Crisp apples + even crispier chickpeas = new favorite fall salad.
What’s for dinner tonight? A salad that looks like fall… tastes like fall… and will make your house smell like a fresh autumn breeze just blew through the window? Okay… I may not be a good writer, but hopefully I found a good recipe!
The salad makes use of seasonal apples from the market, which is the next best way to appreciate their freshness (other than eating them whole). However, I must confess that while I normally highlight seasonal produce (in this case, apples)… the cinnamon-roasted chickpeas are the real centerpiece here.
But first, let’s talk apples
Honestly, any type of apple will work in this salad – I like to use 1 tart and 1 sweet for added complexity. I do have a few tips for those of us who obsess about the details…
Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Gala and Fuji are slower to brown when cut, than other varieties. This makes them ideal for a salad that you might be preparing a bit ahead of time.
To keep any apple from browning, soak the slices in a bowl of cold water with apple cider vinegar or lemon juice.
Buy organic if you can, since apples are one of the crops heavily sprayed with pesticides. Also seek them out at the farmers market so you know they are fresh. Since apples can be stored for over a year in industrial facilities, it’s hard to know if you are getting fresh ones at the grocery store – and they do lose quality when stored that long.
For more apple tips (and recipes), check out my page covering everything you need to know when apples are in season.
How to roast chickpeas to actually get them crispy
Roasted chickpeas are actually pretty awesome… when you can get them crispy. After several failed attempts with different techniques, I was convinced that other people defined ‘crispy’ differently than I did (as in, chewy, not crispy), or I was missing something obvious.
Then I came across a tip from Laura at Joy Food Sunshine:
Bake them “naked” first! I bake the chickpeas {after they have been thoroughly rinsed and dried} for 15 minutes without any oil or seasoning on them.
It worked like a charm. The missing step was making sure the chickpeas were extra dry, which the oven can do for me. After 10 or 15 minutes, I took them out, tossed them with oil and seasonings, and finished roasting them. 90% of them were satisfyingly crunchy.
I used them right away, but if you want to save them for later, Laura has another good tip. She suggests turning the oven off, cracking the door, and letting them cool so they maintain their crispiness later on.
Apple Harvest Salad with Roasted Cinnamon Chickpeas
Ingredients
Chickpeas
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, or 3/4 cup dried
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
Salad + Dressing
- 8 ounces arugula 4-5 cups
- 2 apples see note
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar white, if possible
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
Crispy Chickpeas
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees, convection if you have it.Drain and rinse the canned chickpeas, or soak + cook dried ones according to their package (I use dried).
- Dry with a towel then spread over a rimmed baking sheet, making sure it isn’t too crowded (or they will steam instead of roast).
- Place the chickpeas in the oven for 10-15 minutes with nothing else on them to dry them out as much as possible.Meanwhile, whisk the olive oil, salt, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
- After the chickpeas dried for 10-15 minutes in the oven, remove them and carefully toss with the seasoned olive oil mix. I just pour the oil on the pan and use a rubber spatula to roll them around to fully coat.
- Return to oven and roast for 15-20 more minutes, until crispy.
Salad + Dressing
- Cut the apples into slices or chunks. Toss in a bowl filled with cold water with 1 Tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar (to keep them from turning brown).
- Make the dressing: whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, maple syrup, cinnamon and salt.
- Combine & Serve
- Toss the arugula and apples with the dressing. Top with walnuts and chickpeas.
Notes
Nutrition
Apple harvest salad inspiration
I make a lot of salads with apples, most often was apples, walnuts, cranberries and feta cheese. I was looking for something a little different and came across this recipe last year from Emilie Eats. I only made slight adjustments (one of those is the trick to roasting the chickpeas).
For those of you who can’t get enough of your spiralizer, follow Emilie’s lead and use spiraled apples.
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