provides a creamy aspect to this Mediterranean salad when mixed with the dressing.
• Lemon French dressing. This Lemon French dressing is a good addition to any salad!

Recipe Variations

• Use One other French dressing. A crimson wine French dressing (just like the one in my Italian Chopped Salad) would additionally work effectively on this salad.
• Add Olives. Sliced canned black olives or Kalamata for some further briny taste.
• Omit the Feta. Add shaved Parmesan as a substitute or go away the cheese out for a vegan Mediterranean salad.
• Give It Some Crunch. Crumble pita chips into the salad so as to add some crunch and texture. Alternatively, you may exchange the canned chickpeas with Air Fryer Chickpeas.