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This simple chickpea salad sandwich is a creamy and filling vegetarian lunch idea that we whip up all the time! Like a chickpea tuna salad but totally vegan, made with a few flavorful but simple ingredients. My husband asks me to make this for him to take to work ALL the time!
What Makes This Sandwich So Good
- This salad is based on my popular Costco-style chicken salad recipe, but it’s completely vegan!
- Even dedicated meat-eaters will love the flavor and textures in this chickpea salad sandwich. Chunks of rich chickpeas, creamy mayonnaise, tangy Dijon mustard, and fresh veggies make it a perfect lunch or dinner recipe.
- Chow down right away, or use it for meal prep! You can refrigerate the chickpea salad in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days.
Key Ingredient
Chickpeas – You may not have guessed this, but chickpeas are a pretty crucial component of this sandwich. These legumes are high in protein, full of nutrients, and are a great source of fiber. Chickpeas are also known as garbanzo beans, so you may see them labelled that way at the grocery store, but they’re the same thing.
Chef’s Tips
- Keep your toppings simple! Our chickpea salad sandwich has so much flavor in it that you really don’t need to add much of anything else. Personally, I love the crunch you get from romaine lettuce. Tomatoes and pickles are great options, too!
- Don’t skip the simmer! If you’re using canned chickpeas, the simmering really makes a difference. You can absolutely cook chickpeas from dry if you prefer not to use canned ones, though. If the texture of your chickpeas is a little dry, you can add more mayonnaise to help offset it.
- Got an Instant Pot? Give this No-Soak Instant Pot Chickpeas recipe from our sister site, Easy Healthy Recipes, a try!
- If you’re not on a vegan diet, you can use just regular mayonnaise. It won’t make a difference in the flavor of your chickpea salad sandwich.
More Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes
- BBQ Jackfruit Sandwiches
- Hummus Without Tahini
- Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Chickpea Gyros
- Vegan Latkes (Potato Pancakes)
- Cajun 15-Bean Vegetarian Gumbo
- Seitan Grilled Chicken with Vegan BBQ Sauce
- Instant Pot Black Beans
- Vegan Seitan “Chicken”
- BBQ Jackfruit Bowls
- Bean and Cheese Taquitos (4 Ingredients)
- Vegan Enchiladas
Chickpea Salad Sandwich
This vegan version of my Costco chicken salad is just as creamy and delicious, but totally meat-free.
servings
Equipment
- medium saucepan
- colander or fine mesh seive
- Large bowl
- potato masher or fork
- silicone spatula or spoon
Ingredients
- 2 15.5-ounce cans chickpeas about 3 ¾ cups
- 2 tablespoons celery minced
- 2 tablespoons yellow onion minced
- 2 tablespoons parsley
- 4-5 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise
- 2-3 teaspoons vegan Dijon mustard plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Pour both cans of chickpeas (and liquid) into medium saucepan. Simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, then pour chickpeas into colander or sieve and drain well.
- Transfer drained chickpeas to large bowl. Using potato masher or fork, mash chickpeas until desired consistency is achieved.
- Add celery, onion, parsley, vegan mayonnaise, vegan Dijon mustard, and salt to mashed chickpeas. Stir well to thoroughly incorporate all ingredients.
- Chill chickpea salad if desired, or serve immediately on bread or in lettuce cups with preferred toppings.
Video
- Be sure to use vegan mayonnaise and Dijon mustard without honey.
- Leftovers: Refrigerate any leftover chickpea salad in an airtight container up to 4 days.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Serving Size: 1servingCalories: 153calProtein: 5gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 553mgPotassium: 169mgTotal Carbs: 15gFiber: 5gSugar: 1gNet Carbs: 10gVitamin A: 141IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 41mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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This salad is delicious and healthy. I love making it and do it regularly!
This is super yummy. I added a few diced cornichons to the recipe, otherwise made it as listed. I
A definite do over!
This is even better than chicken salad. I make this about every week and eat with crackers, flat bread or whatever. Love, love, love this.
So glad you love it! 🙂
I loved this recipe! My husband did too. I added avocado to the sandwich as well. I think adding tomato slices would have made this perfect because chickpeas have kind of a ‘dryness’ to them and tomatoes would have added that moisture. I’ll definitely make this again!
Thanks for sharing, Rachel! We discovered that tomatoes added to this sandwich were amazing!
Can this be made with a combo of yellow mustard and Dijon? That’s all I have in my fridge right now 😫😫
Yes, that will work!
Ive never heard of cooking the chickpeas. I use Goya and they are so much plumper and larger than other brands. I use an immersion blender to mostly break it up and leave a few chunks. That way it incorporates the skins into the salad.
This works too!
Simming the beans was the step I have been missing. Without this, the beans can feel a bit grainy. So glad I found this, thanks for posting!
You are so welcome! I’m glad you loved it!
My daughter (who hates beans:) and I love this recipe! Thanks so much for it. I am vegan and she is vegetarian. We eat it on soft pita.
So glad!!!
I recently stumbled across your blog and I’m glad I did. I lived in Memphis from 2004-2015 and I miss the food there.
I wanted a healthy lunch recipe that I could make ahead of time for the week and decided to try this today. It’s so yummy. I’ll admit I made a few tweaks but only because it was easy and foolproof. I added extra onion, celery, parsley, mustard and decided not to measure the mayo but eyeballed it. I also tossed in a sprinkle of pepper. It was so delicious and super easy to make! I’ll definitely be making it again.
I’m so glad you liked it! I try to do Memphis-inspired recipes pretty regularly, so I hope they can give you the fix you’re craving!
This is my first time reading and doing a recipe from this blog. I love this one! I did it with the ingredients that I had, that means that it wasn’t vegan, but still IS DELICIOUS! I use a little bit of olive oil and garlic powder because I like those, and it turn out pretty well. I can’t stop thinking of the many ways you can eat this, like with whole weat crackers, tortilla chips or tacos, maybe use it like a dip too! Thank you for sharing this recipe!