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Looking for healthy and easy lunch recipes? Try this delicious chickpea salad sandwich, essentially a vegan tuna salad using chickpeas! This is one of the original recipes on the internet for this concept, originally posted in 2019.
Why is finding healthy and easy lunch recipes so hard? Alex and I like to eat extremely simple at breakfast and lunch, so we can spend most of our time and energy on dinner. Here’s one of our favorite easy lunch tricks ever: this chickpea salad sandwich!
It’s basically a vegetarian chicken salad sandwich, or a chickpea tuna salad. Made with smashed chickpeas, crunchy veggies, and a creamy dressing, it’s so tasty that it’s become one of our most popular chickpea recipes ever! Our kids are huge fans: they try to sneak bites while we’re making it!
How to make a chickpea salad sandwich (basic steps)
This chickpea salad sandwich is truly easy to make—and we’re not just saying that! It takes just 10 minutes to whip up the chickpea salad and throw it onto a sandwich. Here are the basic steps, or jump to the recipe below.
Step 1: Thinly slice the celery and green onions.
Step 2: Make smashed chickpeas by mashing them down with a fork. Add the vegetables, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and celery seed.
Step 3: Layer it onto bread, and you’ve got a hearty vegetarian sandwich. We like to spread the bread with mayo or hummus for even more flavor.
Canned vs cooked chickpeas
You can use either canned or cooked chickpeas for this chickpea salad sandwich. Our preference is canned, but both work. You can make Instant pot chickpeas or cook them in a Dutch oven (go to How to Cook Dried Beans). Here are a few notes on the differences between canned vs cooked:
- Canned chickpeas have a bit of salt added, so add a few pinches of kosher salt if you’re using cooked chickpeas.
- The texture of cooked chickpeas can be slightly drier than canned, so you may have to add a bit more mayonnaise to the chickpea salad. Because of this, we prefer making it with canned chickpeas.
Toppings for a chickpea salad sandwich
We like to keep the toppings pretty minimal for this chickpea tuna sandwich. A fun trick is spreading hummus onto the bread slices before assembling the sandwich. We happened to have it on hand and it made the sandwich even more delicious! We also like adding leafy greens as another texture contrast.
If you’re up it, try making homemade bread like Sourdough Bread or Easy Dutch Oven Bread for this sandwich! Here are a few more topping ideas that might be fun to get your wheels turning:
- Pickled red onions
- Shredded carrots
- Sprouts or microgreens
- Fresh tomatoes
- Spicy mayo
- Potato chips (if you’re into the crunchy sandwich type of thing)
- Pickles
More easy lunch recipes
This chickpea salad sandwich is so easy, it’s perfect for quick lunches and for beginner cooks, picnics, and even as a fast and easy dinner idea! Here are a few more easy lunch recipes:
- Try 15 Sandwich Recipes That Aren’t Boring.
- Go for Easy Veggie Wraps or Quick Hummus Bowls.
- Mix up 30 Vegetarian Lunch Ideas.
- Try our top Easy Vegan Recipes.
Dietary notes
This chickpea salad sandwich recipe is vegetarian, vegan (with vegan mayo or cashew cream), plant based, and dairy free.
Frequently asked questions
A chickpea salad sandwich is a vegetarian alternative to traditional chicken or tuna salad sandwiches. It features mashed or chopped chickpeas combined with mayonnaise (vegan or regular), celery, onion, herbs, spices, and other flavorful additions.
There are endless possibilities for customizing your chickpea salad sandwich! Here are a few ideas:
Add chopped pickles, relish, or capers for a tangy twist.
Incorporate chopped apples, grapes, or dried cranberries for a touch of sweetness.
Spice things up with curry powder, cumin, or smoked paprika.
Use different herbs like dill, parsley, or cilantro.
Add chopped nuts or seeds for crunch.
Chickpea Salad Sandwich
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2 sandwiches 1x
Description
Looking for healthy and easy lunch recipes? This delicious chickpea salad sandwich features a vegan tuna salad using chickpeas!
Ingredients
- 15 ounce can chickpeas or (1 ½ cups chickpeas cooked from dry*)
- 1 rib celery
- 3 green onions
- 1 to 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, vegan mayonnaise, or cashew cream
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper
- 4 slices bread (try our Homemade Bread)
- Lettuce, spring green mix, or sprouts
- Hummus, optional
Instructions
- Thinly slice the celery (if it’s a large rib, cut in half lengthwise first). Thinly slice the green onions.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas. In a medium bowl, smash the chickpeas with a fork.
- Combine the chickpeas with the chopped celery and green onions, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and celery seed. Add about ¼ to ½ teaspoon kosher salt, depending on your chickpea brand and taste preferences, and fresh ground pepper to taste. Taste and salt until the flavor pops! If the salad is dry, add more mayonnaise (cooked chickpeas have a drier texture than canned).
- Assemble the chickpea salad sandwich: If desired, spread the bread with hummus (this amps it up a bit but not required). Top the sandwich with lettuce or greens and chickpea spread. The chickpea spread stores for up to 3 days refrigerated.
Notes
*If using cooked chickpeas, remember that canned chickpeas have a bit of salt added, so you’ll want to flavor with a few pinches of kosher salt before using. Also the texture of chickpeas cooked at home can be drier than canned, so you may have to add a bit more mayonnaise. Because of this, we prefer making this chickpea salad with canned chickpeas, but we’ve absolutely made it with cooked chickpeas too! Here’s How to Make Chickpeas or our Instant Pot chickpeas: we make them all the time.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Mixed
- Cuisine: American
I found this very bland as written but if you add lots of additions like Dijon mustard and plenty of garlic/onion powder, it’s quite delicious for an easy meal. Thanks!!
Made this today and it was so easy! I like chicken salad with grapes, so I tried adding them to this chickpea salad. Really good!