This Provençal Chickpea Salad is traditionally made for Palm Sunday – the Sunday before Easter. It’s quick and simple, budget-friendly, made with pantry staples, and oozes salty flavors with the addition of anchovies and black olives, and a nice crunch from the celery. Because of the protein from the chickpeas, it’s nutritious enough to be a meal on its own. But really, it can also double as a the perfect side or starter to any Spring or Summer table.
Chickpeas in Provençal Cuisine
Originating from the Middle-East, chickpeas (“pois chiche”, in French) are widely consumed in Mediterranean regions, including Provence in Southern France. Chickpea flour, notably, is the base of most Provencal street-food, include the “Socca” in Nice, the “Cade” in Toulon and the little fried “Panisses” in Marseille (a recipe you can find in my cookbook).
It is also common in Provence to cook and enjoy chickpeas stewed with tomatoes and in salads along with staple fixings from the local repertoire: olives, anchovies, herbs… just like in today’s recipe.
The Recipe
This chickpea salad is traditionally made for Palm Sunday – the Sunday before Easter. A few stories explain this custom… Some believe that Christ crossed a field of chickpeas before entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Some others see it as a memory from the 15th century, when a ship full of chickpeas docked in the city of Toulon (others will tell you Marseille, or Fréjus…), saving people from famine.
This salad recipe is a delicious blend of flavors and texture at every bite. The chickpeas bring creaminess and nutty notes, the olives and anchovies pack a salty punch and the celery add a fresh crunch. The salad is finished off with zippy green onions and fresh herbs, and a simple dressing made from olive oil, vinegar and anchovy oil, for extra depth of flavor.
This Provençal Chickpea Salad recipe is quick and simple, filling and nutritious. It is made in less than 15 minutes and easy scalable to make for 6, or just 2 people. Serve it as a starter, a side or on it own. It also keeps well, so you can prepare it ahead of time and pack it up for a savory lunch on the go.
Cooking notes:
- For rapidity and convenience, I use a can of cooked chickpeas (drained).
- Taste and adjust your seasonings! My tip for making a great salad is tasting and adjusting as you season your salad, until you reach the flavors you love. You may need an extra drizzle of oil and an extra pinch of salt… taste to find out!
- Save some parsley and green onions aside for garnishing before serving. They’ll add a nice freshness to the salad.
- Other traditional Provencal fixings that go perfectly into this salad are thin slices of bottarga (very popular in Provence), diced cucumber and/or cherry tomatoes.
I hope you’ll love this Provençal Chickpea Salad with Olives, Anchovies and Celery as much as I do!
You may also like:
- Cod Provencal with Caper, Tomatoes & Olives
- French-Style Couscous Salad
- Herby Sugar-glazed Spring Vegetable Jardiniere
- Frisée with bacon and eggs
Did you make this recipe?
I’d love to know how it turned out! Please let me know by leaving a comment below, rate the recipe and/or share a photo on Instagram: tag @pardonyourfrench and hashtag it #pardonyourfrench. Bon Appétit!
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18 comments
Your tarte au citron recipe is perfect and you do not complicate procedures. Will try more of your suggestions and let you know about them. Would o.c. buy your book if I didn’t have 100 000 of them at 80 and now rather use the Internet than any of my wonderful books . Like the comparison and choice of several recipes that the internet offers . Gudrun
Thank you for the great feedback!
Use your potato peeler to take hard strings off of celery. Cut-off end and pull peeler from top to bottom.
Thanks for the tip!
Wow! The cumin gives it a hearty meatiness that is totally unexpected. I didn’t have anchovies (and others dining don’t care for them) but served with some tinned bream for a really satisfying delicious meal. And easy-peasy, too!
Great, thank you Carol.
what can replace the anchovies?
If you do not like anchovies, you could simply omit them. Or I suggest replacing them by canned tuna, which is lovely too!
[…] a healthy dish, try the Provençal Chickpea Salad. This simple classic salad is usually served on Palm Sunday. Perfect as a side or a light main […]
I made it with sardines because my wife doesn’t like anchovies and worked well. I’m thinking smoked mackerel would be great in this but would probably need to be cut with some lemon.
Absolutely have used sardines in this as well, and really liked it (though admittedly, I prefer anchovies). Smoked mackerel could be a nice choice, but would definitely need some bright acidity, I agree.
So glad you enjoyed it, Rob!
in your traditional chickpea salad, you include black olives. my guess is that you mean French black olives. I do not care for American black olives and do not know where to
purchase French olives. can I substitute with Greek olives?
Hello, Michelle! Great question… I’ll definitely add this to my list of things to go back and make changes to. So the olives used are dried black olives, and not just the canned black olives in water. This type of olive is usually packed in salt, or vacuum sealed. The taste is quite different between them. That’s what is ideally used in this recipe.
That said, if you don’t like those either, you could absolutely try with greek olives. It wouldn’t be “authenticly” French per se, but would absolutely still be delicious in my opinion… But then again, I love all types of olives 🙂
Good luck!
Thanks 😊
Beautiful site and recipes!
Very much appreciate the words of support, Linda. Enjoy browsing the recipes and I hope you’ll get to try some soon 🙂
Too much salt! It made it impossible to eat: maybe the anchovies and black olives come with more salt in Spain but we had to reduce the strong flavour with some plain white cheese. Other than that, very nice combination.
Sorry to hear that, Elena. I am not a huge salt person, I tend to personally undersalt my foods (which annoys my husband), so I have to assume it was an excess of salt from the Spanish olives and anchovies. The dish naturally is on the saltier side, so any “additional” salts could throw off the balance. I’m glad you enjoy the mix of flavors, and the next time we can reduce the salt 🙂