Baby Greens Salad with Toasted Garlic Chickpea Croutons

Add to Recipe Box

I love salads.  I have at least one salad every single day.  I’ll throw leftover quinoa, lentils or black beans on my salad for a protein source but most often I use chickpeas.  I love chickpeas!  They’ll so small and round and cute.  As much as I love them even I get sick of the same boring salad day after day.  I needed to add a little pizazz to my salad and these crunchy, crispy garlic flavored ‘chicktons’ were just the thing!  While they are perfect as a salad topper, they are also wonderful as a snack all by themselves.  My daughter loved them and ate almost my whole batch.

~Sarah

Ingredients:

For the Toasted Garlic Chickpea Croutons

• 1 can (15 ounces) no salt added chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• 3 tbsp Garlic Gold Oil or extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp garlic salt
• 1 tbsp minced onion
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast

For the Baby Greens Salad

• mixed baby greens
• mushrooms (thinly sliced)
• red onion (thinly sliced)
• any other of your favorite veggies
• Tangy French Vinaigrette

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Rinse and drain the chickpeas in a colander.
   

   Lay out on a paper towel and cover with another towel to dry the chickpeas

3. Lay out on paper towels, cover with another paper towel and roll around until the chickpeas are dry.
   

   In a medium sized bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients and add in the dried chickpeas

4. In a medium sized bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients and add in the dried chickpeas.  Mix well.
5. Spoon the chickpeas in a single layer onto a non stick baking sheet and place on the middle rack in the oven.
6. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so.
7. Remove from oven and let cool (the chickpeas will crisp as they cool).
8. Add your baby greens, mushrooms and onions to a large bowl.  Sprinkle with toasted garlic chickpea croutons and top with Tangy French Vinaigrette.

Nutritional Info for Toasted Garlic Chickpea Croutons:

Makes approximately 1 3/4 cups.

Serving size 1/4 cup.

Nutrients per serving:  Calories: 125.5, Cal. from Fat: 57, Total Fat: 6.5g, Sat. Fat: .5g, Carbs: 11.5g, Fiber: 3g, Sugars: 0g, Protein: 5g, Sodium: 204.5mg, Chol: 0mg

Notes:

Leftover chickpeas can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.  They will start to lose their crunchiness but they still taste great.  If you want to crisp them up again you can throw them in the oven for a few minutes until crispy.