This Chickpea Tuna Salad makes the best sandwich. It’s vegan and loaded with hearty chickpeas, crunchy onions, celery, carrots and pickles.
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Why you will love this recipe
- Taste: Filling with a hearty texture of chickpeas also know as garbanzo beans, spicy brown mustard, tahini, onions and more gives you a mouthwatering easy to make filling sandwich.
- Quick and Easy: This sandwich will be on the table in under 15 minutes and it’s made with simple ingredients.
- Clean up: Just a few dishes to wash only needing a couple bowls, fork, knife and grater make this tasty chickpea tuna salad a perfect lunch or snack.
- Vegan: This is a vegan chickpea tuna salad recipe, it is very filling and full of texture from the onions, carrots and celery.
If you love quick and easy lunches be sure to check out my Easy Avocado Sandwich, Lemon Broccoli Pasta, or my Pear Almond Salad.
Ingredients
For the full list of ingredients and quantities for this Chickpea Tuna Salad check the recipe card below.
- Chickpeas: The base of this recipe making it a hearty meal and giving it the texture.
- Onion, celery, carrots and pickle: These give not only flavor but a nice crunch which is the perfect texture combo with the chickpeas.
- Tahini: The base of the dressing adding some goods fats.
- Spicy brown mustard: Adds depth of flavor to the dressing.
- Apple cider vinegar: Adds a nice zippy tang to the dressing.
Variations
- Switch up the veggies: You can absolutely add some other favorite veggies like olives, garlic, zucchini or mushrooms.
- Make it a bowl or wrap it up: Not into a sandwich, try grabbing a bowl, toss in some spring mix lettuce and add the chickpea tuna over the top or add it to a tortilla wrap and wrap it up like a burrito.
- Easy Lunch: Making this chickpea salad sandwich is super easy! It takes just minutes to assemble and easy to clean up. It’s perfect for when you need a quick lunch.
- Make-Ahead: This recipe for chickpea salad is perfect to make ahead of time for a quick and easy lunch or snack, just store it in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
How to make this Chickpea Tuna Salad
Step 1: First drain and rinse the can of chickpeas and add them to a large mixing bowl. (you can peel the skins off if they bother you but I personally did not). Using a fork or a potato masher, mash chickpeas, some chunks are ok but mash as best you can.
Step 2: Chop up the onion, celery, pickles and grate the carrot. Add them to the bowl of mashed chickpeas, give it a stir.
Ingredients mixed up.
Step 3: Mix up the dressing (mustard, tahini, apple cider vinegar onion powder and water) in a separate small bowl, add the water last just to thin the dressing.
Step 4: Pour it on top of the mixture and stir everything up until it is well coated. (if you like really heavy dressing then double the dressing recipe)
Step 5: Mix well. Makes about 4-6 sandwiches worth depending on size of bread. Serve immediately or place in the fridge to chill. Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days, great for meal prep.
Expert Tips
- Storing: Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Double the recipe: I like having leftovers of this chickpea tuna salad so often times I will double the recipe so I have extra to store in the fridge for lunch the next day or two over salad. I also like to add a sprinkle of black pepper and a squeeze of lemon over the salad.
- Use a potato masher: A food processor works great but if you don’t have one, I usually use a fork or a potato masher to smash the chickpeas.
Recipe FAQs
No need to cook them, the canned chickpeas are precooked and ready to eat. I would rinse under water to cut the sodium (salt) content.
Add them to any salad, create a sandwich, add to any pasta dish, roast them and add to your main meal, top any soup or eat right out of the the can.
Yes they are the same, there is no difference between chickpeas and garbanzo beans, both are legumes, known as cicer arietinum.
More Quick Lunch Recipes
Chickpea Tuna Salad
Ingredients
- 15 ounce can chickpeas or garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)
- ⅓ cup white or red onion (chopped)
- ⅓ cup celery (finely chopped)
- ½ cup grated carrots (about 1 large Carrot)
- ⅓ cup pickles chopped up
- Optional: Bread or lettuce to serve on, or enjoy this recipe plain.
DRESSING:
- 3 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
- 3 tablespoons natural tahini
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 - 2 ½ tablespoons water (add last, you want it to be pretty thin so it will mix in and evenly coat everything)
Instructions
- First drain and rinse the can of chickpeas and add them to a large mixing bowl. (you can peel the skins off if they bother you but I personally did not)
- Using a fork or a potato masher, mash chickpeas, some chunks are ok but mash as best you can.
- Chop up the onion, celery, pickles and grate the carrot. Add them to the bowl of mashed chickpeas, give it a stir.
- Mix up the dressing (mustard, tahini, apple cider vinegar onion powder and water) in a separate small bowl, add the water last just to thin the dressing. Pour it on top of the mixture and stir everything up until it is well coated. (if you like really heavy dressing then double the dressing recipe)
- Makes about 4-6 sandwiches worth depending on size of bread. Serve immediately or place in the fridge to chill. Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days, great for meal prep.
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