Lemony Broccoli, Chickpea & Avocado Pita Sandwiches
This simple pita sandwich recipe features a fresh broccoli and chickpea slaw with Greek flavors, on a pita with mashed avocado!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
What day is it? What time is it? I’m in a tornado of last-minute cookbook details. Imagine a vortex of words, vegetables and papers with notes on them, swirling around a very frizzy-haired me in the middle. Then add Cookie running in circles around my feet, catching the crumbs and stray kale leaves. That’s about right.
With all the recipe testing, I’ve hardly been eating proper meals. Don’t worry, I’m not going hungry. I’m just eating bites here and there, all day long. I don’t remember the last time I ate a real sandwich, or a pita sandwich for that matter, so this recipe was a refreshing change of pace.
Basically, it’s a fresh, lemony broccoli and chickpea salad (lots of texture!) with Greek flavors, folded into a warm pita bread, with mashed avocado to keep it interesting. It’s fresh, delicious, and hearty.
I think the broccoli chickpea salad would be equally tasty on avocado toast, or if you want to take this idea and change it even further, you could use hummus instead of avocado. Then you would have double the chickpeas! Chickpeas offer a myriad of health benefits (they’re rich in protein, fiber, folate and more), and offer a lot of substance in this otherwise fresh and light meal.
You all know I’m a fan of beans, chickpeas, lentils and dry peas (called pulses, collectively), and I’m glad to be singing their praises during the United Nation’s International Year of Pulses. To learn more about the benefits of pulses, and to join me in taking the Pulse Pledge—a commitment to eating one serving of pulses every week (easy!)—visit PulsePledge.com.
Lemony Broccoli, Chickpea & Avocado Pita Sandwiches
These simple broccoli, chickpea and avocado pita sandwiches are a fresh lunch or dinner option. If you would like to have leftovers, store individual components separately, with plastic wrap pressed against the top surface of the mashed avocado to prevent oxidation (or, use hummus instead). Recipe yields 4 pita sandwiches, or 4 large toasts.
Ingredients
Broccoli chickpea salad
- 1 bunch of broccoli, florets removed and sliced thin
- 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
- ⅓ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed and chopped
- ⅓ cup finely chopped red onion
- ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese or thinly sliced Kalamata olives
Lemon dressing
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice, to taste
- 1 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 ½ teaspoons honey or maple syrup, to taste
- 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
- ¼ teaspoon salt, to taste
- Pinch red pepper flakes
Everything else
- 2 medium avocados, or about ¾ cup of your favorite hummus
- Salt, to taste
- 4 whole grain pita breads, or 4 large, thick slices of hearty whole grain bread
Instructions
- To prepare the broccoli chickpea salad: In a medium mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients as listed. Toss to combine.
- To prepare the lemon dressing: In a small liquid measuring cup or bowl, combine the ingredients as listed. Whisk the ingredients together until emulsified. Taste, and add additional salt if necessary. The dressing should be a little tart, but if it’s too tart, add a little more sweetener to balance the flavors. If it’s not tart enough for your liking, add a little more lemon juice.
- Pour the dressing over the broccoli chickpea salad and toss to combine. Set the bowl aside to marinate while you work on the rest.
- To make the mashed avocado, halve and pit the avocados, then scoop the flesh of the avocados into a bowl. Mash them with a pastry cutter or a fork until they are mostly mashed, and spreadable. Season with a pinch of salt, and add more to taste.
- To prepare the pita breads, warm them for a few minutes in the oven, or in a toaster oven, or even in the microwave. (If you’re using slices of bread, pop them in the toaster until golden.)
- Spread mashed avocado (or hummus) over one-half of the top surface of each pita round, and cover the other half with a few generous spoonfuls of broccoli chickpea salad. (If you’re serving on toast, spread avocado over the top surface of each slice, and spoon broccoli chickpea salad on top.) Serve immediately.
Notes
Make it vegan: Use Kalamata olives instead of feta, and maple syrup instead of honey.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This post was created in partnership with USA Pulses and Pulse Canada. Opinions are my own, always. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who support C+K!
Oh this looks fantastic. My instinct is to mash the chickpeas and leave the avocado whole. I think I’ll have to try this your way.
