Kala Chana Chaat is a nutrition-packed Black Chickpea Salad made with black chickpeas, crunchy onions, tomatoes, avocado, and spices. This refreshing salad has fresh and tangy flavors and can be enjoyed as a great protein-rich breakfast or snack. Vegan & gluten-free.
It takes just 10 minutes to prepare this delicious salad with pre-cooked chickpeas. This salad is perfect to make with leftover chickpeas.
Whenever I make Kala Chana Curry or Sookha Kala Chana, I cook some extra chickpeas to make this salad.
Jump to:
Why You’ll Love this Kala Chana Chaat?
√ This is a no-oil, no-sugar recipe
√ It is high in protein and fiber
√ Black chickpeas are low in carbs
√ Vegan & Gluten-free recipe
What is Kala Chana (Black Chickpeas)?
Kala chana is an Indian black chickpea, also called Bengal gram. They are smaller in size, have a rough exterior, and have a nuttier flavor than light brown chickpeas. However, they can be used in the same way as the lighter chickpeas.
Black Chickpeas are a powerhouse of nutrients. They are rich in protein, fiber, and vitamins and have a low glycemic index which helps to regulate blood sugar. They are an important part of the vegetarian diet of many Indians.
In the US, black chickpeas are available at Indian grocery stores or on Amazon. You can also substitute them with white chickpeas (garbanzo beans) in this recipe.
What is Chaat?
Chaat is basically a savory snack served as hors d’oeuvre or snacks from stalls or food carts in India. Chaat is usually crunchy, spicy, and tangy all at the same time. There is usually a base, spices, chutneys, and garnishes added to a chaat.
Ingredients
- Black Chickpeas: also known as kala chana in hindi. Kala Chana can be canned or cooked. If using canned, drain and rinse it first. You can also cook dried chickpeas in the instant pot. If you don’t have these, you can use regular chickpeas too.
- Avocado: I used peeled, pitted, and chopped avocado in this recipe. This is not traditional, but we love the extra nutrition.
- Tomatoes: Use firm, ripe tomatoes. Roma or cherry tomatoes either can be used.
- Onion: I used red onions because they work best in the salad. They add a lovely color, crunch, and sweetness to the salad.
- Herbs: Cilantro and mint taste best for Indian-style salads
- Lime juice: I used the juice of half of a lime. Feel free to increase or decrease according to your preference.
- Seasoning: salt, black salt, red chili powder, and Chaat masala – the star ingredient that gives the tangy, zingy flavor. If you don’t have chaat masala, you can skip it and add some roasted cumin powder.
How to make it?
This Kala Chana Chaat is easy to make with the basic ingredients you might have at home. The only main ingredient is black chickpea, which I use pre-boiled in this recipe.
I like to boil them in the instant pot or pressure cooker. See the recipe notes for details on how to boil black chickpeas.
Gather all the ingredients and chop the green chili, onions, tomatoes, and avocados.
Mix in the onions, tomatoes, green chili, and spices. Green chili and red chili powder are completely optional, so feel free to skip them to make this salad non-spicy.
I like to add kala namak (black salt), chaat masala, and amchur powder (dry mango powder) to this chaat. You can also add roasted cumin powder for extra flavor.
Now add the avocado, mint, cilantro, and lemon juice.
Avocado is completely optional but a delicious addition to make this chaat even healthier.
Tips to make perfect Kala Chana Chaat
√ You can add veggies of your choice to this salad. Some people like to add boiled potatoes and cucumbers, or if mango is in season, add some chopped raw mangoes to make it more tangy.
√ Adjust spices to your taste. Skip green chili and red chili powder to make it non-spicy, especially for kids.
√ This salad can be made with boiled white chickpeas, green chickpeas, or sprouts too.
√ You can also add some green chutney and tamarind chutney and top with thin sev to make this a perfect tangy, spicy chaat.
Storage Suggestions
This Kala Chana Chaat tastes best when freshly consumed. It can be refrigerated for up to 1 day in an airtight glass container. But beyond that, the salad will lose its crunch, and the vegetables will be soggy.
You can make it ahead of time by keeping everything ready in the refrigerator and mixing the ingredients just before serving.
I hope you enjoy this healthy vegan Kala Chana chaat. You might also enjoy the below recipes:
- Indian Cucumber, Tomato, and Onion Salad
- Mango Lassi
- Lemon Rice
- Ragda Chaat
- Kakdi Koshimbir
- Fruit Chaat
Kala Chana Chaat Recipe (Black Chickpea Salad)
Ingredients
- 1 cup Kala Chana (Black Chickpea), boiled
- 1/4 cup Red Onion , diced
- 1/4 cup Tomato , diced
- 1 green chili, optional
- 1/4 cup Avocado , chopped, optional
- 1 tablespoon Mint leaves
- 1 tablespoon Cilantro leaves
- 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon Black salt (Kala namak)
- 1/4 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder, or another mild red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Chaat Masala
- 1/2 teaspoon Dry Mango powder (Amchur)
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- Add the boiled black chickpeas to a bowl. Add green chili, onions, tomatoes and spices to it. Stir well.
- Add avocado, mint leaves, cilantro leaves and lemon juice. Stir well.
- Taste and adjust salt as needed.
Video
Notes
- You can add veggies of your choice in this salad. Some people like to add boiled potatoes, cucumbers or if mango is in season, add some chopped raw mangoes to make it more tangy.
- This salad can be made with boiled white chickpeas, green chickpeas, kidney beans or sprouts too.
This was terrific!!! My wife lioved it — but I modified the recipe a little to suit what I thought she would like best. Less heat, very little cilantro (coriander leaf), and no black salt. I did not use a hot green chilli pepper, but diced up a cubanelle pepper instead (no seeds).
So…. my wife loved it! And my co-workers loved it the next day.
I didn’t use all the chana, and I used double the tomato, onion, a whole avocado.
Hi Jody – So glad you all enjoyed the kala chana chaat. Thank you for sharing the changes you made.
I stumbled across this Kala Chana Chaat recipe when I was simply looking for some guidance on how long to cook kala chana in the Instant Pot. I ditched the recipe I was planning to make so I could try this one instead and WOW! I made my own chaat masala and skipped the cilantro, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. This is definitely a keeper that I will enjoy time and time again.
Hi Kathy – So glad to hear you enjoyed the Kala Chana Chaat. Thanks for sharing back!
It’s so easy to cook and healthy at the same time. Followed all your instructions and it turned out so yummy.
Hi Shreya – Happy to hear you enjoyed the chaat!