We’re still experiencing a lot of grocery shortages in the middle of this pandemic, but when I ventured out to the grocery store this week I noticed something. The produce department was very well stocked, while many of the shelf stable items were sold out. I presume that’s because people are afraid to buy perishables. So, that made me rethink my strategy. I’m going to focus on fresh ingredients for about a week after shopping, then transition into the more shelf stable recipes (like my 15 Pantry Staple Recipes) for the second week, or until my next grocery run. Besides, after eating so many pantry recipes over the past month, I’m craving fresh produce hard. So this week I grabbed some fresh parsley, cilantro, and a pint of tomatoes, and whipped up this SUPER easy Chimichurri Chickpea Salad.
…Because chimichurri is good on anything and everything. ;)
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
How to Serve Chimichurri Chickpea Salad
This salad is the perfect side dish as the weather starts to warm up. I think this would go great with just about any type of grilled meat, or if you’re cooking inside I can see this matching well with dishes like Garlic Butter Baked Chicken Thighs, Herb Roasted Pork Loin, or Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms.
If you want to turn this into a vegetarian meal, consider chopping up some pita or a crusty bread and stirring it right into the salad to make it like a Panzanella, or adding a few greens and a chopped hard boiled egg.
How to Use Leftover Parsley and Cilantro
Don’t let the rest of the parsley and cilantro go to waste after you make this salad! Parsley and cilantro are great in and on so many other dishes. This chickpea salad recipe uses a half batch of my basic Chimichurri recipe, but you could always make the full size batch and use half on this salad, then use the other half for dipping some crusty bread. That will use up more of your parsley and cilantro.
Here are some other great recipes for using parsley and cilantro:
Make sure to scroll down to the step by step photos to see how I store my leftover feta so it doesn’t go to waste!
Chimichurri Chickpea Salad
Servings 6 about 1 cup eachIngredients
Chimichurri
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley ($0.18)
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro ($0.10)
- ¼ cup olive oil ($0.42)
- 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar ($0.20)
- 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- ½ tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
Salad
- 2 15oz. cans chickpeas ($0.98)
- 1 pint grape tomatoes ($1.69)
- 2 oz. feta ($1.09)
Instructions
- Make the chimichurri first. Rinse the fresh parsley and cilantro, then drain well. Roughly chop the parsley and cilantro, then add it to a bowl along with the olive oil, red wine vinegar, minced garlic, oregano, cumin, crushed red pepper, and salt. Stir to combine, then set the dressing aside.
- Rinse and drain both cans of chickpeas. Slice the grape tomatoes in half. Add the chickpeas and tomatoes to a large bowl. Crumble the feta, add it to the bowl, then drizzle the chimichurri over top. Stir to combine. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat (up to four days).
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Chimichurri Chickpea Salad – Step by Step Photos
Make the chimichurri first. Rinse and drain the fresh parsley and cilantro. Roughly chop the parsley and cilantro, you’ll need ½ cup parsley (about ¼ bunch) and about ¼ cup cilantro (a big handful). Add them to the bowl along with 1 minced clove of garlic, ¼ cup olive oil, 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar, ½ tsp dried oregano, ¼ tsp ground cumin, ⅛ tsp crushed red pepper, and ¼ tsp salt.
Stir the ingredients together and now you have chimichurri! Set the chimichurri aside.
Rinse and drain 2 15oz. cans of chickpeas. Slice 1 pint of grape tomatoes in half. Crumble 2oz. feta. Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, and feta to a bowl, then pour the chimichurri over top.
Stir to combine and it’s ready to eat! Or refrigerate for up to 4 days.
I like to buy my feta in a block, as opposed to pre-crumbled, because it’s easier to save for later. I cut the block into quarters first (right through the plastic) because I usually use about 2oz. per recipe. I then place the rest of the block, still in the original plastic, inside a freezer bag, then inside a re-usable freezer container. I can take out one 2oz. block at a time to use whenever needed!
