Balela salad is an all-time favorite nutrition-packed power salad. It's fresh, satisfying, and totally festive. This is not your basic chickpea salad recipe!
Let's start with a simple definition. In Arabic, the word “balela” means “cooked chickpeas.” Balela salad is an ancient Middle Eastern chickpea salad. It is simple, wholesome, bright, and flavor-packed. A winner on all fronts!
There are many variations of balela salad, but this recipe is closer to what you'd find in the restaurants and food joints of Alexandria, Egypt.
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Balela Salad My Way
The gist: cooked chickpeas, chopped veggies, copious amounts of fresh herbs, and Mediterranean favorites like olives and sun-dried tomatoes. A zesty salad dressing with garlic and sumac brings everything together.
Tip: to allow the flavors to meld, make the balela salad ahead of time, at least a half hour before serving!
Turn Your Balela Salad Into a Meal!
Clearly this beautiful and festive salad can be served as part of a special dinner. But with nourishing and satisfying chickpeas, being the star ingredient in balela salad, it can really stand alone as a meal. You can also serve it in warm pita pockets with a drizzle of tahini, or add it to an impressive vegetarian mezze platter with baba ganoush and roasted red pepper hummus.
Have You Heard About the Half Cup Habit?
I get excited when I see balela salad at my local deli. Good on them! It's one brilliant way to pack lean protein and plant-based nutrition into your diet! And if there were a list of textbook Mediterranean diet recipes, Balela salad would make the top!
As you know, one of the powerful secrets of the Mediterranean diet is in nutrition-filled pulses, like dry chickpeas, lentils, peas, and beans. Pulses pack a lot of protein, and they are rich in complex carbohydrates, fiber and B vitamins!
If you don't already eat a good portion of pulses, a simple goal would be to add to your diet just ½ cup of pulses three times per week (a total of 1 ½ cups of pulses per week, which is what USDA recommends). This is what USA Pulses and Pulse Canada call the Half-Cup Habit! Check it out here. And, I've included some more of my favorite recipes below!
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Browse all Mediterranean recipes.
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Balela Salad
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 3 ½ cups cooked chickpeas (or 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas), drained and rinsed
- ½ green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 jalapeno, finely chopped (optional)
- 2 ½ cups grape or cherry tomatoes, halved if you’d like (or you can leave them whole)
- ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes
- 3-5 green onions, chopped (both white and green parts)
- ⅓ cup pitted Kalamata olives
- ¼ cup pitted green olives
- ½ cup chopped parsley leaves
- ½ cup chopped mint or basil leaves
For the Dressing
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon sumac
- ½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Mix the salad. In a large bowl, mix the chickpeas, bell pepper, jalapeno (if using), tomatoes, green onion, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and herbs.
- Make the dressing. In a separate bowl or jar, add the oil, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, sumac, Aleppo pepper, and red pepper (if using). Season with salt and pepper to taste and whisk to combine.
- Dress. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and mix gently to coat. Ideally, leave aside for 30 minutes before serving, or cover and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.
- Serve. When ready to serve, give the salad a quick mix and taste to adjust seasoning if at all needed. Enjoy!
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Notes
- Turn your babela into a meal! This wholesome, nutrition-packed salad can easily be turned into a meal. Serve it in warm pita pockets with a drizzle of tahini. Or add it to an impressive vegetarian mezze platter with baba ganoush and roasted red pepper hummus.
- Recommended for this recipe: Early Harvest Greek extra virgin olive oil (from organically grown and processed Koroneiki olives). And from our all-natural spice collection: Sumac and Aleppo Pepper.
- Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients including olive oils, honey, jams, and spices.
Nutrition
*This post has recently been updated with new information for readers’ benefit.
Looks so good I think this will be tonight's dinner...Thanks!
Monica, I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for stopping in!
Loving the looks of this salad and the protein boost from the chickpeas!
I know it! So good!
WOW! This salad looks amazing! Thanks for sharing.
I hope you give it a try!
I think I just decided I am going to make this for Christmas Eve. Looks incredible!! The colors are amazing.
Awesome, Aggie! I hope you guys love it!
Wishing this was my lunch today!
Could easily be, eh? Super simple!
I love all the flavors in this salad!
Me too! Thanks for stopping in, Naomi!
I want this salad! I love how fresh it looks!
You'd love it!
This salad looks so yummy. I love the combination of olives with chickpeas.
It really is so good! Hope you try it!
This is my kind of salad! I love every single ingredient in it - so rich in nutrients and flavors!
It really is, Milena! Thanks for stopping in.
Gorgeous! I’ve never seen the word Balela before. Which is why I love cooking blogs!
Thanks, Mimi! Hope you give it a try!
Yes!!! Love chickpeas and mediterranean salads. Pinning.
Yay! Enjoy!!!
Oh my gosh, this is so colorful and flavorful, I LOVE IT.
It's so good! Simple and flavor-packed. Hope you give it a try, Aimee!
Oh my goodness, I just adore the colors in this - it is so vibrant! Makes me want to just dive in! Really beautiful photography. 🙂
Thanks, Monica! I hope you'll give this simple salad a try!
I love chickpeas! And my husband is a huge fan of olives. This sounds like a delicious salad!
You would love this salad! Enjoy!
Wow! This is one flavour packed salad!!! I would love to make a huge batch and eat throughout the week for quick lunches! YUM!
This would be perfect for meal prep! We eat it as lunch often!
This is very Mediterranean, I LOVE these ingredients. Your salad is so pretty with all of those colors, thank you for sharing your recipe!
Awesome, Tina! Glad you stopped in. Enjoy!