Chickpea-Chicken Salad With Green Harissa Dressing
Updated June 23, 2025

- Total Time
- 35 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 4 to 5green chiles, such as jalapeño or serrano
- ¼cup Greek yogurt
- 1½ teaspoons ground cumin
- 5tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2garlic cloves, pressed or finely chopped
- 2tablespoons lemon juice
- ½teaspoon honey
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼teaspoon black pepper
- 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1(14-ounce) can chickpeas, drained
- 1teaspoon ground cumin
- 1teaspoon sweet paprika
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼teaspoon chile powder, such as ground cayenne (optional)
- 2cups arugula or rocket
- ½cup roughly torn fresh cilantro leaves, and more for garnish
- 2heaping cups boneless cooked chicken (such as rotisserie, grilled or poached), roughly chopped or torn and seasoned lightly with salt
- ½cup cherry-tomato halves, seasoned lightly with salt
- ½cup pitted Kalamata or Castelvetrano olives
For the Green Harissa Dressing
For the Chickpeas
For the Salad
Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the dressing: If you have a gas range, turn burner to medium high. Use tongs to hold a green chile carefully about 1 to 2 inches over the open flame for about 60 seconds on each side until the skin is charred. Repeat the same process for each green chile. Alternatively, you can also roast the chiles in the oven under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes on each side until their skin is charred.
- Step 2
Let the chiles rest until they’re cool enough to handle, then use your hands or a butter knife to roughly remove the skins and seeds from the chiles, discard, then chop the flesh very finely with a knife.
- Step 3
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the chopped chiles, Greek yogurt, cumin, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, honey, salt and black pepper. If the consistency of the dressing seems too thick, don’t hesitate to add a tablespoon or two of water to loosen it. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt if necessary.
- Step 4
Make the chickpeas: Heat the olive oil in a medium (10-inch) skillet over low. Add the chickpeas, cumin, paprika, salt and chile powder, if using. Cover with a lid and let cook until the chickpeas are warm and soft, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and keep on the side, covered, until ready to serve.
- Step 5
Assemble the salad: In a large shallow bowl, arrange the arugula and cilantro. Scatter the chicken and the chickpeas on top of the leaves. Top with the tomatoes and olives. Garnish with more cilantro. Serve with the dressing on top or on the side.
Private Notes
Comments
Really enjoyed. Dressing is delicious. Added feta since it’s always beta with feta.
This doesn't need harissa paste. Harissa is a type of sauce and here the recipe uses green peppers to make the sauce, rather than the red you typically find in a pre-made/store bought one. If you follow the recipe as written, you'll end up with a lovely green spicy harissa.
I'd suggest using extra firm tofu. You can put it in a marinade with some nutritional yeast if you like. Add that do the salad.
I roasted the chickpeas until crunchy, which gave it a little crunch.
Delicious. Loved the combination of ingredients and did add a roasted sweet potato to the meal as someone else suggested. The sweet potato offered a nice contrast in taste and color! Will definitely make again. We used so little of the sauce, not needed as we prefer a 'drier' salad. I wonder if I can freeze it for later?
Made as written with rotisserie chicken. Broiled three jalapenos in my toaster oven to spare extra heat in the kitchen on a hot day. I prepped the elements in reverse order (measured my olives and halved my tomatoes, shredded my chicken, then prepped my cilantro) which meant everything was just about right in spiciness and physical heat when assembled. Served the dressing on the side to control the heat. The spice proportions were perfect. YUM!