Kale Chickpea Salad

This raw kale and chickpea salad was inspired by the amazing kale salad that one of my local stores, The Market, prepares in their deli. I switched up the recipe a bit by using white balsamic vinegar, which sweetens up the dressing. If you prefer, use red wine vinegar or even apple cider vinegar to impart more of a tang. I like to massage the dressing into the kale to tenderize it. If you use baby kale, this step may not be necessary.

This salad is delicious, super nutritious, fiber-full (so filling), yet low-cal. Enjoy as a side dish or eat a large portion as your main course served with flatbread.

Method Overview

• Massage kale with dressing
• Toss with rest of ingredients

Print Recipe

5 from 12 votes

Kale Chickpea Salad

This recipe calls for white balsamic vinegar, which sweetens up the dressing. If you prefer, use red wine vinegar or even apple cider vinegar to impart more of a tang.

Course: salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: healthy salad

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 52kcal

Author: Judy DeLorenzo

Equipment

• large bowl

Ingredients

• 1 medium bunch curly green kale
• 1 medium bunch curly red kale
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 3 Tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (or red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar)
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 14-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 medium-small red onion, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
• 1 sweet bell pepper (orange, red, or yellow), diced
• 1/2 large cucumber, cut into 1/4-inch thick quarter moons
• 16 sun dried or dehydrated tomatoes (see notes)
• 16 basil leaves

Instructions

• Remove the kale stems.

  Tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces then rinse. Drain well, or roll up in a kitchen towel to dry.
• Put the leaves into a large bowl. Drizzle with the oil and vinegar. Sprinkle with the garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

  Using your hands, massage the dressing into the kale. This will evenly spread the dressing, and will also tenderize the leaves.
• Add the chickpeas, red onion, pepper, cucumber, sun dried tomatoes, and basil leaves to the bowl. Toss well.

Notes

Look for sun dried tomatoes that are not packed in oil. Better yet, make your own.

For this recipe, I used grape tomatoes that I “moist dried” last summer in my dehydrator. You may find this tutorial helpful, Dehydrating Grape or Cherry Tomatoes.

Nutrition

Calories: 52kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 78mg | Potassium: 349mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 3571IU | Vitamin C: 51mg | Calcium: 60mg | Iron: 1mg

Some of the health benefits of kale

• Immune booster
• May reduce HDL cholesterol and raises LDL cholesterol
• Contains antioxidant and anticancer properties

If you enjoy this Kale Chickpea Salad, you may also like my Warm Quinoa Salad and Vegan Potato Kale Soup.