Farmers markets in the summer are a great place to shop for fresh veggies and after stocking up on sweet kirby cucumbers, I decided to make this salad filled with seasonal vegetables and some chickpeas and pumpkin seeds for protein. The salad takes less than 10 minutes to make and can be topped with additional protein like avocado or my honey cinnamon salmon!
A few months ago, I stocked up on lots of chickpeas so I wanted to find something delicious (without lettuce) that I could make with them that would be refreshing and filling during this current summer heat wave I am having in NYC. I topped my salad with a super easy lemon olive oil dressing which is refreshing and gives the salad a zesty zing. Any dressing would go well with this salad, but if you plan to store the salad in the refrigerator just leave the dressing off until you’re ready to eat it. This salad can serve two people as an appetizer or is good for one main meal! You could also use this salad as the base of a taco or add some grains to it if you want more protein and for it to last longer than a meal!
Substitution ideas:
- Pumpkin Seeds: you can swap these out for sunflower seeds or hemp seeds
- Chickpeas: you can use cannellini beans or black beans instead
- Scallions: you could use red onions or chives
Summer Corn + Bean Salad with Lemon Dressing
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 cucumber, chopped
- 1/2 cup corn kernels (canned, frozen or 1 cob of fresh corn)
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/3 cup scallions, chopped (or 2 tbsp chopped chives)
- 1 cup chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup tomatoes, halved
Lemon Dressing
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- sprinkle of salt
Instructions
- Chop up cucumber, scallions, and tomatoes and put them in a medium bowl.
- Rinse and drain chickpeas and pat them dry. Then add to the bowl.
- Add in pumpkin seeds and corn to the bowl and mix everything together.
- In a small bowl, add all lemon dressing ingredients and mix together well.
- Top the salad with the dressing and mix it in well, garnish with basil or enjoy as is!
