Broccoli Chickpea Salad with Feta

This Broccoli Chickpea Salad with Feta is super fresh, healthy and delicious! Broccoli and chickpeas combine with brown rice, feta and red onion for a super satisfying salad - perfect for meal prep, lunches or to serve with weeknight suppers. With only 5 ingredients and a simple homemade dressing, this is a broccoli salad to get excited about.

This Broccoli and Chickpea salad is here to brighten your day, friend!☀️

A salad packed with nutritious and simple ingredients is such awesome way to enjoy healthy and naturally gluten-free food.

But don't you find sometimes that salads can leave you wanting more?

Like more oomph! More filling ingredients than just lettuce and some sad looking veggies (boooo.)

That's what so great about this broccoli chickpea salad - it's chock full of fibre and protein so you won't be hungry 2 seconds after eating it.

Jump to:

• 📝Ingredients for broccoli chickpea salad
• 🥣How to make broccoli chickpea salad
• 🔄Substitutions
• 🥡Storage and Leftovers
• ⏲️Made Ahead Tips
• 🏅Two Top Tips
• Want more?
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Going gluten-free isn't always easy but here at Eats by April, it's always delicious😋

Check out these other naturally gluten-free salads too:

📝Ingredients for broccoli chickpea salad

• Cooked brown rice
• Broccoli
• 1 can of chickpeas
• Purple onion
• Feta cheese
• 1 lemon
• Olive oil
• White wine vinegar
• Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

See recipe card below for quantities and instructions.

Have leftover rice? Make this broccoli chickpea salad.

Have a ginormous head of broccoli that you don't know what to do with? Make this broccoli chickpea salad.

And if you have even more leftover rice?

Try this Moroccan-Spiced Black Bean Salad with Brown Rice.

🥣How to make broccoli chickpea salad

🔄Substitutions

You can make a few swaps or additions to this broccoli chickpea salad if you need:

• Brown rice - if you don't have brown rice, you can totally sub in another whole grain rice like basmati rice or even jasmine rice for that matter
• Cheese - don't have feta? No problem! A goat cheese or even shredded cheddar cheese will do the trick
• Add apple - looking for more crunch and a hint of sweetness? Add chopped green apple to this salad
• Add leafy greens - if you want to bulk it up, feel free to add in some leafy greens like baby kale or spinach
• Go nuts - if you're looking for some more crunch, feel free to throw some nuts in here like toasted pine nuts or walnuts
• Need vegan? Skip the cheese and replace with a vegan substitute or leave out altogether

🥡Storage and Leftovers

This broccoli and rice salad keeps pretty fresh for up to 3 days in the fridge.

There's no risk of things getting soggy as you've got ingredients that can hold their own for a few days - the meaty chickpeas, the firm broccoli and the crunchy red onion.

Everything stays pretty firm and delicious😋

Don't be freezing this salad though (ew and, why?)

⏲️Made Ahead Tips

If you want to serve this salad as part of a meal or at a picnic, BBQ or other get together, the day before serving you can do a few things to make it easier the day of.

Prep all the ingredients

• Wash and chop the broccoli and dice the red onion the day before
• You can also open the can of chickpeas and rinse and drain them

• Break up the feta - Using your hands or a couple forks, break up the feta cheese so it's nice and crumbly, getting rid of any large chunks.
• Make the rice - the day before is a perfect time to make the rice too.

Either make in according to the package instructions on the stovetop or make it in the Instant Pot. I usually make my rice in the Instant Pot using 3 cups of broth (or water) to every 2 cups of rice.

I select the "Rice" button and once it's done, let it stay on the "Keep Warm" setting for about 10 minutes, then shut the Instant Pot and let it naturally release the pressure.

Make the dressing

You can also whisk up the super simple dressing the day before as well.

Keep it in the fridge in a container with a lid that fits tight. Right before you need to use it the next day, whisk it up one more time.

🏅Two Top Tips

Meal Prep Tip: If you're making the salad for meal prep for the week ahead, say for lunches, include a lemon wedge into the meal prep container along with the salad. When you're ready to dig in, squeeze some of that fresh lemon juice on there to brighten things up even more!

Tastes better the next day: If you're making this salad to serve as part of a meal or at a picnic, BBQ or other get together, I recommend making it a day in advance. Make up the whole salad as per the recipe and add the dressing over top. Keep in a large container with a lid that seals tightly shut. As the rice, broccoli, feta and lemon dressing sit together in the fridge, the flavours will continue to improve. When you're ready for it the next day, give it a stir and an extra squirt of lemon juice just before serving.

I hope you love it❣️

~April

If you like this recipe, you may also want to check out these gluten-free recipes too:

• Easy Quinoa Salad with Feta
• Instant Pot Sweet and Spicy Chicken Thighs
• Easy Black Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Soup (Instant Pot)
• Easy Spiced Chicken Salad with Brown Rice
• Healthy Cranberry Oatmeal Muffins

~April

This post was first published on February 28th, 2021. Post copy updated and re-published on Dec 6th, 2022.

📖 Recipe