This easy Chickpea Salad Sandwich is a vegan & customizable spin on tuna salad. Made in a jiff using canned chickpeas and tangy condiments! Use on your favorite bread, lettuce leaf, or tortilla wrap. It will be your family’s new favorite filling, healthy and versatile lunch!
Make-Ahead Vegan Lunch
When my husband and I first started eliminating meat from our diet, I feel like quick and easy lunches were hard to come by unless we wanted beans and rice all day every day.
To me, sandwiches are the quintessential lunch food and to be honest, I was feeling a little nostalgia for my childhood favorite of turkey and cheddar. I tried the vegan lunch meats and cheeses, but they weren’t really hitting the mark.
Enter, the Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwich! The first time I saw this concept I knew it would be a winner, as chickpeas were quickly becoming my favorite vegan pantry staple (I had already been eating them for years in my family’s favorite Easy Summer Orzo Pasta Salad). Little did I know this would soon be my husband’s most requested weekday meal!
Typically I make a batch at the beginning of the week and we keep it in the fridge for sandwiches, salads, wraps, and even just plain! It gets better every time we eat it thanks to the flavors really melding together over time.
How to Make Smashed Chickpea Salad
My favorite thing about this chickpea salad recipe is its versatility! I swear I change it up every time I make it, so narrowing down the measurements and ingredients was actually quite difficult.
The ingredients I give you are my personal favorites, but you are more than welcome to include, exclude, or use as much or as little as you would like or anything!
Start with the main base of the salad: drained and rinsed chickpeas and vegan (or regular) mayo. You can either start mashing from here and mix in the rest of the ingredients as you go or add everything to the bowl at once and then mash away.
Once it reaches your desired consistency, give it a taste and see if there is anything you feel it needs more of. I personally like mine tangy, so I find myself adding in a little more red wine vinegar or lemon juice.
If you don’t have a potato masher you can use a fork, it just might take a little longer (and be a really good workout)!
Sometimes when I am in a time crunch or don’t feel like mashing, I will throw everything into a food processor and give it a few pulses. This does change the consistency a bit, but all the flavors are still there!
What Do You Put on a Chickpea Salad Sandwich?
Some of our favorites are:
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Sprouts
- Lettuce
- More onions (husband’s favorite)
- Hot sauce
Different Ways to Serve Chickpea Salad
When you don’t feel like having a sandwich every day for lunch, here are some of my favorite ways to eat Chickpea Salad:
- Open-face on a piece of toasted sourdough bread, topped with some additional chopped green onions and my favorite Truffle Hot Sauce
- Top it on a lettuce salad with some cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, nuts, and vegan ranch
- Wrap it up in a tortilla and top with leaf lettuce and your favorite hot sauce
- Skip the carbs and go for a lettuce wrap!
Like I said before, the possibilities are endless with this chickpea salad recipe! Here are some other flavor variations to mix it up a bit:
- Buffalo Chickpea Salad
- Keep everything the same, but add in some buffalo sauce and vegan ranch dressing. Serve on a tortilla wrap with come cool cucumbers!
- “Chicken” Chickpea Salad Sandwiches
- Mash together chickpeas, vegan mayo, celery, grapes, craisins, pecans, salt & pepper, and a little bit of vegan ranch or poppyseed dressing. This is a great spin on a traditional chicken salad sandwich!
- Chickpea Salad with No Mayo
- I get it, mayo isn’t everyone’s cup of tea! In this recipe, it serves as a binder and adds creaminess. If you want to exclude the mayo, I would substitute it with some vegan ranch. Field + Farmer is my favorite brand. Check out the ingredients, no mayo involved!
More Homemade Haley Vegan Recipes
While all my recipes are meatless, here are some that exclude both meat and dairy!
- Simple Vegan Lentil Bolognese
- Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso
- Minestrone Soup with Garden Vegetables
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Steel Cut Oats
- Instant Pot Beans and Rice
If you are still testing the waters of reducing your meat and dairy intake, check out this blog post I did on some swaps that made it a little easier for me: Favorite Swaps To Limit Meat & Dairy
Enjoy!
I hope you and your family love these Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwiches as much as we do!
If you make one of my recipes, please be sure to leave a rating and comment! It really helps my recipes get seen and tried by others.
Also, tag me (IG @homemade_haley) or use the hashtag #homemadehaleyrecipes in your post or stories! I can’t wait to see how it turned out.
Thank you so much for your support. From my home to yours,
xo Haley
Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwich
Equipment
- Large Bowl
- Potato Masher
Ingredients
- 2 cans chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup vegan mayo I like Hellman's brand
- 1/3 cup pickles chopped
- 2 tbsp pickle juice
- 1 tbsp capers
- 2 stalks celery
- 1/2 cup red onion diced
- 1/4 cup green onions chopped
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1-2 tbsp lemon juice or to taste
- 2-3 dashes hot sauce optional to taste
- 4-5 dashes liquid smoke optional
- 1/4 tsp old bay seasoning optional
- 8 slices sandwich bread or toasted sourdough can sub in tortilla wrap or lettuce leaf
Instructions
Mix
- Combine all the ingredients except the bread in a large bowl
Mash
- Using a potato masher or a fork, mash the mixture until it reached your desired consistency.
Serve
- Make a sandwich with your favorite type of bread and top with lettuce, tomato, sprouts, cucumbers or whatever your favorite toppings are!
Notes
- If you prefer a finer salad, you could also make this in the food processor and give it a few pulses to mash and combine.
- Instead of bread, you could put this on a tortilla or lettuce wrap! I also love putting it on a lettuce salad instead of dressing.
- Use as much or as little of any of the ingredients listed! When I make this, I tend not to measure and just put in what I think looks good and then taste as I go. This is a great recipe to customize and make your own!
- Mix in some vegan ranch dressing and spicy buffalo sauce
- Mash together chickpeas, vegan mayo, celery, grapes, craisins, pecans, salt & pepper, and a little bit of vegan ranch or poppyseed dressing. This is a great spin on a traditional chicken salad sandwich!
- Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for a week. We like to make a big batch at the beginning of the week and then use it as needed for sandwiches, salads, wraps, or just plain!
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