This BBQ Ranch Chickpea Kale Salad is a decadent yet nourishing salad that brings restaurant-style flavors to your home! Filled with flavor, greens, and tangy BBQ chickpeas, this salad has it all! Plus, it’s simple to put together and makes for a great meal prep as well.
What’s Great about this Salad
I love this salad because it reminds me of restaurant salads with ranch and/or bbq flavors, but you can make it at home so easily and with a healthier twist. This recipe uses simple ingredients that you probably have in the fridge and pantry already.
The ranch dressing is so delicious! It has tons of flavor, and it goes so well with the bbq sauce on the chickpeas. The combination makes this salad so satisfying and craveworthy!
This salad also makes for a great meal prep. Kale holds up quite well for a few days in the fridge, as compared to other greens. You can store the dressing on the side to avoid having the kale get too soggy.
You can add in lots of other veggies to this salad to use what you may have in the fridge. Some great additions would be sliced tomatoes, shredded carrots, shredded red cabbage, or chopped broccoli florets.
How this BBQ Ranch Chickpea Kale Salad Comes Together
The first step is to preheat the oven (for roasting the chickpeas) to 400 degrees F. Drain and rinse the chickpeas off, then pat them dry with a towel so that they’ll get crisper during roasting. Place them onto a baking tray and sprinkle them generously with oil (I used avocado oil), salt, garlic powder, cumin, and chili powder. Toss them to coat with the spices, then place into the oven. I like to roast them for 15 minutes, but feel free to roast for another 5 to 10 minutes if you prefer the chickpeas very crisp, just watch for them not to burn.
While the chickpeas are roasting, rinse the kale and cut out the stems, which tend to be tougher. Chop the leaves into bite-sized pieces. Place the leaves into a large bowl and dry them with a towel. You don’t want to water down the salad, so removing excess water helps to avoid that!
Now drizzle a small amount of oil over the kale, and then massage the leaves with your fingers. This step does wonders for the texture of the kale – it goes from tough leaves to a fantastic, softer texture.
Then add all of the BBQ Sauce ingredients to a small saucepan and whisk them together. Simmer the sauce, then remove it from the heat.
In a small bowl, you can whisk together the Ranch Dressing. Also, slice up the cucumbers. I like to slice lengthwise in half, then lengthwise again. Then chop each crosswise.
Toss the cooked chickpeas in the BBQ Sauce.
You’re ready to assemble the salad! Add some of the dressing to the kale, along with the sliced cucumbers, and gently toss. You can toss in some nutritional yeast at this point as well. Then serve between two or three large bowls. Top with the chickpeas and drizzle with more ranch dressing as desired.
Other Delicious Salad Recipes
Charred Cabbage & Lentil Salad
If you make this salad, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave me a comment here and tag me on Instagram @janetsmunchmeals!
BBQ Ranch Chickpea Kale Salad
Ingredients
- 3/4 to 1 bunch kale de-stemmed and chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 1 15 oz. can chickpeas drained, rinsed and dried with a kitchen towel
- Oil, salt, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder for roasting
- 1/2 of a seedless cucumber thinly sliced
- 1 to 2 tsp nutritional yeast for serving optional
BBQ Sauce
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp vegan worcestershire sauce
- 3/4 tsp onion powder
- 3/4 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp agave
- 1 tbsp water
- 1/2 tbsp white vinegar
Dijon Ranch
- 1/4 cup vegan mayo
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp dried dill
- 1 tbsp agave
- Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place the chickpeas on a baking try and sprinkle with a bit of oil and the salt, garlic powder, cumin and chili powder. Toss and bake for 15 minutes.
- Place the de-stemmed and chopped kale in a large bowl. Make sure leaves are quite dry / remove excess water. Drizzle bit of oil on kale leaves. Massage leaves to soften.
- In small saucepan, add all BBQ Sauce ingredients. Whisk together, cook over medium heat at gentle simmer for 5-7 min until it thickens a bit. Separately, in a small bowl, whisk together Dijon Ranch ingredients.
- When chickpeas are done roasting, add them to pan with the finished BBQ Sauce, toss. Let mixture cool a bit before adding to kale.
- Add some dressing to the salad and sliced cucumbers, toss, top with the bbq chickpeas and sprinkle with nutritional yeast if desired. Drizzle more dressing on if you like.