A chickpea vegan tuna salad with beautiful texture, lemony dill flavors and comes together in 10 minutes! Serve it for lunch as a sandwich or wrap and at picnic gatherings!
Vegan tuna salad only uses a few simple vegetables, vegan mayonnaise, flavors, and a can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans). My husband, who is normally not a fan of vegan mayo or vegan “meats” could not tell the mayonnaise difference, and fully gives this vegan tuna salad recipe a thumbs up in texture and flavor! Serve this chickpea salad with Cucumber Tomato Salad, Eggless Banana Bread, Vegan Sweet Potato Biscuits and Chickpea Corn Tomato Salad.
Why this recipe works
Vegan plant based ingredients – You can achieve a tuna fish flavor without the meat by simply adding zesty lemon and citrus, an acid.
Dill and paprika – work together to enhance seafood dishes, making this chickpea tuna salad taste fabulous while using vegan ingredients.
Comes together in 10 minutes and can be doubled – This vegan tuna salad is great to bring to outdoor potlucks and picnics. It can be doubled or tripled for crowd-pleasing feast!
What ingredients go into this recipe
Can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed. Save the juice for another recipe such as aquafaba, which is a wonderful vegan egg replacer.
Add in finely chopped vegetables such red bell peppers, white onion, and celery. The combination in chickpea tuna salad is mouthwatering and provides nutrients such as metabolism boosting fiber (from celery) and vitamin c (from red bell pepper).
Vegan mayonnaise adds creaminess to this easy vegan tuna salad recipe. If you are not a fan of the flavor- don’t worry, the addition of mustard, dill, and lemon compliments it to taste like vegan tuna salad.
Almond slivers are where it is at friends! Nuts add crunch and depth to salads.
Yellow mustard, fresh dill, lemon and smoked paprika add bursts of flavor in chickpea tuna salad and regular tuna. If you don’t have fresh dill on-hand I have added the substitute for dry dill in the recipe.
How to make this recipe
STEP 1: In a medium bowl, add the chickpeas and gently mash a few down with a fork, reserving about 2 tablespoon of whole chickpeas for a contrast in texture. Add the celery, bell pepper, mayonnaise, onion, dill, mustard, lemon juice, salt, white pepper and paprika and mix until combined.
STEP 2: Enjoy chickpea tuna as a sandwich with lettuce, in a tortilla as a wrap, or served over fresh salad greens.
Faqs and Expert Tips
The secret to the best vegan tuna salad is to mash the chickpeas slightly with a fork. Keep a few solid (about 2 tablespoons worth) whole, but mash most of them, which results in a wonderful tuna-salad-like consistency.
This will last about 4-5 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Otherwise it will start to loose its crunch as the almond slivers get moist and the peppers, celery and onion can get soft.
You can tell if chickpeas, legumes, and beans are bad if it has a rancid smell. If you open the can or your homemade vegan tuna salad and it has a sour terrible smell then the legumes are spoiled. Discard and do not consume at that point.
Places to use vegan chickpea salad
Use vegan tuna salad in place of tuna in these recipes:
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Vegan Chickpea Tuna Salad
Ingredients
- 1 15 ounce can chickpeas rinsed and drained
- ½ cup almond slivers
- ½ cup celery finely diced
- ½ cup red bell pepper finely diced
- ½ cup vegan mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons onion minced or chopped very finely
- 2 teaspoons fresh dill chopped (or ½ teaspoon dry dill)
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon pink salt
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper or can use black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add the chickpeas and gently mash a few down with a fork, reserving about 2 tablespoon of whole chickpeas. Add the celery, bell pepper, mayonnaise, onion, dill, mustard, lemon juice, salt, white pepper and paprika and mix until combined.
- Enjoy as a sandwich with lettuce, or in a tortilla as a wrap.
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