This simple grilled salad is packed with chicken, chickpeas, and vegetables. Perfect for a late warm evening or to pack for lunch the next day.

I made a version of this grilled chicken salad at my sister’s place a few weeks ago when I found a fridge with a pack of chicken breasts, some tahini, and a few vegetables. Given they have an infant, I wanted to make something we could eat that night, but would stand up well to eating for lunch over the next few days. It ended up being one of those meals that feels more composed than it really is: smoky and charred, but also bright, creamy, and fresh.

This isn't an accident. As with most salads, getting that right balance of acidity from citrus or vinegar, the richness from dairy or oil, and the aromatic elements from the vegetables and herbs is the key to making a salad that tastes bright and punchy as opposed to bland and dull.

Let's start with the chicken. I start by using a chicken breast grilling method I developed years ago: Butterfly the chicken breasts, pound them lightly into even cutlets, then marinate/dry brine and grill them. Butterflying helps them cook quickly and evenly, but more importantly, it gives you a lot more surface area for browning and char. Before grilling, I season them simply with lemon, olive oil, salt, and pepper, let them rest at least 15 minutes (this gives the salt some time to work its way in and deliver juicier chicken), then grill them hard and fast and let them cool before shredding.

For the vegetables, I split bell peppers and halve an onion across its equator (rather than from pole to pole) then placed them directly over the grill, turning them every once in a while until evenly charred. The peppers get soft and blackened in spots, while the onion gets deeply charred on the cut surfaces and outside layers while steaming and sweetening within. After grilling, I tuck everything under an overturned bowl for a few minutes. The trapped steam finishes softening the vegetables and makes the pepper skins easy to scrape away.

From there it’s mostly assembly: shredded chicken, sliced grilled vegetables, canned chickpeas, lots of herbs (I used parsley, but tarragon, dill, or chives would work great), lemon juice, olive oil, a splash of hot sauce, and a generous amount of tahini. The tahini thickens the dressing and gives the salad enough richness to eat as a full meal, while the lemon and hot sauce keep it from feeling heavy.

Leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for several days.

Recipe: Grilled Chicken, Pepper, and Chickpea Salad With Tahini

Every recipe I publish here is personally tested, tasted, and approved.

What I love about this recipe:

Butterflying the chicken gives you lots of surface area for char while keeping the meat juicy.

Grilling the onion in thick, crosswise halves gives you a nice mix of deeply charred exterior and sweet, steamed interior.

Covering the grilled vegetables briefly helps them soften and makes the pepper skins easy to remove.

Tahini gives the dressing enough richness and body to turn the whole thing into a substantial meal.

It’s flexible! Parsley, dill, cilantro, tarragon, or chives all work, and the whole salad is good warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

Yields: 4 to 6 servingsActive Time: 30 minutesTotal Time: About 45 minutesSpecial Equipment: Charcoal or gas grill

Ingredients

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 1 ½ pounds (680 g) total

The juice of 1 lemon, plus more to taste

Extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper2 bell peppers, any color, split lengthwise, stems and seeds removed

1 large onion, ends trimmed, peeled and halved crosswise through its equator

1 (15-ounce/425 g) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 packed cup whole parsley leaves and tender stems (or another tender herb such as dill, cilantro, tarragon, or chives), finely chopped

About ½ cup (120 ml) tahini, plus more as needed

Hot sauce, to taste

Method

Butterfly each chicken breast horizontally into 2 thin cutlets. Pound gently with a meat pounder or the bottom of a skillet until it reaches a roughly uniform thickness of ¼- to ⅓-inch. Place them in a bowl or shallow dish and toss with the juice of half a lemon, a generous drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Let stand while you heat the grill.

If using a charcoal grill: Light ¾ chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and arrange the coals on one side of the charcoal grate. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate.

If using a gas grill: Set half the burners to medium–high, cover, and preheat for 10 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate.

Grill the chicken over direct heat, turning and flipping occasionally, until well charred on both sides and just cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes total. Transfer to a cutting board and let cool.

Lightly coat the peppers and onion with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the peppers, turning occasionally, until softened and deeply charred on all sides. Grill the onion until well charred on the outside and tender within, about 6 minutes total for each vegetable.

Transfer the hot peppers and onion to the cutting board and cover them with a large overturned bowl. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes to soften. Scrape or peel away the loose, blackened skins from the peppers; don't worry about getting every last bit. Thinly slice the peppers and onion.

Once cool enough to handle, shred the grilled chicken into bite-sized strips, using your fingers or two forks.

Combine the chicken, peppers, onion, chickpeas, and herbs in a large bowl. Add the tahini, the juice from the remaining lemon half, a generous drizzle of olive oil, and a splash of hot sauce. Toss thoroughly. Taste and add more lemon, tahini, olive oil, hot sauce, salt, or pepper as needed. The finished salad should be creamy enough that everything is lightly coated, but still bright and fresh-tasting. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.