Best of luck on finishing the cookbook! You can do it!
These pitas look positively wonderful! Love all the flavors and textures you have going on here! My kind of lunch!
These look delicious! I plan on taking several of your recipes with me when I go on vacation in a few weeks. We share a house with 2 other couples and take turns cooking. I will take photos and share, or better yet, I will draw some of them, as I am an illustrator.
Thanks for sharing all of your delicious recipes. I am a big fan!
That sounds like so much fun! Hope you all have a great time.
These look so beautiful and sound delicious. Love the pic of Cookie snatching crumbs off the table! Looking forward to seeing your book!
Thank you, Amy!
These are amazing! I made them for lunch today and now I want them for supper. Great recipe!
Thank you, Sue! I’m so glad.
This is so inspiring me to up my healthy lunch game!
I’ve never thought of putting broccoli in a pita but what a great idea. Why not?
Thanks for suggesting to use hummus in place of the avocado. I love avocado but my family won’t eat it. Now I will serve it with both options and everyone will be happy!
It’s unreal how good these look! All that green, yum!
Poor thing, hang in there! Your hard work will pay off for sure :)
What a lovely display of sandwiches though. Pinned!
It looks delicious, Kate! Funny, I often bring your broccoli salad to work, mixed with some lentils and shredded kale to make a filling salad out of it. But the idea of hummus or avocado have my mouth watering, such a good idea to combine the crispy salad with something with a spread-like texture, and then stuff it all into a pita. Thanks for the recipe, I will definitely bring this to work next week!
Thanks, Evelyn! I love the sound of your lentil version. I’l have to try that soon.
Sandwiches on pita bread are just so much more fun! I’m a huge fan of fresh chickpea salads, so I know I would absolutely love this. Thanks, Kate!
Tried it tonight and loved it! Had to cook the brocoli because I only had the frozen variety, and still turned out great. I ate on full grain protein bread and had two servings. Even my daughter who generally isn’t a fan of avocado, nor onion, nor lemon, nor garlic liked it.
That’s great to hear! Thank you, Dee.
I’m actually having Mediterranean food for lunch today, hahaha! I couldn’t think of anything more appropriate after looking at this recipe! But anyways, I don’t normally see broccoli in Mediterranean food but I could totally be wrong about that–it’s a really good idea, however, because broccoli goes well with anything!
Just made the salad – cannot wait for it to meld throughout the week! Amazing flavor and texture… little surprise bursts here and there. An instant take-along for a busy schedule. The best!
Ps. Would love more “take-along” varieties on the blog as I eat most of my meals away from home throughout the week.
Keep bettering the world, girl!
Thank you, Emily! You might find some more good lunch recipes here.
I made it using the olives instead of feta, and I used oil packed sundried tomatoes without rinsing – of course, the oil had congealed, so most of it stayed behind on the cutting board. I’m eating it out of the bowl while I wait for my bread to defrost. Delicious!
Thank, Jess! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I just finished a series of posts entitled 30 days of beans. Even after a new bean dish every day, this looks great. I plan to make this to take to a women’s retreat this weekend. Do you think that salad could hold up ok for 24 hours in the fridge?
That’s a lot of beans! Yes, I think it would be fine for 24 hours.
Hi Kate, and Color of course! I made the broccoli and chickpea salad last night and served it with sliced avocados and rice crackers (wheat just isn’t working for me right now). It was great! Thanks so much for your creativity and good taste! When I read the heading in my email, I didn’t bother to read your recipe, just made sure to buy a head of broccoli ( I did look at the picture)!
Delicious!
Mary Ann and 8 Collies
Thank you, Mary Ann! It’s always so nice to hear from you. I’m glad you trust my recipes like that! :)
This looks SO awesome!
Cookie’s sneaky sliver of a tongue = PERFECT shot! Hang in there, sweet girl. Many of us will be jumping on your new cookbook. All the hard work will be worth it!
Thank you, Debbie! I appreciate it.
Really good, lemon dressing is delicious
Thank you, Brian!
