Crispy Chickpea Salad With Lemon Tahini Dressing

Here’s the how this is going to go down. We’re going to coat some chickpeas with some yummy spices then roast them until they’re crispy crunchy. Then, we’ll toss the chickpeas on top of a simple chopped salad. And, we’ll drizzle the whole think with a sweet and savory dressing. But, what makes this recipe extra fun is that we’re serving it on a sheet pan!

Let’s start with the chickpeas. Canned chickpeas, or garbanzo beans, come in a thick and viscous liquid that we want to drain off before working with the beans. So, we want to rinse the beans well. But, we also want to dry the beans really well with some paper towels or a clean kitchen towel. We’re going to coat the chickpeas in some yummy spices and pop them in the oven, so we want them to roast and get crispy, not steam and get soggy.

Once we know our chickpeas are nice and dry, we’re going to toss them in a bowl with some olive oil, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, regular paprika, and a bit of salt. We’re going to toss everything together until those chickpeas are totally coated, spread them out on a baking sheet, and send them to the oven for about a half hour to get nice and crisp.

While the chickpeas are roasting, we can work on our dressing. This dressing comes together so quick and easy with nothing other than a bowl and a whisk. No blenders needed for this one! So to the bowl, we’re going to add some tahini, lemon juice and zest, a little garlic powder, maple syrup for sweetness, and a pinch of salt and pepper. We’ll whisk it all together until everything is combined, then we’ll whisk in some water to thin out the dressing until we reach our desired consistency. If you like a thicker dressing, use less water. If you like it thinner, use more! If you’re prepping this in advance, the dressing does thicken a bit in the fridge, as well.

Once the dressing and chickpeas are ready, all that’s left to do is assemble the salad. Now, we’re using classic ingredients of a simple chopped salad: lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, and shallots. To add a little extra bite, I like to sprinkle on some crumbled feta at the end. But, you could leave that out and keep this salad totally vegan.

But, the fun part of this salad is how we’re serving it. I saw this trick on an episode of The Kitchen on Food Network, and I thought it was totally brilliant. We’re going to serve this salad on a sheet pan! The beauty of a sheet pan salad is that everything is spread out in an even layer making sure you 100% get one of everything in every bite. It also helps with even dressing distribution so you don’t have to attempt the messy salad toss or give up completely and eat dry salad at the bottom of the bowl. I think all of us has at least one sheet pan, but if you don’t, try serving this salad on a platter. Or, of course, you can always go the traditional route and serve it on a plate or in a bowl.

This salad is so light and refreshing but loaded with enough protein thanks to the chickpeas and tahini to keep us pleasantly full. The chickpeas are so savory and loaded with flavor while adding perfect little pops of crunch to each bite. Who needs croutons?!? And, that lemon tahini dressing is a little sweet, a little savory, a lot nutty, and totally delicious. The heavy duty carnivores out there won’t even miss the meat!

Ok, everyone. I think sheet pan salads are officially my new favorite thing (until the next shiny thing crosses my path). So, what kind should we make next?

I hope you all enjoy! And, let’s eat!