Falafels are the perfect plant-based morsel and a family favorite. However, in this salad, I’ve dismantled perfection, and discovered a new, delicious way to enjoy the fêted flavors of falafels: chickpeas, cumin, parsley, mint, and tahini. The crispy oven-roasted chickpeas are nothing short of incredible, and I encourage you to try roasting all types of beans in this manner.
Ingredients
4 servings
Salad:
Crispy roasted chickpeas:
Lemon tahini:
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
Step 2
For the crispy roasted chickpeas, place the drained chickpeas into a small ovenproof dish. Cover with olive oil, season well with 2 big pinches of sea salt and black pepper, and add the garlic, cumin and paprika. Stir to combine. Roast for 35–40 minutes, until the chickpeas are crispy. Set aside.
Step 3
Place a large frying pan over medium heat and drizzle with oil. Add the kale, in batches, along with a pinch of salt and cook for 2–3 minutes until wilted.
Step 4
To make the lemon tahini, pour the tahini into a small bowl and whisk in the lemon juice and garlic. Gradually add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until the sauce is the consistency of thickened cream. If the tahini ‘seizes’ and becomes very thick, push through by adding more water; it will eventually come back together to form a cohesive creamy sauce. Season with sea salt and black pepper, and add more lemon juice if you like it lemony.
Step 5
Combine the crispy chickpeas (and their cooking oil) with the kale, cucumber, half the pita chips and herbs. To serve, drizzle over the lemon tahini and scatter over the remaining pita chips. Serve with lemon wedges on the side.
Chickpeas: white beans, butter beans
Omit pita chips for gluten free
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Reviews (14)
Back to TopI liked this but made some changes. I used arugula instead of kale because I didn't want fried greens and just wiped the chickpea dish and the tahini sauce bowl with it, delish. I had homemade pita so I just used that without crisping it, I think the chick peas were crispy enough, maybe too much so. I used dried chickpeas so maybe why. Also used the pita to wipe the dish and bowl clean.
Anonymous
8/25/2022
Delicious! I made my own pita chips by tearing up some fresh pita bread, tossing it with olive oil, salt and za'atar, and putting it in the oven for a few minutes while the chickpeas were cooking. Definitely worth it.
Anonymous
North Carolina
1/22/2022
Love this salad every time I make it. A winner and a crowd pleaser.
ljoseph11
5/3/2021
I didn't know which kale to use and I probably should have cut the leaves away from the stalk; it was hard to eat (my bad). Still, I followed the recipe and used canned garbanzo beans. The beans were too crispy. Also, I used a regular cucumber, and maybe I needed a slicer because the sliced cucumber wasn't delicate enough. I needed more dressing. This was not that great at all.
Anonymous
Tucson, AZ
12/10/2020
Meh....I liked all the individual components, but everything seemed to have bitterness to it. I think it needed more balance. Lots of great salads out there...I’ll probably not revisit
iandlmom
Chicago, IL
8/14/2020
I tried to make this once and my cooked-from-dried chickpeas wouldn't turn out - they only got more and more dried out and mealy, never crispy. Later I read from Deb Perelman (Smitten Kitchen) that oven-crisped chickpea recipes work best with *canned* beans (which I had stopped buying after getting an Instant Pot). I haven't tried to make it again with canned, but judging by the other happy reviews here, seems like canned is the route to go.
jooksing
MN
5/19/2020
Just getting ready to make this FYI 2 cans of Chick peas are 31 Oz . Thank you for all the fabulous recipes
eyeknowu28457
earth
5/8/2020
Wonderful salad. I did not cook the kale; rather, chopped it more finely, massaged it with half of the dressing and let it sit overnight. The day of I added in the herbs, roasted chickpeas, and drizzled with the remaining dressing. I chose not to add pita chips after reading other reviews. I paired it with the gazpacho recipe from this site for a lovely summer lunch!
Anonymous
8/14/2019
I made this salad as directed. The think dressing was a little bigger so it took time to get used to it. Hubby didn't care for the male so maybe next time I'll use romaine.
meximoe
Bayville, New Jersey
7/21/2019
Didn't have pita chips on hand so I omitted them. Even still, four forks!
aycarro
6/18/2019
I love this salad and have now made it four times, but with a couple of changes. First, I completely omitted the pita chips since I think the dish is already carb-y enough with all the chickpeas and adding something so store-bought and rather dull tasting contributed, in my view, nothing to the otherwise complex flavors and textures. And second, I ramped up the raw salad components, adding some frisee, radicchio, and thinly sliced red onion to the cucumber, parsley and mint, then topped the salad with the kale, chickpeas, and dressing and gently tossed. I think the roasted chickpeas alone are inspired and worth the whole recipe. As delicious as it is, my only complaint is that the dish takes a very long time to make. I've made it now four times and each time it took me (a skilled home cook) well over an hour to make, even longer if instead of pre-washed baby kale I used tuscan kale which needed to be cut off of its stalks, washed, chopped, and then cooked for nearly 15 minutes to become tender.
tishnyc
NY, NY
6/4/2019
This was delicious! My partner doesn't love kale so I also added romaine.
detcastle
5/21/2019
I was expecting a decent recipe, but this was surprisingly good. Everyone in the family is raving about it! I paid attention to a few other reviews that suggested it was a bit lacking in flavor, so I made sure to add a bit more salt than I usually would add, and I put a lot of lemon juice in the tahini. Superbe. I should add that the instruction to "cover" the chickpeas with oil seemed a little odd to me. That's a lot of oil! And normally baking something in an oil bath does not lead to crispiness. I chose to cover the beans about half way up, and stirred them from time to time. That worked pretty well. Next time I will coat the chickpeas with oil, which should lead to more crunch.
Aubergine
Seattle
2/17/2024
the lemon tahini makes this salad. overall a little less flavorful than I would have hoped
Anonymous
12/8/2023
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