Roasted Carrot & Chickpea Salad with Chicken Skin Crouton

Long before Teena Marie’s classic, pretty much every male member on my Dad’s side of the family was known to exclaim “OOh WEEEEE” when something delicious was put in their collective path.
The rest of us probably adopted it at first to poke loving fun. But eventually it just became family vernacular.

Peoples, this salad is definitely & absolutely a big ol’ “OOOH WEEE!!”

What makes it so? Something about the way the sweet of the roasted carrot plays with the savoriness of the cumin toasted chickpeas & brussels sprouts. A shock of lemon.

But I had you at chicken skin crouton, right? RIGHT?

chicken skin croutons make everyone happy

This salad isn’t paleo, gluten free, or keto but can be easily adapted to any & all.
Healthy, though? Yup. Very much so, even with the crouton.
It works warm, cold, or at room temperature.
You don’t need a bunch of fancy or high-priced ingredients here. Most likely you have everything you need in your pantry right now.

I eat it as a side dish or a light meal.
Perfect for early Spring when using the oven won’t overheat the whole house.

Make it. Enjoy it. And come back to share your “Ooh Wee” with me.

You bought the Spiralizer. Might as well use the damn thing!

Roasted Carrot & Chickpea Salad with Crispy Chicken Skin Crouton

Simple carrot salad packed with nutrients & flavor.  Great served warm, cold or room temp.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Servings: 4 servings

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 2-3 carrots spiralized or grated
• 1 15 oz can chickpeas
• 2 green onions
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/3 cup brussels sprout leaves optional
• fresh lemon juice to taste

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  While oven warms, drain & rinse chickpeas & leave to dry spread out on a paper or tea towel.

   Cover sheet pan with parchment paper.  Add plain chickpeas to pan.  Spread out in even layer. Roast for 15 minutes

   As chickpeas cook, spiralize or grate carrot. Rinse & dry brussels sprout leaves if using

   Stir chickpeas & move to one section of pan.  Add carrot to pan.  Add sprout leaves if using. Pour olive oil over everything and stir to coat.  Add salt, cumin & garlic powder.  Stir to coat.

   Roast for an additional 15 minutes.  Chickpeas & sprout leaves should be nicely brown & toasted.  Carrots will have wilted some but retain a bit of texture.

   Remove from oven.  Allow to rest as you slice green onion & lemon

   Toss roasted veg & 1/2 c of chickpeas with green onion & lemon juice or vinaigrette to taste.  Adjust seasoning.  

   Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold.
   

Notes

**I don't bother with a traditional vinaigrette here because olive oil & seasonings are already accounted for. A nice squeeze of lemon to taste works great for me. The recipe also works well with the salad dressing of choice.

**The use of roasted brussels chips is completely optional. I typically have them on hand as I save them as they fall from cut sprouts & freeze to be used as needed. The salad is lovely without them

**The chicken skin crouton adds just the savory-salty crunch I want in a salad. Feel free to omit.

**You will have more roasted chickpeas than needed for this recipe. But they make a marvelous, healthy snack or addition to another salad later in the week. They store well in the fridge in an airtight container for a few days.

Chicken Skin Croutons

Croutons made of baked chicken skin.  Simple to make.  Delicious to eat

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Total Time 17 minutes mins

Servings: 4 croutons

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 4 Skins from 4 raw chicken legs or thighs
• 1/2 tsp Grill seasoning such as McCormick

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

   Take a raw chicken leg in hand and pull skin in the direction of the bone.  It should come off in one piece.  Repeat with additional legs. Slice if needed so they lay flat.

   Using a cast iron skillet, spread chicken skins so they lay flat.  Sprinkle with grill seasoning.  

   Cover with parchment paper & then another smaller cast iron skillet or other oven-safe heavy pan.  This acts as a weight to keep your skins from curling up.  Skip this step if you do not mind curly skins.  They are equally delicious.

   Bake for 12 minutes.

   Check the skins.  They should be nicely browned.  If needed, bake an additional few minutes.  Keep an eye on them so as not to burn

   Remove from oven.  With a spatula, remove skins to a paper towel to drain and crisp.