Wow, this looks so delicious and perfect for a refreshing filling summer lunch. Thanks for the recipe! xo
This recipe was a hit! I substituted the lemon juice for apple juice due to acid reflux. And I didn’t have any garbanzo beans (chick peas), so I decided any mild white beans would work and it did. Used Kalama olives to keep it dairy free instead of the cheese. EXCELLENT recipe and will definitely make it again.
Thanks, Michelle! I’m glad it worked for you.
I made this to serve as a side last night w/o the pita, and it was so good!! Making it again this weekend to take to the beach :)
Thank you, Whitney! Hope you had a great time at the beach!
Very tasty ! I had some doubts about the raw broccoli but cut it up quite thinly and it blended well. The lemon dressing was out of this world! The dish was even better the next day when the flavors were more fully blended.
Thanks, Anthony! I love using thinly sliced broccoli like that. Glad you enjoyed it. :)
Just made this and it’s delish!! I didn’t have pitas so I just cut up the avocado and ate it as a salad.
Thanks, Renee! Your version sounds delicious!
I just made these for dinner and they were delicious- quick to put together and wonderful flavor! I didn’t have sundries tomato but I’m not a huge fan anyway, so I didn’t miss it this time. Thanks so much for your recipes!
Thank you, Karine! I’m happy to hear that!
I did make the lemony, broccoli and chick pea pitas! The hubs had a late flight the night I made them – s’ok, I ate them; he had another late flight the next night – not an issue – – I ate them again… I loved them so much – I took the leftovers (selfish me……) to work for lunch! A bit of an onion/garlic’y “aroma” from the dressing for work but, c’est lavie – so worth it! I used the pita as quasi croutons for my lunch. So good! Love your site. Hi Cookie!
Love it! So glad you enjoyed the pitas, Becks. Cookie says hi back! She’s curled up with me now.
Lemony Broccoli, Chickpea & Avocado Pita Sandwiches are so absolutely divine! As I don’t eat raw cruciferous veggies, I blanched the sliced broccoli for one minute and then plunged the slices into ice water which turned the broccoli vivid green while still retaining crunch. I also used both the feta and sliced kalamata olives and served up the salad on sprouted grain, non-gluten, pita pockets. It was a fast, easy and much appreciated lunch.
Kate, I also want to thank you for this and all of your fabulous recipes. When I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer this past December, I began my fight by cleaning up my lifestyle, my environment, and my diet. A friend suggested your blog and I am so thankful to her. Your recipes for wonderful meals kept me going as I was recovering from surgery and as I beat cancer. You didn’t know it but you were on my team, along with doctors, nurses, family, and friends, all the way. From the bottom of my heart, thank you! Keep up your wonderful adventures with Cookie and veggies, you are making a difference in many lives.
I can’t wait for your cookbook!
Warmest Wishes for Your Continued Success,
Max, thank you so much for your kind note. I’m floored, and so glad that you have found my recipes helpful in your fight against cancer. All my best! <3
I think this is about the tenth recipe of yours I make and just as the others ones, this one was so delicious! Currently excited to have the leftovers from this for lunch tomorrow :) Big Fan of you and your super cute dog!
Thank you so much, Anna! Delighted to hear it. :)
This recipe is PHENOMENAL. I’ve never even been a huge fan of raw broccoli or chickpeas, but the flavours in this were just extraordinary. Can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!
Yay! Thank you, Michelle!
Hi Kate,
It’s Daniel and Megan again! Thanks so much for the advice! We just made this dish and it was one of our favorites! We are getting faster and more confident with everything we make from your site!
We didn’t have lemons, so we used limes, and we didn’t have sun-dried tomatoes, but we did have cherry peppers and it tasted EPIC!!! We also went with the maple syrup – sooooo good!
As always, thank you for inspiring us on a daily basis – our tastebuds and ourselves thank you thank you thank you!
Daniel and Megan and our dog Ginger (who we dressed up like dinosaur on Saturday night)
Hey Daniel, Megan and dino Ginger! So glad you enjoyed these, too. Your variations sound great to me!
Just made the Lemony Broccoli, Chickpea & Avocado Pita Sandwiches using Naan – absolutely delicious! It’ll be easy to take to work. I love that it’s so nutritious. I’m looking forward to trying some of the other recipes you have!
Thank you, Michelle! I hope you enjoy my other recipes just as much.