I have a bad(?) habit of making this for lunches, but then eating the whole thing within about 24 hours. So good. Perfect balance of flavorful, light, healthy, and quick.
Definitely on my salad list.
Easy to make and so good!! Perfect for a summertime side ! I did omit the cilantro because I have an aversion to it, but it was still super flavorful and I know I’ll be making this again and again!!
I could eat this every day, multiple times a day
This is legit! I’d never heard of chimichurri before but it’s super good.
I know it was intended to be cold, but I ended up quick-frying the cherry tomatoes in a pan with some olive oil and salt just because I really like them that way and I think it gives it an amazing flavor! Also, I ate this for breakfast with a fried egg on top and a piece of whole grain toast at the bottom to soak everything up. I highly recommend people try it!! I’m in love.
Ooh, that sounds yummy.
I feel like I could add some red or orange bell pepper to this recipe, maybe over some butter lettuce.
Wow, I don’t know whether it’s because I used all organic ingredients or this recipe is amazing or both, but this salad was phenomenal. I’ve heard about your blog before, but never actually tried recipes from here until now. I’ll be back!
That worked. First comment hasn’t posted yet, and I have photos which I’m kind of surprised I can’t add.
Anyway – I needed to chop the leafy things for the chimichurri finer than I did. I made extra to put over a grilled chicken breast. Also, I added watermelon to the chickpea salad and used a mishmash of tomatoes from the garden. Served it all over a lettuce mix.
It was well received.
Making this tonight, so no stars yet. I have fresh oregano growing, so I’ll use that – and lots of it. I like the way it balances the cilantro for chimichurri.
Still such a fan of what you do here. Great job keeping it going.
This was yummy!!! The chimichurri sauce is DELICIOUS and versatile. I can’t wait to use the sauce as a rub on beef and poultry.
Tried it out without the Cilantro and used up vegetables in the fridge.
Very filling and light, perfect for summer.
The chimichurri wasn’t the flavor bomb I was hoping for (keep in mind the first time I had it was at a very fancy restaurant, and I was hooked from bite one)…in fact, at first I thought this salad was bland. But after a night in the fridge, it started growing on me. It made for a light, fresh side dish that I enjoyed adding to meals where it wouldn’t be calorically wise to have seconds (looking at you, hot dogs). Made a good snack, too!
I keep chickpeas in the pantry just for this recipe. I like to splash in a little more vinegar to taste. I dislike parsley, so double the cilantro. LOVE this salad.
Made this the first time and it was a solid 3 stars. Made it a second time after throwing the chickpeas in the oven on 350f with s/p and adding a couple spoon fulls of cracked wheat turned into a 5
If you add some grilled chicken and mixed greens, it’s a pretty good copycat recipe for the Power Mediterranean Salad from Wendy’s.
Super easy and super fresh tasting! Thanks 😊. Just ordered more parsley plants from our farmers market because I am guessing this will be in our regular rotation!
I only had one can of chickpeas so I added a similar amount of raw zucchini and it was delicious. Another winner.
Could you leave the cilantro out or would you have to substitute it with something? It looks so good and I love chickpea salad but hate cilantro!
Unfortunately there is no real swap for the cilantro in this recipe. Sorry! We have a few alternatives like this Pesto Chickpea or these Sriracha Chickpea Salad Wraps.
I’ve made this recipe several times the way its written and I love it, but today I was out of cilantro and decided to make it anyway, and it turned out just fine. I’d say give it a try and make up for it with extra parsley!
I never add cilantro to my chimichurri as my family and myself dislikes it. You can use pretty well any fresh herb in place such as a bit of fresh oregano and mint as a for-instance. You can also simply up the parsley a bit but not so much it’ll cause your chimichurri to taste bitter as parsley especially Italian parsley has a tendency to do that.
I just made this and it’s so good! So much flavour, and so light and fresh for spring/summer eats!
I’ve been making this salad about once a week since it was posted. So delicious! Also it packs great for lunches.
