Chickpea Macaroni Salad

Submitted by RedVinoGirl

"Snagged the base for this recipe from Allrecipes. Now one of my family's FAVORITE pasta salads. And it's healthy to boot!!"

 

• Ready In: 15mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 1 cup macaroni
• 1 (15 1/2 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (garbanzo beans)
• 6 tomatoes, chopped
• 1⁄2 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 cup kalamata olive, halved
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1⁄3 cup olive oil
• 1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice

directions

1. Bring a medium saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni, and cook 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente. Rinse under cold water to chill, and drain.
2. Meanwhile, combine the chickpeas, tomatoes, onion, garlic, feta cheese, olives, salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Set aside to marinate while the pasta is cooking.
3. Mix macaroni with chickpea mixture. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to blend flavors.

Reviews

[Dr. Jenny]

I was looking for a quick and easy to prepare lunch recipe yesterday and stumbled upon this, for which I had all the ingredients. DH and I were pleased with the way it turned out, enjoyed the flavors, and thought the prep went quickly, especially with both of us chopping. It is very good today, as well, when I had it for leftovers. The only comment for the future was that DH misses the tang that red wine vinegar gives to other salads with similar ingredients we have had in the past. Perhaps we will experiment with that next time. Thanks for posting.

 

[13blackcats]

This is a favorite of ours, though I have to make a separate portion for the daughter that hates feta. We use rotini pasta & grape tomatoes. We add more garlic because we love garlic, and sometimes yellow & orange bell peppers if we have them. It's a great make ahead dinner.

 

[Ck2plz]

I loved this! I used cherry tomatoes and cut them in half. The lemon juice amount is not overpowering. I would add more lemon juice (at your discretion) if you want more lemon flavor. I added some green onions to my plate as someone suggested. Yummy!

 

[Meredith C-ville]

This was a big hit at a small family cookout. I have been told to bring it to the next one. I used purple scallions in place of onions, added parsley for green interest, and used garlic powder rather than actual cloves since it distributes better. It was quick and simple to make, and it can hold up well without refrigeration. I thought it looked like an excessive amount of lemon juice, but I stuck with it and it was perfectly fine. Thanks!

 

[Amber of AZ]

This is a delicious salad. The things I did differently were: I used more pasta, more onion, more garlic, and added sliced green olives to the salad. To each individual serving, I drizzled balsalmic vinegar on. Great flavors and very easy to make. Also, I love that the only heating it requires is to boil the pasta water. Perfect for Arizona summers.