Mediterranean Swiss Chard Salad with chickpeas, crunchy summer veggies, kalamata olives, pumpkin seeds, and simple lemon dressing- a healthy, hearty salad full of nutrients! Vegan adaptable!
Who doesn’t love a big green salad? This Swiss Chard Salad was inspired by my friend Neicy who first introduced me to raw chard in one of her salads. Before then, I was a little skeptical of eating chard in its raw state. But I fell in love with chard’s earthy, salty, tangy flavor and juicy crunch- plus its ability to hold up well in salads, sturdy enough for leftovers the next day.
What I love about this salad
How adaptable it is! Add hearty chickpeas or grilled chicken to turn this Swiss Chard Salad into a main course salad. Keep it vegan or add crumbled goat cheese or feta for extra richness. Swiss Chard loves to be paired with lemony dressings and this one is as simple as they come.
Swiss Chard Salad Ingredeints
Use young rainbow chard or regular chard for the least bitterness. The more mature the leaves, the more bitter they can be.
Add crunchy veggies: radishes, salad turnips, cucumbers, sweet peppers, summer tomatoes, or red onion.
Finish with pumpkin seeds, kalamata olives and sprinkle with optional feta or goat cheese.
How to make Swiss Chard Salad
- Wash the swiss chard leaves leaves and either chop them or tear them. Cut the stems very finely.
- Place in a large bowl with the rest of the salad ingredients.
- Make the simple lemony dressing and toss to combine!
- Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds, optional cheese and sprouts.
Such a tasty healthy salad.
More Green salads you may enjoy:
- Kale Salad
- Pear Salad with Vanilla Fig Dressing
- Watercress Salad with Orange, Avocado & Red Onion
- Little Gem Wedge Salad
- Rainbow Salad
Mediterranean Swiss Chard Salad
- Prep Time: 20
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: salad
- Method: tossed
- Cuisine: mediterranean
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Mediterranean Swiss Chard Salad, packed with summer veggies, chickpeas, olives and optional goat cheese, tossed in a lemon dressing. Vegan-adaptable.
Ingredients
- 4–6 cups shredded young chard, cut or torn into small pieces
- 1 red pepper – thinly sliced
- 4 radishes- thinly sliced ( or sub-grated carrots or beets)
- 1 cup English cucumber – sliced ( or try shaved fennel)
- 6 cherry tomatoes- cut in half
- 1 avocado- sliced
- 1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup kalamata olives- optional
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas (optional)
- 1 cup chopped Italian parsley ( or sub-half cilantro, basil or mint)
- 1/4 cup toasted pepitas (or slivered almonds)
- optional sprouts
- optional crumbled goat cheese or feta
Lemony Dressing:
- 2–3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- 1 –2 finely grated garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon honey (or other sweeteners)
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place all the salad ingredients in a large bowl ( Either in separate ingredients into small piles over the greens, or toss all.
- Whisk lemon dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Dress the salad and toss- you may not need all the dressing.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper, taste and adjust salt and lemon to taste, adding more if necessary.
- Sprinkle with nuts or seeds and optional crumbled cheese and sprouts.
Notes
Chard varies greatly in flavor, salt level and bitterness, so tasting after tossing is important, then you can adjust depending on variety. Feel free to sub or incorporate other greens.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ½ cups
- Calories: 332
- Sugar: 12.3 g
- Sodium: 335.6 mg
- Fat: 20.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 34.3 g
- Fiber: 11.5 g
- Protein: 8.2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Outstanding. The lemony dreusing brought out the favor in all of the contents.
Glad ou liked it!
I belong to a community agriculture plan and I have struggled every time there is fresh Swiss chard in the bag. I have tried every which way to use the plant. I literally either chocked it done steamed roasted or tossed it in the bin after letting it spoil in the fridge.
I made this salad today and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS recipe. My husband even said, wow, than looks great and served himself a delicious bowl full.
Great to hear Jill!
I used Swiss Chards and this salad is so tasty. I’m in love.
Awesome, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This was a delicious salad. I just feel great when I eat like this! I added more tomatoes, but didn’t change anything else. Thank you!
thanks Shirley- glad you enjoyed it!
What a beautiful and delicious salad! I’ve used chard (stems and leaves) before, and found that giving them a cold-water bath after chopping, and then a few rounds in the salad spinner to dry the excess water, eliminates any grittiness.
thanks Nancy!
So tasty & fresh! I used full grown yellow swiss chard sliced & diced up the stems. The dressing did a great job softening and reducing any bitterness. I don’t like olives so I included some pickled artichokes for that brine flavour. Even my salad hating partner loved it and ate seconds!
Awesome- great to hear and glad you both liked it! 🙌
Yum, this looks amazing!! I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for young chard, I always see the giants in the store! Do you have any tips for avoiding that gritty feeling on your teeth after eating chard? I love the taste but that sensation is like hearing nails on a chalk board haha
I think the dressing helps mitigate this!
I recently received a bunch of swiss chard in my CSA box and was not sure how to use it. This salad was amazing! The colors and flavors were salad perfection. The dressing was a great complement to the greens and veggies.
So glad you liked this!
more healthy salad recipes please!!! i love them!!!
Thanks Delia!
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We loved this recipe!
Thanks Sylvia! You make it look so gorgeous… Glad I converted you;)
Thank you Neicy for always inspiring me. My muse. xoxo
The colours on this salad are amazing! I can’t say I’ve ever tried raw chard before, but I may give it a go when it comes into season!