Orange Chickpea Salad with Walnuts & Cranberries

Orange Chickpea Salad with Walnuts & Cranberries makes for a delicious and nutritious salad with several pantry items you may already have on hand.

We really enjoyed this salad with chickpeas, fruit and nuts. It makes a lovely side-dish or can make a light lunch or supper by serving it with a dinner roll and a drink. This salad also makes for a very pretty presentation for potlucks and family gatherings. 

You may already have some of the ingredients in your cupboard or panty. I usually have canned chickpeas and mandarin orange segments in the cupboard and I always have nuts and dried fruits on hand as I use them in baking. 

Don't skip the dressing as it ties all the ingredients together with a sweet and tangy orange flavour coating every mouthful.

Printable recipe at end of post.

Orange Chickpea Salad with Walnuts & Cranberries

• 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 can mandarin orange segments, drained and patted dry
• 2 cups fresh spinach, chopped (dark Romaine, Spring mix or Baby Lettuce mix may be substituted)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped (or favourite nut)
• 1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
• Orange Marmalade Dressing (see recipe below)

How to make it:

Add all ingredients, except the dressing, to a salad bowl. Toss to combine and mix all the ingredients evenly, taking care not to crush the mandarin oranges. If not using immediately, refrigerate until serving time. Just before serving, drizzle and toss with the dressing, just enough to coat the ingredients. Serve remaining dressing on the side of the salad for those who would like more. 

Makes 6-8 servings.

Orange Marmalade Dressing

• 2 tablespoons orange marmalade
• ¼ cup Olive Oil
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon apple cider or red wine vinegar, optional for tarter flavour
• 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup or sweeten to taste
• Pinch salt and pepper, or to taste

How to make it:

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high until all ingredients have been emulsified. Alternately place ingredients in deep narrow bowl and use an immersion blender to blend and emulsify. If you do not have the marmalade, increase the orange juice to 4 tablespoons. The dressing will be a little thinner but still delicious. Refrigerate any leftover dressing.

Makes about ¾ cup.

Prepare the salad ingredients: toast and chop the walnuts, find the dried cranberries, drain the mandarin oranges and rinsed chickpeas, chop the onion and wash and dry the greens.

The recipe calls for fresh spinach but I used a Spring Mix as that's what I had on hand.

Add all the ingredients to the bowl.

Gently toss the salad ingredients together, taking care not to crush the orange segments.

You should have a bowl of well mixed ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

I had just enough orange marmalade at the bottom of the jar!

Blend all dressing ingredients together to make a nice, smooth mixture.

Just before serving, drizzle and toss with the dressing, just enough to coat the ingredients. Serve remaining dressing on the side of the salad for those who would like more. 

A delicious and nutritious salad for any time of the year!

To print click on arrow upper right side.⇩