Avocado, Bacon and Chickpea Salad – A delicious lunchtime salad, packed full of nutritious ingredients and high in fibre to keep you full up – so there’s no need for afternoon snacking.
Last week I shared my recipe for Hummus. When I know I’m going to photograph a recipe I stock up on a few extra ingredients, just in case of any mishaps, and I got a bit carried away stocking up on chickpeas.
So what to do with all the spare chickpeas? I thought it would be nice to create a salad, so off to raid the fridge…
I’ve played around with the ingredients a bit, but have found something that I think makes a really delicious lunch (I’ve just polished a bowl off before settling down to write this!).
It has a lovely combination of sweet cherry tomatoes, salty bacon, sharp lime and slightly bitter toasted sesame seeds, all pulled together by the super nutritious chickpeas.
It’s not what I would call a “diet” salad as both avocado and chickpeas are quite high in natural fats. However, alongside this they’re choc-a-bloc full of vitamins and minerals, essential to healthy living¹ and contribute two of your five-a-day.
I don’t know about you but I often find that when I eat a salad I’m peckish again within an hour or so. This chickpea salad is high in fibre, keeping you feeling fuller for longer² meaning that you’re less likely to snack. So maybe it’s a bit more of a “diet-friendly” salad after all!
Unfortunately before photographing this I stocked up on a few more cans of chickpeas so I’ve got the same problem again. Falafel anyone?
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Avocado, Bacon and Chickpea Salad
INGREDIENTS
- 400 g chickpeas
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 2 rashers streaky bacon
- 60 g cherry tomatoes - about 6 tomatoes
- 1 avocado
- juice of half a lime
- salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas (1 can) and place into a large bowl. Season with salt.
- Roughly chop the avocado into bitesize chunks. Chop the streaky bacon (2 rashers) into thin strips and cut the cherry tomatoes (60g) in half. Add the chopped avocado to the bowl of chickpeas.
- Heat a small frying pan on a medium heat, add the sesame seeds (1 tbsp) and cook for a couple of minutes until they have just turned light brown, occasionally shake the pan to help them cook evenly (do not overcook the sesame seeds as it will give them a bitter flavour).
- Once browned, remove the sesame seeds from the heat and add to the chickpeas and avocado.
- Add the streaky bacon (2 rashers) to the pan and fry until cooked and crisp around the edges. Towards the end of the cooking time, add the cherry tomatoes and fry for about 30 seconds to soften slightly.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add the bacon and tomatoes to the chickpeas, avocado and sesame seeds.
- Squeeze over the juice of half a lime and toss to thoroughly mix.
- Serve immediately.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
¹Find out more about the nutritional benefits of chickpeas and avocado.
² Source: NHS UK
Aika says
This salad looks really delicious and healthy. I love avocados because of its several health benefits. I’ll definitely try making this at home. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Honest Mum says
This looks really tasty! I regularly cook with chickpeas so look forward to trying this recipe out!
Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Vicki. I hope you enjoy it (although it’s won’t be quite as nice if you miss out the bacon!).
Ciara (My Fussy Eater) says
This looks so good. I haven’t had chickpeas in a while so you’ve inspired me to get a tin out from the back of the cupboard. Fab recipe!
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Ciara. It’s such a useful thing to have hiding at the back of the cupboard when you’re stuck for something to eat!
Corina says
This has made me want to stock up on chickpeas too! Love the flavours in it and like that it is filling as that’s what puts me off having just a salad normally. I end up eating more because I snack all afternoon instead.
Charlotte Oates says
They’re so versatile aren’t they! I haven’t decided what to do with the rest of my stockpile yet. I may well end up just making more and more of this salad 🙂
Alison says
You reminded me I have some avocados in the fridge! This looks really tasty, will have to give it a try for lunch
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Alison. I hope you enjoyed it!
Isabella says
I love the simplicity of the ingredients used, but such a great healthy salad/meal! So hearty and delicious! Yum!
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Isabella. I don’t usually eat a lot of salad as I find it doesn’t fill me up, but this one keep me going for ages.
Ebabee says
Not a combination I would have thought of but it does sound delicious – I love avocado, chickpeas and bacon so the three together sound great and it’s a bonus that it’s easy to make too. Lovely photos too.
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks. I hadn’t thought of putting avocado and chickpeas together until I saw this recipe on hurrythefoodup.com but I did’t have any of the other ingredients so I had to come up with something new!
Mel says
Yummy! I love salads, and avocados are just delicious (when they are ripe enough). I have not had chickpeas in a salad before, but I can imagine I’d love this salad!
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Mel. I always love he idea of salads more than actually eating them! However, the chickpeas make this lovely and filling so it’s perfect for lunch. Unfortunately I made far too many cakes over half term so I think you might be seeing more salads from me.
james says
Your photographs look amazing now… if only i liked chickpeas lol
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks James. I’ll try harder to make something you like next time 🙂