Chickpea Salad With Cucumber and Roast Lemon Salsa
Updated June 2, 2026
- Ready In
- 35 min
- Rating
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Ingredients
1 lemon, thinly sliced (about 12 slices)
6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Fine sea salt and black pepper
3 mini or Persian cucumbers, cut into 1-inch irregular chunks (about 8 ounces total)
¾ cup diced sweet gherkins or sweet dill pickles (about 4 ounces), plus ¼ cup pickle brine
3 spring onions or scallions, thinly sliced
½ cup (packed) roughly chopped fresh dill
1 medium jalapeño, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon maple syrup
¼ teaspoon celery salt (or fine sea salt)
2 (20-ounce) jars chickpeas or 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
½ cup (5 ounces) plain Greek yogurt
½ cup mayonnaise
1½ tablespoons whole-grain mustard
¼ teaspoon nigella seeds, to serve (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Toss the lemon slices with 1 tablespoon of oil and ⅛ teaspoon of salt on a small parchment-lined baking sheet, and arrange in a single layer. Roast for about 12 minutes, until the lemon is tender and just starting to char around the edges. Set aside to cool briefly, then finely chop.
- Step 2
In a medium bowl, combine the cucumbers, gherkins, pickle brine, spring onion, dill and jalapeño. Stir in the chopped roasted lemon, along with the remaining 5 tablespoons oil, the maple syrup, celery salt and a few grinds of pepper.
- Step 3
In a separate bowl, mix together the chickpeas, yogurt, mayonnaise and mustard, along with ¼ teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of pepper.
- Step 4
To serve, transfer the chickpeas to a serving platter, spoon over the cucumber salsa and sprinkle with the nigella seeds, if using.
Private Notes
Comments
Would you include metric measurement for the recipes? The NYT is supposedly global, but continues to put imperial measurements in the recipes. I'm not going to spend my time converting just to be able to make them. Thanks in advance.
Just as an aside to the author regarding the accompanying NYT article dated 5/13/26, oysters are not eaten in months without an R because they spawn between May and July; they are thinner and busy reproducing during that time. They were traditionally harvested only between September and March. I grew up within walking distance of an oyster house on the Rappahannock River.
@AK all recipes have metric ! Click on the ruler to the right of the word “ingredients”.
Such an unusual combo of ingredients - cucumber salsa was great. No fresh dill - used dried. Served on bed of mixed greens.
Loved by my husband and I. My 20something didn't like the sweet pickles in it (he says "old people food"always pairs mayonnaise with something sweet"). Next time I'll use dill pickles. So anyway, there were leftovers, and because a lot of moisture comes out of the cucumbers when they sit, the next day I folded in diced cooked potatoes to absorb the liquids—and my husband liked this recipe even more.
This one is a keeper! Of course I adjusted: I don’t like scallions, and skipped celery salt and maple syrup. I added 5 big celery stalks diced. It needed more vegetable. Otherwise it’s great and I will make it again.