This is amazing. I wish I had doubled the recipe. We were licking the bowl clean. Thank you so much Beth for bringing culinary gifts to our lives.
This was so delicious!! I wanted to lick my bowl clean. Wish I had left overs. I also added 1/2 cup quinoa and it was the best. Thank you so much for these amazing recipes!! Next time I will double the recipe :)
I make a salad very similar to this but use fresh basil (when I have it) and red onion. It’s been a go to staple for me during stay at home. I am going to have to try this with chimichurri for change.
This salad looks delicious!! I love chimichurri but have never thought of putting it on something other than meat. Great idea! I can’t wait to try.
Just made this tonight for a virtual potluck in the morning. Tasted great, but will taste amazing after being in the fridge overnight! Thanks for the recipe.
I wanted to use up some leftover parsley and cilantro from a few other budget bytes recipes. I had some dried chickpeas (about half pound cooked in small crockpot on high for 3-4 hours with 3.5 cups of water) in my pantry and some leftover tomatoes from a salad. I decided to whip this up to use up some of these leftover ingredients. WOW, this is wonderful and I bet it will taste even better when it has a chance to sit and absorb the flavors. I’ll keep this in mind when it gets scorching hot in the summer.
I made this and served it to friends and was like – meh, this is good but not awesome. There were leftovers and I put them in the fridge.
Then the next morning I took a bite while my coffee was brewing and thought “OMG WHERE HAS THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE????????”
So make this: MAKE THIS RIGHT NOW!! And then let it sit overnight in your fridge and serve it cold the next day to EVERYONE YOU KNOW and they’ll love you and bring you gifts.
Honest.
I’m making more for tomorrow because I ate every last bite for breakfast!!!!
Yes! Fresh produce is in abundance and I’m super, super thankful for it. I just buy whatever can last the longest. I find that almost most green veggies will perk up if I soak them in ice-cold water! I don’t fret much if my veggies look a bit sad — will end up eating them anyway. :D
Definitely want to try it but will have to leave out the cilantro as 2 members of the family possess the “cilantro gene” (to them it tastes like soap).
Actually I have never seen a recipe for Chimichurri that did have cilantro in it….
My husband also thinks cilantro tastes like soap. I learned if I dice it and squeeze it in a paper towel or tea towel the soap tastes goes away.
If you want to know what to do with extra parsley, you could always make extra chimmichurri and freeze it. I have done so, and it freezes beautifully, and keeps a very long time. Freeze it in a ziplock bag, and lay it flat until its frozen, and you should be able to break off chunks of the chimmichurri if you don’t want to thaw the whole batch at once.
You can also store a block of feta in a container with a little water (removing the original packaging, of course, if it’s wrapped in plastic). Feta will last much longer with some water. I buy mine in a container with brine.
This was a really nice variation on the standard salad I usually make. I failed to rinse the beans but it still turned out great. Only problem is I made the full recipe and I’m single and live alone. I gotta get busy eating this!
Amazing! I made this yesterday and have eaten it with naan for lunch two days in a row and will probably continue until it’s gone. Thanks for the many foods you introduce me to. I appreciate you!
It’s not so much that people don’t want produce as that the supply chains for fresh produce moves faster. They have to restock the veggies so much more frequently in normal times, so they’re already set up with frequent deliveries. Meanwhile how often does a store need a new delivery of yeast during normal times? The pantry staples can sit longer so they can get deliveries less often. Ramping up the deliveries now that there is increased demand for pantry items is tougher.
Quick question please! Do you store the feta in the fridge or in the freezer? Im assuming the fridge since you did not mention how to thaw. But just want to make sure. Thank you in advance. My family and I LOVE your recipes and tips. We’ve directed many people to your site!!!
Store it in the refrigerator. I typically keep it in the meat/cheese drawer.
Oh, this looks SO. GOOD!!! I am also really craving fresh If there are any Trader Joe’s fanatics, their “zhoug” sauce is a good sub for chimichurri (and is also delicious on everything).