I love spring and seeing all the fresh greens and herbs. My soaked and pressure-cooked chickpeas called for the spring treatment, and that’s how this low-lectin spring chickpea salad with Mediterranean flavors was born.
This is the perfect plant-based salad for your summer meals, picnics, and garden parties.
Do chickpeas have lectins?
Chickpeas have lectins, like all beans and legumes. But the good news is there are ways to remove lectins from high-lectin containing foods. The easiest way to remove lectins from chickpeas is to soak and pressure-cook them.
- Soak – do it overnight or for about 12 hours, changing the water several times.
- Pressure-cook – Use an Instant Pot or manual pressure cooker for 20-24 minutes; don’t add salt, but you can add an onion, a carrot, a rosemary sprig, and a bay leaf for extra flavor. The bay leaf also helps with digestion.
- Discard the liquid and store – for even better removal of lectins, discard the cooking water and store the chickpeas in a glass container in the refrigerator for two days or freeze.
I love chickpeas, and I’m glad I could reintroduce them after taking a break for two years. While a lectin-free diet advocates for the removal of beans and legumes for the first six weeks of the program, it actually encourages reintroduction if they are prepared appropriately and don’t give you digestive issues.
How to prepare the garlic sauce
This garlic sauce is a favorite in our house. We make it with spring garlic. If you can’t find spring garlic, the next best thing is wild garlic leaves. It will also be ok with normal garlic, but it won’t come out green, and there will be a slight flavor difference.
The ingredients are spring garlic, extra virgin olive oil, hemp milk (see my hemp milk recipe), apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper, to taste. You won’t use this much for this salad, but you can store it in the fridge for a couple of days and use it for other meals. It was the original sauce for my Lectin-Free Zucchini Baked Fries.
The flavors
For a mix of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavors, I used lots of fresh parsley, fresh mint, lemon zest, cumin, salt, and pepper.
Ingredients for this low-lectin chickpea salad
FOR THE GARLIC DRESSING:
- 3 spring garlic (the very young ones, if they are bigger, use less), chopped (use about 5 garlic cloves if you can’t find green garlic)
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup hemp milk (you can use other compliant milk but not coconut, too much flavor)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (or more, to taste)
- salt and pepper to taste
FOR THE SALAD:
- 2 cups pressure-cooked chickpeas (you can also use canned)
- 1 big parsley bunch, finely chopped
- 3 spring onions (scallions), finely sliced
- 1 spring garlic, finely sliced (skip if you can’t find)
- about 20 leaves of fresh mint, chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic sauce (or more to taste, if you like the garlicky taste)
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- zest of one organic lemon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, to taste
How to make it
TO PRESSURE COOK THE CHICKPEAS (the time it’s not included in the cooking time): Soak them overnight, changing the water several times. Change the water and pressure cook (you can add some carrot and onion to the pot for more flavor, but it’s not necessary) for 23 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally, discard the water and the veggies, let the chickpeas cool and store them in a glass container in the fridge (or freeze them for later use). You can also use canned chickpeas, like an organic, BPA-free brand that soaks and pressure cook their beans, such as Eden or Jovial (rinse before using).
TO MAKE THE GARLIC DRESSING: In a high-power blender, mix all the ingredients until smooth. Store in a jar in the fridge for a few days and use on meats, salads, or veggies.
TO MAKE THE SALAD: Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix well. You can add more or less of the garlic sauce, to your taste.
How to serve
I love this salad served in a combination of tapas-style dishes. It goes well with flatbread or green cassava tortillas, kebab-style meat or grilled chicken, olives, feta cheese, and pickled mushrooms salad.
Also, don’t forget to read my article on how to remove lectins from your favorite high-lectin food.
Enjoy!
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By Claudia Curici, Health Coach–Serves: 4 Prep Time: 15 minutes This low lectin spring chickpea salad with fresh herbs and Mediterranean flavors is the perfect accompaniment to your summer meals, picnics, and garden parties. 1 TO PRESSURE COOK THE CHICKPEAS (the time it's not included in the cooking time): Soak them overnight changing water several times. Change the water and pressure cook (you can add some carrot and onion to the pot for more flavor, but it's not necessary) for 23 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally, discard the water and the veggies, let the chickpeas cool and store them in a glass container in the fridge (or freeze for later use). You can also use canned chickpeas, like an organic, BPA-free brand that soak and pressure cook their beans, such as Eden or Jovial (rinse before using). 2 TO MAKE THE GARLIC DRESSING: In a high-power blender mix all the ingredients until smooth. Store in a jar in the fridge for a few days and use on meats, salads, or veggies. 3 TO MAKE THE SALAD: Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix well. If you can't find spring or green garlic, you can use about 5 garlic cloves to make the sauce. 
Print RecipeLow-Lectin Spring Chickpea Salad
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About Claudia
Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and Cookbook Author, Claudia Curici is the founder of Creative in My Kitchen, a food and lifestyle blog where she write about her health journey and post original recipes that are always low-lectin, gluten-free, and sugar-free.
