This Chickpea Avocado Salad is my favorite “salad sandwich” filling, perfect for a summer picnic or an easy lunch on a bed of quinoa. My toddler loves it, but more importantly, mommy gets to feel healthy while eating it. With only five ingredients and endless flavor possibilities, this Chickpea Avocado Salad is sure to be your new favorite too.
I jumped feet-first into summer with quite a few health-related commitments. I decided to join the back-to-back Tone It Up challenges for the summer and we’re on challenge two, a four week exercise and nutrition challenge. In addition to that, I’ve been teaching a lot of Stroller Barre and Stroller Strides classes in my community, so I’m getting quite the racer-back tanlines.
Anyways, my point is, this Chickpea Avocado Salad is totally inspired my favorite recipes from the TIU plan. Last summer I made this salad, stuffed in butter lettuce leaves, at least 3 times a week. No joke.
This summer, I’m rolling back into it and loving my Chickpea Avocado Salad and my Shaved Zucchini and Spring Pea Salad. Here’s why it is SO versatile: you can drizzle it in Sriracha, sprinkle it with lime and chili flakes, fold in lots of basil and sundried tomatoes, add walnuts and grapes…seriously, you can make it whatever you want it to be! I like to alternate between basil with lemon and the lime with chili and Sriracha. Yum!
I typically eat this salad with quinoa, either mixed in or just as a bed of protein-packed carbs. You could easily scoop some into a sandwich or in lettuce wraps, though, it’s all good. If you go the quinoa route, though, I think the key is to spritz lemon and a good dose of salt onto the quinoa to keep it flavorful too.
So let’s dive into this recipe, yes?
Chickpea Avocado Salad
Recipe by Melissa @ Treats With a Twist
Makes 1 portion
INGREDIENTS
½ a ripe avocado
2 Tbs. plain Greek yogurt (2% or full fat)
½ cup rinsed chickpeas
1 Tbs. lemon juice
3 large basil leaves
large pinch of Kosher salt
To serve: cooked quinoa, lettuce for lettuce wraps or bread for a sandwich
METHOD
In a bowl with a fork, mash together the avocado and Greek yogurt. Then add the chickpeas and mash some of them up, leaving some of them whole. Then, stir in the lemon juice.
Finely dice the basil or cut it into ribbons. Fold in the fresh basil and add a pinch of salt (salt to taste).
To serve: if you’re serving it on quinoa, add a generous squeeze of fresh lemon to ½ cup of cooked quinoa and a pinch of salt. Top the quinoa with the chickpea salad mixture.
You can also serve it in lettuce cups with a drizzle of spicy sriracha on top!
TO PRINT this recipe, simply copy and paste the text into a new document on your computer. Thanks for keeping it old school with me.
