Mediterranean Balela Salad

Mediterranean Balela Salad is a bright and healthy chickpea salad made with tons of fresh flavors like parsley, onion, tomato, garlic, and fresh lemon juice. It’s a wonderful, light side dish or a tasty vegetarian meal alongside hummus and pita bread.

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What’s great about Mediterranean Balela Salad is how fresh and bright it is.

It’s a perfect accompaniment to grilled kabobs, gyro sandwiches, and other tasty Mediterranean dishes.

Whenever I make Greek chicken pita sandwiches at home, I serve it with homemade hummus, tzatziki sauce, and this balela salad for a light, healthy dinner.

What is Balela salad?

Balela is a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern salad that contains chickpeas (garbanzo beans), tomato, onion, garlic, lemon, olive oil, and parsley.

I’ve eaten a version of Balela with the addition of black beans, but even though I like black beans, I prefer this salad without them.

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Ingredients needed for this recipe (scroll down to recipe card for complete recipe):

Chickpeas
Parsley
Tomato
Red onion
Lemon juice
Garlic
Sumac
Salt, pepper
Olive oil

📍The full recipe with exact ingredient amounts and instructions is on the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Not only is this chickpea salad delicious, it’s a cinch to make. There is a lot of chopping involved, but it only takes about 10-15 minutes and it’s ready.

How to serve Balela salad?

This Mediterranean salad is the perfect accompaniment to all your favorite foods like kabobs, gyros, pita sandwiches, Middle Eastern Bowls, and more.

You could serve it right away, but it gets better and better the longer it has rested in the fridge. We actually like it best the day after I make it!

Balela would be great served alongside:

How long is Balela good for?

Keep salad in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and use within 3-4 days.

Looking for more chickpea recipes? Here are some favorites:

NOTES:

Sumac is a maroon colored spice that adds a tangy, lemony flavor to your dish. It’s perfect in this salad and is amazing sprinkled on hummus, Greek salad, and kabobs. It may be hard to find in a traditional grocery store, but you can get it HERE from Amazon.
While I do use reconstituted dried chickpeas for some recipes, I find the canned variety is best for this recipe.