Roasted Potato + Chickpea Spinach Salad - The Perfect Addition To Any Dinner
I’m currently in my third trimester and starting to feel pretty large and in charge. If you follow me on Instagram then you know that I’m also experiencing some tooth pain. Which today I found out more than likely needs to be fixed with a root canal. We don’t know for sure yet because we are waiting to hear back from my OB about whether or not she thinks doing x-rays while pregnant are ok. So, this yummy salad recipe is coming at a perfect time for me. I need to cool it from eating sweets is my guess. For anyone who knows me personally, that is difficult for me to do. I LOVE SWEETS and apparently my sweet tooth needs a root canal. Major bummer! It will all work out just fine in the end and I’ll keep you posted! Surprisingly a ton of you have gone through a similar experience with dental work + being pregnant! I’m so grateful to those who shared their stories with me as it helped me feel less alone and more positive about it all.
Until my tooth gets fixed … let us eat salad! Roasted Potato + Chickpea Spinach Salad to be exact. I started putting this together early on in my pregnancy because at first all I wanted was spinach! So weird. I love crisp, roasted potatoes and tossing the two together went perfectly to me. Soon I decided to add a little more protein and crunch with roasting chickpeas too. Which really enhanced it all. I top it with shaved Parmesan and use a simple balsamic vinaigrette dressing. I typically roast about 2-3 cans of chickpeas and save them to eat on top of salad or as a snack through out the week. I also end up eating this salad at least 2-3 times week as well. Mostly for lunch but sometimes I made it as a side for dinner!
Try this out and definitely start roasting your own chickpeas! They are so simple to make and you can flavor them however you’d like! I’m sharing some tips + seasoning ideas below. Let me know if you try this out! (Or if you have any herbal tooth pain remedies ;)
A Simple Roasted Potato + Chickpea Spinach Salad
What You Need
1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
small red or yellow potatoes (If you are making it just for you, grab however many you’d like. If you are making for your family start with a pound and add more if you think you need to. You do add more potatoes increase your seasonings a bit. Start with what is below and then add in more as you go.)
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 tablespoon cajon seasoning
shaved Parmesan
washed baby spinach
dressing of your choice (I use balsamic vinaigrette)
What You Do
-Start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees and prep a baking sheet by lining it with foil.
-Open and drain your can of chickpeas. (FYI chickpeas and garbanzo beans are the SAME)
-On a laid out dish towel, pinch each chickpea between your fingers until the thin skin coating slips off. I know this is time consuming so turn on some music or bring in the iPad to watch a quick episode of Friends while you do this. You’ll want to take all the skins off so your chickpeas can get nice and crisp in the oven. Heads up, you don’t have to do this as the skins won’t kill you. But it is something I like to do to get the ultimate crispy chickpea.
-Once your chickpeas are ready, prep your potatoes. Just be sure to rinse and dry them. Then chop them into bite sized pieces. Be sure to keep all the pieces relatively the same size so they all cook at the same time. If some pieces are larger than others then the smaller ones will burn before the larger ones cook through.
-I like to roast the potatoes and chickpeas together but you can roast them separately if you are cooking for more than one person. Since I make this salad mostly for lunch I roast them together like you see below.
-Start by drizzling your olive oil over both the potatoes and chickpeas.
-On your potatoes sprinkle the salt, pepper, and granulated garlic. Use your hands to make sure all the potatoes are evenly coated.
-On your chickpeas sprinkle the cajon seasoning. Use your hands to make sure all the potatoes are evenly coated. TIP - You can season your chickpeas however you like! Skip the cajon seasoning and try another one of your favorite spices. You can even use taco seasoning or ranch seasoning too! Get creative and try roasting a big batch for snacking on during the week! So easy and delicious.
-Roast your potatoes + chickpeas in the oven at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until the chickpeas are crisp and the potatoes are crisp and fork tender. If you are baking them on the same baking sheet and one or the other cooks faster then just remove the ones that are done and keep baking the ones that need more time. I have found that 20 minutes works really well, but every oven is different!
-I like to build up my salad after my potatoes and chickpeas have cooled (because I don’t like when the warm potatoes wilt my spinach).
-Layer your spinach with the roasted potatoes and chickpeas. Top with shaved Parmesan and drizzle your favorite dressing on top! At this point you can add whatever you’d like and ENJOY!
