UPDATE: GREAT news! This recipe is now ZERO Smart Points with the new Freestyle Program! Yay!
One of the questions that continues to come up as this recipe gains popularity is how can a recipe that uses feta cheese be zero points. The quick answer is that the total of Smart Points is lower than the number of servings. So, when you eat 1/2 cup of this Greek Chickpea Salad it is zero Smart Points, but not when you eat 4 cups. I thought it might be helpful to share how many Smart Points it would be if you ate more than 1/2 cup…. so here you go…
Number of Weight Watchers freestyle Smart Points for various size servings:
1/2 cup = 0 WW SP
1 cup = 1 WW SP
1-1/2 cup = 1 WW SP
2 cups = 1 WW SP
2-1/2 cups = 1 WW SP
3 cups = 2 WW SP
3-1/2 cups = 2 WW SP
4 cups = 2 WW SP
Now, this is not me recommending that you eat 4 cups of this chickpea goodness in one serving, but it is me saying that according to the new Freestyle plan, eating 4 cups would only be 2 WW SP, and eating 1/2 cup (which I would recommend) would be zero Smart Points! Hope this helps clear up some confusion as to how 1 serving can be zero points even though there is feta cheese in the recipe. 🙂
Now, let’s talk a little bit about this recipe…
Kind of a like a Greek salad, except with chickpeas instead of lettuce.
I don’t know about you, but I love a good Greek salad. All the colors and flavors come together to make something beautiful and delicious. When feta cheese, red onion and tomato get tossed in a vinagrette they are a mad combo. For this recipe, I took some of the same ingredients typically included in a Greek salad and tossed them in with a can of rinsed and drained chickpeas to make a quick and easy snack.
But, is it a snack, a lunch, a salad, a side dish or what?
Yes. It is all of those things. In fact, for people like me it can even be a breakfast. You see, no one else in my cute little family liked this recipe, (cilantro and onion aren’t their favorite, so it seems) but I just could not get enough, so it all kind of worked out in the end. 😉 One (1/2 cup) serving is just 3 WW SP, 0 WW SP so I managed to sneak it in as a breakfast, snack and lunch over the course of a few days.
Keeping it (super) simple!
Can we just talk for a minute about how easy it is to whip this chickpea salad together? There are really only two steps to this recipe.
- Rinse and drain the chickpeas
- Add the rest of the stuff
Of course, there is the step of chopping the vegetables, but all of this can be done in a matter of a few minutes.
Here is what you need:
2 (15 ounce) cans chickpea, drained and rinsed
1 small tomato, chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup reduced fat crumbled feta cheese
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon plain nonfat Greek Yogurt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1-2 tablespoons cilantro
Here is what you do:
Drain and rinse the chickpeas and place in a medium bowl.
Toss in the rest of the ingredients until chickpeas are evenly coated and all of the ingredients are mixed well.
Serve immediately and refrigerate any leftovers.
Makes 8 servings.
One serving is 1/2 cup.
One serving is 0 WW Freestyle SP.
Greek Chickpea Salad
Ingredients
- 2 (15 ounce) cans chickpea, drained and rinsed
- 1 small tomato, chopped
- 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup reduced fat crumbled feta cheese
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon plain nonfat Greek Yogurt
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1-2 tablespoons cilantro
Instructions
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas and place in a medium bowl.
- Toss in the rest of the ingredients until chickpeas are evenly coated and all of the ingredients are mixed well.
- Serve immediately and refrigerate any leftovers. I ate ours over the coarse of a few days and loved it every time.
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*SmartPoints® calculated by Meal Planning Mommies; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated without Weight Watchers Zero Points fruits and vegetables using the WW Recipe Builder.
Super yummy and filling! But I only managed to get 4 servings of 1/2 c. each. I know the can of garbanzo beans was not 15 oz (14.75 instead) but not sure why that would make a 50% less difference.
Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for pointing that out. How did I miss that? The ingredients should say 2 cans. I will get it updated right now. Just so you know, when you break this recipe up into 4 servings, instead of 8, it is 1 WW FreeStyle SP per 1/2 cup.
This sounds so yummy. I’m confused though. When I entered the nutrition information ie calories, saturated fats, sugar and protein to my smart points calculator it comes out to 6 points. So how can this be 0 points?
Good question. It sounds like we are using two different calculators. Allow me to explain… There is a calculator on the WW app that allows you to plug in the nutrition facts to get the # of smart points a food is. The other option is to use the recipe builder when combining ingredients. There are 200 zero points foods now (as I am sure you are already aware of). Weight Watchers has created a recipe builder that takes in account zero point foods in a recipe. When using the recipe builder you enter in each ingredient and the # of servings of the recipe and it gives you the number of smart points per serving. I am thinking maybe you are using the nutrition facts calculator and I am using the recipe builder calculator. Weight Watchers suggests using the recipe builder when doing a recipe. It does take a little bit more time, but I use the recipe builder to be consistent with what Weight Watchers is doing. Thanks for asking. 🙂
I am looking for the recipe builder app that you menrioned but im not finding it? If its not an app then where do I find it? Also wondering about the sugar not being points?
When you pay to be a Weight Watcher member you have access to the WW app. In the WW app is a recipe builder. As far as the sugar goes, the total of Smart Points is lower than the number of servings.
This was really good!! I doubled the dressing ingredients (not the sugar) and it was just perfect. Thank you for sharing.
Perfect! Glad you liked it. 🙂
I’m using this salad as a side dish what would be a good entree for it?
Hi Laura, Just a simple grilled chicken would be great with this. You may like this BBQ chicken recipe here: http://www.mealplanningmommies.com/grilled-chicken-with-homemade-bbq-sauce/ or this Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken here: http://www.mealplanningmommies.com/honey-mustard-grilled-chicken/. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the tips
No problem! Have a great weekend!:)
Feta Cheese is NO points???
When the number of servings is higher than the number of WW SP the WW recipe builder registers one serving as 0 WW SP. You can refer to the post for more information about how many WW SP it would be for more than one serving.