this easy dish is light and refreshing and makes perfect use of a can of chickpeas, some seasonings and a zucchini!
For those of you that follow me on Instagram, you know that I’ve been loving salads this summer. That said, I’m definitely a person that has to mix up my food once in a while otherwise I get completely sick of a dish and can’t eat it again for a long while.
So while treating myself to a manicure and pedicure the other day, I was flipping the latest issue of Cooking Light and found myself totally inspired by their elote zucchini salad and knew that I had to come home immediately and try it out!
Just try and tell me you don’t want to dive head first into that bowl! The vibrant colors are one thing but this salad (for being vegetarian) packs a BIG flavor punch as well.
And maybe best of all about it, you can eat it hot or cold! Despite eating zucchini cold in things like crudités, I can see how people might be a little weirded out by cold zucchini noodles – particularly if you’re used to eating them like pasta. I made these ones cold, but you can easily throw everything in a sauté pan before dressing the dish and serve it up warm (I’m just picturing the cojita cheese getting nice and melty over the warm dish!).
On top of it all, I sprinkled some chili-lime roasted chickpeas on to add a little texture to the dish. The pop of the fresh corn kernels mixed with the roasted chickpeas really makes for a party in your mouth. Pair that with the spice from the red pepper flakes and you’ll be singing through your lunch break!
In terms of nutrition, you’re getting a boatload of veggies from this dish as well as starch from the corn and protein from the chickpeas, cojita cheese and yogurt drizzle. It’s really the perfect summer salad, so go ahead and dig in!
mexican corn zucchini noodles with chili-lime roasted chickpeas
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 servings 1x
- Category: lunch
Description
this easy dish is light and refreshing and makes perfect use of a can of chickpeas, some seasonings and a zucchini!
Ingredients
For the Chickpeas:
- 1 (15-oz.) can unsalted chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1.5 tablespoons olive oil
- 1.5 tablespoons chili lime seasoning (I got mine at Trader Joe’s)
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh lime zest
For the Salad:
- 2 medium zucchini, spiraled
- Salt
- Kernels from 2 ears of corn
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- Juice of 1 small lime
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoons plain greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons water
- 1/4 cup crumbled cojita cheese
- Red pepper flakes
Instructions
For the Chickpeas:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
- Place drained and rinsed chickpeas onto a paper towel to dry
- On a sheet pan, toss with olive oil, chili lime seasoning and fresh lime zest
- Roast 30 minutes, stirring halfway through
For the Salad:
- Line a large baking sheet with paper towels
- Place spiraled zucchini on and sprinkle with salt
- Place another set of paper towels on top and press gently to remove excess water
- Put zucchini into a bowl and set aside
- Meanwhile combine cilantro, corn, olive oil, lime juice and salt and whisk until well combined
- Combine greek yogurt with water and whisk well to thin out the yogurt
- Combine corn mixture with zucchini tossing to combine
- Top with roasted chickpeas
- Drizzle everything with greek yogurt sauce then sprinkle with red pepper flakes and cojita cheese
Keywords: zoodles, mexican, chickpeas, cotija, lime
Zucchini noodle recipe from Cooking Light (with a few tweaks!) and chickpea recipe also adapted from Cooking Light
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