Pesto Chickpea Salad
I’ve been loving “quick fixes” lately because I’m cooking triple time in preparation for the cookbook. So, at the end of the day the last thing I want is something elaborate, time consuming, and dirty dish-creating. I just want something easy and delicious. Well, this salad takes about 10 minutes to whip up and will satisfy both your stomach AND your taste buds. As a matter of fact, it might be the most excitement your taste buds have seen a while. Pesto is seriously flavorful.
There were at least five brands of pesto at my grocery store, ranging from $1.99 to over $6, all for about the same size container. So, be sure to scour the shelves and get the best deal because that will either make or break the cost of the recipe. And hey, if you’ve got a bunch of fresh basil growing in your yard, make your own pesto! It will be even mo’ bettah!
You can eat this salad several ways. Straight out of the bowl (like I was trying not to do), on a bed of salad greens, stuffed into a pita with some sliced tomato, or even as a cracker dip. It’s good no matter what and fairly addicting, if I do say so myself.
Oh, this can easily be made vegan, too. Just sub the mayonnaise with some vegannaise!
Pesto Chickpea Salad
Pesto Chickpea Salad
Ingredients
- 2-15 oz cans chickpeas / garbanzo beans ($2.54)
- 1/4 cup pesto ($0.66)
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise ($0.33)
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice ($0.06)
- 1/4 small red onion ($0.14)
- 1/4 bunch fresh parsley ($0.25)
Instructions
- Empty the cans of chickpeas into a colander and rinse well with cool water. Allow the excess water to drain away. Give it a shake or two to help the water drain off.
- In a large bowl stir together the pesto, mayonnaise, and lemon juice. Add the drained chickpeas. Stir it together and lightly mash the beans.
- Pull the parsley leaves from their stems and give them a rough chop. Thinly slice the onion or cut it into a small dice. Stir the parsley and onion into the chickpea mixture and serve.
Nutritional values are estimates only. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Step By Step Photos
Rinse the chickpeas in a colander and let the water drain off.
This is the pesto that I found for only $1.99. It’s super potent so you don’t need to use a lot. I used only 1/3 of this jar and the rest will keep for quite a while in the refrigerator. You can find usually find pesto in a few different places – near salad dressings, near pasta sauces, or near pickled items like artichoke hearts and olives.
Be careful when opening your pesto because the oil will all be on top and it will jump out at you… or at least mine did. You’ll need to give the pesto a good stir to mix the oil back in.
Stir together the mayo, pesto, and lemon juice. The creamy mayo makes a nice companion to the sharp pesto and kind of mellows things out, while the lemon juice freshens it up.
Stir together pesto/mayo and the drained chickpeas.
Mash up some of the chickpeas as you mix it together. This makes it more like an egg salad or tuna salad texture.
Add the roughly chopped parsley and thinly sliced (or diced) onions and stir everything together.
TA-DA! You’re done and you’ve got a delicious, healthy meal. Pat yourself on the back.
I have been searching for quick, cheap but unique and fresh meals for a while. There was jar of pesto in my cupboard and I just went on here to see if there was anything I could do with it. This recipe came up and I realized I had everything! It took less than 5 minutes and it was delicious. I substituted sour cream for mayo and added tomatoes but my wife loved it. She even wondered how we incoperate pesto into other dishes and this whole time I thought she hated pesto.
This is amazing! I REALLY don’t like mayonnaise, so I subbed Greek yogurt instead and it tastes delicious. Definitely my go-to lunch if I want to prepare something quick and simple!
Made it for church potluck Sabbath, came home with an empty bowl!
If you are a Costco member, they have a larger jar of pesto than what you can buy in the grocery store. I haven’t bought it a while, so am not sure of the price…$6 range, maybe. After you use it for a recipe you can freeze the rest of the jar in ice cube trays to be thawed and used later. My daughter loved this recipe and I plan on trying it this week!
The best thing to do is keep an eye on the product price, over weeks and months if necessary, and buy special offers when the opportunity strikes!
Delicious as always!
wow… looking tasty… i never had taste this… but now i would try to make this salad :)
This is my new favorite salad! I always shop at Aldi, and on their current product rotation, they have a killer pesto (for only $1.99!).
I just wanted to let you know that in a desperate attempt to only eat out of our freezer and pantry for a month we were running out of ideas. I had all these ingredients so I thought I would try it. No joke my picky 8 year old, 11 year old and 1 year old are all devouring it as we speak! They love it and the older kids want it in their lunch rotation :) Thank you for all the great budget friendly meals!
I’d love to make this, but I’m not a mayonnaise (no eggs) or parsley/raw onions person. Could I cut the pesto with olive oil and up the lemon juice? Maybe throw in some artichoke hearts instead of the onions?
Yes, that sounds delightful! I think it’s great to go with your gut feeling and experiment with recipes. :)
I’ve made this, but substituted plain yogurt for the mayo.
A good recipe. I liked it even better with some chopped Hass avocado.