Crispy Chickpea Caesar Salad

Whether you’re a die-hard fan or a reluctant chickpea beginner, adding chickpeas to your favorite salad, rice dish, or saute adds nutrients as well as a fantastic texture. For this Caesar Salad with Chickpeas recipe, chef Mandi Hickman from Dash of Mandi sprinkles air fryer chickpeas on the Taylor Farms Caesar Salad chopped kit, and we can’t get enough!

Enjoy this easy salad combination that packs loads of bonus protein, fiber, folate, and potassium from those cute little cooked chickpeas.

CREATED BY:
Dash of Mandi

Ingredients

1 Taylor Farms Caesar Chopped Salad Kit
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon avocado or olive oil
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
pinch of salt

Directions

Add the chickpeas to a mixing bowl and combine with oil and seasonings. Mix well. Air fry at 380 degrees F for 13-15 minutes, tossing half way. If you don’t own an air fryer, heat 1 tbsp of butter or oil in a skillet. Sauté the drained chickpeas in the skillet until they start to brown. For added flavor, sprinkle with your favorite seasoning, such as salt, garlic powder, onion powder, or all-purpose seasoning.
Assemble your caesar salad chopped kit by adding all the contents to a bowl. Toss with the salad dressing then top with the air-fried (or sautéed) chickpeas. You can top with fresh black pepper, too. Enjoy!

Adding Alternative Proteins to Prepared Salads

Chickpeas and other legumes are easy plant-based sources of protein that can be added to any Taylor Farms chopped kits. For vegetarians or those looking to eat less meat, try adding peas, chickpeas, lentils, tofu, or edamame on your next salad. Not only are you upping your protein game, you’ll look ever-so-nutrition-conscious when you talk about your favorite legume. A serving of chickpeas adds 6 grams of protein to the Caesar salad’s 4 grams, giving you 10 grams of protein per bowl—about the same as a Greek yogurt or two eggs!

Boosting protein content not only helps keep you fuller longer, getting enough protein is essential to your body’s ability to heal, transport nutrients, make antibodies, and build muscle. We don’t know about you, but those things sound like processes worth supporting with all the PTA muster we’ve got. If that’s not enough, protein acts as the body’s building blocks of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood.

And for those looking to increase overall protein intake throughout the course of the day, just know you don’t need to always turn to the same old chicken breast to make it happen.

Top that Caesar! (and not just with crowns of laurel)

If Caesar himself was crowned with laurel leaves, you can certainly crown your Caesar salad with any toppings you like. Some of our favorites are:

Classic:

Hard-boiled egg
Extra croutons
Grape tomatoes
Avocado (Try our Fully Loaded Caesar Salad recipe if this is sounding good so far)

Protein-packed:

Chickpeas
Grilled Chicken
Breaded chicken
Garlic-sauteed shrimp

Extra Flavorful:

Buffalo chicken
Crumbled Bacon
Sun-dried tomatoes

However you make it your own, enjoy the tangy, crunchy bite of a classic Caesar salad just how you like it.

Are Chickpeas the same as Garbanzo beans?

Yes! Chickpeas are known to go by several other names, especially when they pack up their backpacks and go traveling abroad—notably garbanzos (Spanish), Egyptian peas, and ceci beans (Italian). No matter what they’re called, chickpeas are a favorite across the world (and topping our favorite salads). Enjoy!

Check out all of our Caesar recipes!