Fall Chickpea Salad

Updated April 06, 2021

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

Quick Summary

You will love the textures and flavors of this simple and healthy chickpea salad. It's made with chickpeas, apple, avocado, dried cranberries, pecans, red onion, feta cheese, and tossed in a light apple cider dressing. It's perfect for an easy fall lunch or dinner.

Pin this now to find it later

Pin It

My Chickpea Avocado Feta Salad is one of my all-time favorite salads. It's so good, I even put the recipe in our cookbook. It was one of the few from the blog that made it into the book:)

Well, if you are a fan of that salad like me, you are going to LOVE my Fall Chickpea Salad. It's basically a fall version of the original. I mixed things up to bring in some fall flavors and WOW! I am obsessed! The flavors and textures are absolute perfection.

And the salad has a fall vibe, but you can totally enjoy this salad year round. I know I am going to! It's too good not to!

Salad Ingredients

Chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans)- I used canned beans to keep it simple. Rinse and drain them and you will be ready to go!
Apple– Honeycrisp is my favorite apple to use in this salad, but any variety will work.
Avocado– Avocado makes every salad better!
Lemon juice– The fresh lemon juice keeps the apple and avocado from browning, plus it brightens the salad up a bit.
Red onion– I like to add a little red onion for color and flavor. Green onion would work too.
Pecans– The chopped pecans add a nice crunch. Feel free to use walnuts or almonds. If you have a nut-allergy, you can leave the nuts out.
Dried cranberries– I love the sweetness they bring to the salad.
Feta cheese– The cheese adds a salty, creamy element, but if you need the salad to be vegan, it's still good without it. Oh, and you can use goat cheese instead of feta if you want to switch things up.

The salad also has a simple dressing that can be whisked together in no time. It includes apple cider vinegar and pure maple syrup which brings out the fall flavors even more!

How to Make

I make this salad for lunch because it is so simple and very filling. It also makes a great side dish to any dinner.

You basically put all of the ingredients in a bowl, whisk up the dressing, and then drizzle the dressing over the salad. Toss gently, because you don't want to destroy the avocado. Season with salt and pepper and serve! It's that simple.

Now you may have noticed that there are no greens in this salad. It's 100% delicious without greens, but if you are trying to get more greens and wanted to bulk up the salad, you could add your favorite greens. Arugula, mixed greens, spinach, or romaine would be good! I would just recommend doubling the dressing so you will have enough to flavor the added greens.

How to Store

To be honest, this salad is best the day it's made when all of the ingredients are super fresh. BUT don't feel like you have to eat the entire salad in one sitting…although it is kind of easy to do:) You can keep the salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

If you want to prepare the salad in advance, you can, just don't combine the ingredients until you are ready to eat. You can keep them in individual containers, chopped and ready to go. But wait to cut the apple and avocado until right before so they don't brown. And the dressing can be made in advance, no problem! It will keep in the fridge for up to one week.

More Chickpea Salad Recipes

Chickpea Avocado Feta Salad
Roasted Chickpea Taco Salad
Chickpea, Pesto, Tomato, & Mozzarella Salad
Cucumber, Chickpea, & Pita Salad
Asparagus Chickpea Quinoa Salad
Mediterranean Three Bean Quinoa Salad

Salads