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Tomato season is in full swing, and I’m taking full advantage, throwing tomatoes into pretty much every meal I make, like this cherry tomato chickpea salad.
The base is cherry tomatoes, chickpeas (obviously), and couscous, along with fresh mint and dill, and a garlicky spiced oil (with spices za’atar and cumin), topped with a drizzle of sweet and tangy pomegranate molasses. It’s like a trip to Flavortown!!
And despite how complex that sounds, this salad is simplicity itself – it comes together in no time and works great as a weeknight dinner.
You can serve this cold as a Middle-Eastern pasta salad situation, or warm the chickpeas and make this a warm couscous salad dish. It’s super versatile!
Everything You Need for this Chickpea Salad
- Pearl couscous: I order this online (my favorite brand is RiceSelect) because the stores near me only carry turmeric pearl couscous (still unsure why they carry that and not regular pearl couscous).
- Canned chickpeas
- Cherry tomatoes
- Fresh mint
- Fresh dill
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Garlic
- Cumin seeds
- Za’atar: Za’atar is a Middle Eastern spice mix that typically has sumac, oregano, thyme, sesame seeds, and salt. And if you’re wondering if you’ll ever use this spice mix again, leaving you with two other fab recipes here and here that both use za’atar.
- Sumac
- Coriander
- Pomegranate molasses: Please don’t skip this – it adds another dimension to this dish and really changes the flavor dynamic!
Meal-Prep Suggestions
- Prepping for making this at home? Cook the couscous, toss it into a container, and store it in the fridge. Prep the spiced oil by following the directions as stated (brown the garlic, add in the spices, etc.). But pop the oil into a jar and store it in the pantry. When you’re ready to assemble, warm the couscous with the drained chickpeas in a pot, add in the oil, and warm slightly (it doesn’t need to be hot). Dump into a bowl, add in the tomatoes, herbs, and pomegranate molasses. Toss and adjust for salt.
- Packing this for lunch? Layering is the name of the game. To keep any ingredients from getting soggy/weird, add the spiced oil, salt, and the pomegranate to the bottom of your container, then add the beans, layer the couscous over the beans, followed by the tomatoes, and lastly, the herbs. And then just toss when you’re reading to eat.
A Few Other Notes
- This chickpea salad has no lemon juice or any obvious acidic ingredients, because I believe the sumac and pomegranate molasses add enough acidity and tang. However, feel free to add a squeeze of lemon when serving.
- Cooking the couscous like pasta is so much easier and prevents it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Plus, rinsing the couscous prevents it from clumping when it cools.
- The pomegranate molasses can quickly discolor this salad, so if you’re making this ahead of time, wait to add the pomegranate molasses until you’re just about to serve it.
So excited for you to make this salad – don’t forget to leave a starred rating and review, love hearing from you!!
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Cherry Tomato Chickpea Salad
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Middle-Eastern
Description
This spoonable cherry tomato chickpea salad takes full advantage of summer produce and is perfect for when it’s aggressively hot out.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (90 g) dry pearl couscous
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 20 (150 g) cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered*
- 2 tbsp mint leaves, finely minced
- 1 tbsp dill, finely minced
- 3 tbsp (25 g) olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp za’atar
- 1 tsp sumac
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt (used a total of 1 tsp)
- Finish with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses**
Instructions
- Cook the couscous. Fill a medium-sized pot with water and bring to a boil. Dump in the couscous, along with a large pinch of salt. Cook the couscous on medium-high heat until soft. Drain and rinse the couscous with cold water to stop the cooking process. Add the couscous to a large bowl. NOTE: Cooking the couscous like pasta is so much easier and prevents it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Plus, rinsing the cooked couscous prevents it from clumping together when it cools.
- Prep the chickpeas. You have two options here: you can either make a cold Middle-Eastern pasta salad situation (my personal favorite) or a cozy warm chickpea salad (also amazing). For the cold pasta salad situation, drain and rinse the chickpeas and add them to the bowl with the couscous. For the cozy chickpea salad, add the chickpeas to the spiced oil along with the cumin seeds and let them fry off a bit to heat up and absorb the flavors of the oil.
- Prep the tomatoes and herbs, and add to the bowl of couscous.
- Make the spiced oil. Add the oil and garlic to a skillet (I use the same pot I used for the couscous to minimize cleanup), and fry on medium heat until the garlic begins to turn golden. Regularly toss the garlic to ensure it browns evenly. As soon as the garlic reaches the golden stage, add the cumin seeds (and chickpeas if you’re making a warm salad), and fry off for an additional 1 minute. Remove from the heat and sprinkle in the remaining spices.
- Toss together and serve. Pour the spiced oil over the bowl, along with 1/2 – 1 tsp kosher salt. Toss to combine and adjust salt as needed. When you’re ready to serve, drizzle each individual bowl with pomegranate molasses (don’t skip this).
Notes
*If your cherry tomatoes are on the smaller side halve them, if they’re bigger, quarter them. The goal is to have all the ingredients of this salad more or less similar in size so it’s easy to spoon up!
**Love this pomegranate syrup from Just Date – it’s interchangeable with pomegranate molasses but with better ingredients.
It looks delicious 😋
It’s SO good – can’t wait for you to make it!
I made this for lunch today. I really liked it. I made it the “cozy way” as you called it! I warmed up the chickpeas and cumin seeds in the garlic oil. I think that warming up the spices really brings out their flavors. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us!
Yesss, refuse to eat any spices without blooming them first haha! So happy you liked it, thank you SO much for leaving a review! 🫶🏼
Simply fantastic! Thank you for this super salad
Ah so happy you liked it!! Thank you SO much for leaving a review! 🫶🏼
So so soooo delicious and fulfilling
So happy to hear – thank you SO much for leaving a review! 🫶🏼
Absolutely the most delicious salad in the world. I’ve made it a few times and it’s going to be a fridge staple. So easy to make a big batch and eat as lunch or take on picnics. It’s honestly life changing! I add Kalamata olives, feta and fresh parsley to mine! Thank you xx ♥️
I live for reviews like this – so happy you loved it!! And thank you SO much for leaving a review, appreciate it ☺️