Chickpeas replace chicken in this simple chickpea chicken salad. Only 15 minutes to make and it’s vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free! The perfect healthy lunch or snack.
This Chickpea Chicken Salad brings back memories for me of my grandmother. I remember when she was living with my parents, I would stop by to see her at least once a week. Each visit, I would bring her a chicken salad sandwich on a buttery croissant from the local sandwich shop.
She would eat it like it was the best thing ever and savor every bite. Then we would chat for a while, and that was it, but it’s those times that I cherish, knowing that there were still things that made her happy in her life.
I hope this vegan version makes her proud.
This recipe is a vegan spin on the famous Waldorf Chicken Salad .
What to expect from this chickpea chicken salad recipe
This recipe is:
- Refreshing, light, and perfect for work lunches and meal prep.
- It has just the right amount of crunch from the celery and walnuts.
- An ideal texture from the chickpeas
- A slightly sweet surprise from the grapes.
- A tangy endnote from the dijon mustard
- Creaminess from the vegan mayo.
How to make this simple Chickpea Chicken Salad
The first step is to prep the chickpeas. Now, this does involve the slightly tedious task of removing the skins from the chickpeas, which is an essential step that impacts the texture of
Once all of the skins are removed, discard them, then pour the chickpeas into a medium-size mixing bowl and mash them up using the back of a fork or a potato masher.
Add the sliced parsley and dill, celery, red onion, grapes, and walnuts, to the bowl with the chickpeas and lightly toss. Stir in the vegan mayo, dijon mustard and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Toss that all together and your chickpea chicken salad is done.
At this point, you can either grab a spoon and go to town on this chickpea chicken salad, which I may have or have not done. Or you can be a little bit more refined and pile it into crisp lettuce cups. I eventually decided to use the lettuce cups, which is probably the better choice. The lettuce was the perfect vessel for enjoying this salad and makes for a light, quick meal, or snack any time of day!
If you try this recipe please leave a comment and rating below. I would love to hear from you!
Here are some other delicious recipes using chickpeas
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Simple Vegan Chickpea Chicken Salad
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 4 people 1x
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Pin RecipeDescription
Chickpeas replace chicken in this simple chickpea chicken salad. Only 15 minutes to make and it’s vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free! The perfect healthy lunch or snack.
Ingredients
- 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
- 1/2 cup minced parsley or dill (or 1/4 cup of each)
- 1/3 cup celery (sliced into small pieces)
- 1/4 cup red onion (diced)
- 1/4 cup purple grapes (sliced in half)
- 1/8 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 tbsps vegan mayo
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Prep the chickpeas: Remove the skins from the chickpeas. Place each chickpea between your fingers and move your fingers back and forth to release the skin. Discard the skin and place the chickpeas with skins removed into a medium-size mixing bowl. Continue until you have removed the skin from all of the chickpeas. A very necessary step that impacts the texture of the salad. Then mash up the chickpeas using the back of a fork or a potato masher. I like to leave a few whole for extra texture.
- Make the salad: Add the 1/2 cup of parsley and dill, 1/3 cup of celery, 1/4 cup red onion, 1/4 cup purple grapes and 1/8 cup chopped walnuts to the bowl with the chickpeas and lightly toss. Stir in the 2 tablespoons vegan mayo, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and combine everything together until it forms a creamy, chunky salad.
- Serve: Serve cold in lettuce cups, wraps or on whole grain bread. You can also eat this all by itself, its that good!
Notes
Use low-sodium canned chickpeas or garbanzo beans.
This salad is prefect for make-ahead lunches and meal prep. You can store it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days!
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keywords: chickpeas, vegan chicken salad
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