Tasty, fresh, and full of healthy veggies. This Italian salad has it all, using some salami, protein-packed chickpeas, lots of fresh greens, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and a simple homemade dressing to bring it all together. You only need a few minutes and some simple ingredients to make it, and it's a delicious entreé or side option.
As the summer days get warmer we all seem to start seeking out meals that require little to no cooking. Who wants to stand over a hot stove when it's 90°F outside?! If you find yourself in this very situation and are looking for something light and easy for dinner, or perhaps you need a side dish to go with some grilled summer meats, you'll love this salad recipe.
What You'll Need
I like to serve this in a pretty salad bowl to bring the "wow" factor. Always make sure your vegetables are clean and dry, using the freshest ingredients possible. The better quality your ingredients are, the better the final results will be and that is most true when choosing your olive oil. Choose high-quality, mild-tasting olive oil and your dressing will complement the salad perfectly.
For the salad:
- Springmix
- chickpeas
- artichoke hearts
- sundried tomatoes
- pepperoncini
- salami
To make the dressing you'll just need olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, garlic, dijon mustard, and Italian seasoning. We'll mix that all together and season with salt and pepper and that's it! It's so simple and tasty, and you can double or triple the recipe if you'd like to use it on your other salads.
Frequently Asked Questions
I do not recommend preparing the salad ahead of time because the greens will get soggy. To save time you can prepare the ingredients ahead of time by making the dressing and storing it in a separate container. You can also wash and dry the vegetables, slice the salami, and chop the tomatoes. Store each ingredient on its own so nothing gets too moist.
Pepperoncini are a mild pepper and when pickled (as they are here) they provide more of an acidic, vingary flavor to this salad. It's a nice compliment to the saltiness of the salami.
This Italian dressing is much healthier than the ones on most grocery shelves, and it has less fat and calories than creamy options. While it does contain a fair amount of calories and fat, it also has heart-healthy fatty acids, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory properties.
Yes! You can replace the salami in this recipe with a plant-based option. Salami adds saltiness to this salad, so make sure yours has some good salty flavor.
Tools I like for this recipe
More recipes to try:
Italian Salad With Chickpeas and Salami
Ingredients
For the salad
- 5 ounces spring mix
- 15 ounces chickpeas canned, rinsed and drained
- 4 ounces genoa salami sliced in to thin strips
- 1 cup halved artichokes grilled and marinated
- ½ cup sundried tomatoes chopped
- ¼ cup sliced pepperoncini
For the dressing
- ⅓ cup olive oil good quality
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 clove garlic minced finely
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Add all of your salad ingredients to a large bowl.
- In a small bowl whisk together all of the ingredients for the dressing.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and give it a good toss.
Madi says
Love this! I’ve made it twice in two weeks. We get just about all the ingredients from Sam’s. I roasted my chickpeas the second time for some added crunch and added red onion. I doubled the dressing to have extra on hand in the frig. So yumm
Milk Free Mom says
So glad you like it! Love your idea of adding crunch with roasted chickpeas. Thanks for the feedback!