Kate, you nailed it again. This was fantastic! We are not a vegan/vegetarian family, but I love your site for giving me healthy vegetarian dinners to put in our week, and the fact that my picky 13 year old will eat it is a huge plus!
Thank you so much, Jennifer!
Wonderfully delicious! I ate these for lunch/dinner two days in a row. I added chopped cilantro, lime juice, and a touch of cayenne to the mashed avocado to make it a little bit more like guacamole.
Thanks, Christina! Your version sounds awesome!
Delicious. I made this recipe last night. I also made my own pitas. They were surprisingly simple. I made your recipe exactly as written (Well, I did use both the feta and the olives). I’ll be making this one again. Thanks for all the great recipes. They inspire me to cook when I really don’t feel like it some nights. You are keeping my family healthy and well fed.
Thank you so much, Debbie! Happy cooking. :)
These were pretty good. I probably put too much feta in it because it got too cheesy, will try the olives next time. Also the broccoli tends to fall apart when sliced thin.
Thanks, Pete! I hope you like your next pitas even better.
I made this earlier this week and it was wonderful! I think for the future I will just make the Broccoli Chickpea Salad and the Lemon Dressing and not mess with the pita bread. It such a great salad to have sitting in your fridge so you can munch on it when you get hungry. And the longer this sits, the better it gets in my opinion (however, don’t wait too long). Thanks for another great recipe!
Thank you, Stacey! That salad is one of my favorites, too.
This recipe blew my expectations out of the water! This is one of the best meals I’ve made. This isn’t something I would normally pick to make but my friend insisted that I try it and WOW. Such a unique recipe – I can’t wait to make it again! You are very talented Kate I have yet to make a recipe from your site that I don’t love. Can’t wait for the cookbook!!
Thank you so much, Jillian! I really appreciate your kind words. :)
I tried this recipe this evening. It was actually very good especially if you like greek-ish flavors with onions and garlic. The Avocado spread helped balance things out.
Thank you, Ed!
I’ve had an eye on these since the day you posted them, and I finally made them yesterday. Holy cow, are they good! My broccoli was a bit wiggly from being in the fridge too long so I roasted it in the oven to bring it back to life. It added a nice warmth to the mix to contrast the cool avocado. Thanks for this and many other great recipes, Kate!
This was excellent! We just made it nix the avocado and had it like a salad with pita chips! So good!
Hi Kate and Cookie, we love this recipe. Total yum as a salad or sandwich. This was the first raw broccoli salad I have ever tried and totally loved the flavour combo. Adore all your recipes and your delightful four legged companion Cookie. Thanks for the great recipes!! Looking forward to your cookbook being published.
Hey! I really like your recipes! I basically over-haul it and make it my own, lol, but be the bones of the recipe using whole-foods is a perfect starting point. We also add meat at dinner time, I used chicken for this particular recipe.
Thanks for your work!
I just had to come here to say that my husband LOVES this recipe. He begs for it every week and even told me he loves it just as much as pizza! haha :) Of course I love it too – so easy and delicious!
Bonjour, I’m from Québec, and I really love your recipes! I’ve try a lot of them: soups, salads, muffins and breads, pizza au kale… miam! The tastes are always fresh, originals. And every time I did them, my guests was so impress!
Thank you to share your food ideas:)
Sophie
BIG thumbs-up from the hubby on the Lemony, Chickpea and Broccoli Avocado Pitas! Truly delicious!! Even our “broccoli averse” children LOVED it. Another of your recipes to become one of our fav’s!
Yum! So easy too. I cooked the broccoli a bit first and used lavash bread. Did I say Yum?
I made this last night and it was so delicious I kept coming back for more of the filling! I didn’t read the comment about rinsing the tomatoes packed in oil, so I guess mine were a little oily. But it didn’t hurt a thing. I woke up thinking about my dinner! Can’t wait for leftovers :>) My grocery was out of pita! Who is ever out of pita bread? So I used spinach wraps. Again, delicious. Thank you!!
I stumbled across your website last week and this was your first recipe I tried. It was SO delicious and I look forward to trying more! I had it on some naan bread, which was a great combo.
Thank you for saying hi, Randi! I’m glad you found my blog and delighted that you enjoyed your first recipe. :)