Since going vegetarian, I don’t often miss meat, other than when I see a plate of buffalo wings go by of course. However, I do miss the ease of constantly having sandwiches in the house. When I was younger, my mom always had tons of lunch meat and sliced cheeses in the fridge to make sandwiches with, it was the perfect thing to pack for lunch or make a quick snack if you were hungry. This is a tough thing for a vegetarian to have on hand unless you buy the vegan lunch meat and that is just not my style. My quest for a good and healthy vegan sandwich lead to me to this Chickpea Salad recipe and it’s way better than lunch meat!
This recipe was inspired partially by my mom’s chicken salad recipe. My mom was a beast at making chicken salad and still is. When I was a kid I could eat a whole bowl of it with crackers in one sitting. Making chicken salad with chickpeas instead is an incredibly easy swap to make, so much so that I wondered how I didn’t think of it before stumbling across it on the internet. The second inspiration was a recipe I saw on Lauren Conrad’s blog. She used chickpeas instead of tuna and it clicked that I could do the same with my mom’s chicken salad.
This recipe has gone through several stages of development, it was originally healthier with no mayonnaise. While that was fine and you can certainly go that route if you want, this new mayo based version takes the cake. I packs this with veggies and herbs just like my mom’s chicken salad recipe, so it is colorful, crunchy and delicious. I also added a secret recipe, pickles, which takes it seriously over the top! You can eat it with a spoon, crackers, or do what I did here, and make a delicious sandwich.
While you’re here, here are some other delicious vegetarian sandwich recipes:
Until Next Time,
Jackie
Print
Chickpea Salad Sandwiches
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 8 sandwiches 1x
- Category: Main Course, Snack
- Cuisine: American
Description
Loaded with fresh veggies and herbs, with added tang from pickles, this chickpea salad sandwich is the perfect lunch! It's so good you can also just snack on it with crackers.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 15oz cans garbanzo beans (rinsed )
- 1/4 cup pickled jalapeno (diced, feel free to add more if you like it spicier )
- 1 red onion (finely diced )
- 3 whole pickles (finely diced )
- 3 scallions (sliced thin )
- 5 radishes (finely diced )
- 3 stalks celery (finely diced )
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley (finely chopped )
- 3 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (about 3 lemons )
- 1 tbsp pickled jalapeno juice
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup mayo (substitute for vegan mayo if vegan )
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp sea salt (plus more to taste )
- 1 tsp black pepper (more to taste )
Sandwich Toppings (Optional)
- Sourdough Bread (Rye is also good but I think sourdough takes the cake )
- sliced tomatoes
- sliced avocado
- arugula (you can use any lettuce but I love the peppery arugula here )
Instructions
- Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans and transfer to a food processor. Pulse 6-8 times until the beans are broken up but you should still have some chunks. They should not be pureed.
- Transfer the garbanzo beans to a large bowl. Add in the pickled jalapeno, red onion, pickles, scallions, radishes, celery, and parsley and toss until all the ingredients are mixed in. Take a taste at this point. If it seems like it needs more crunch, add another celery stalk, if it seems like it needs a little more spicy add more pickled jalapenos.
- Add in the dijon mustard, mayo, lemon juice, pickled jalapeno juice, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Add more salt or pepper to your liking. If you like it spicier, add more pickled jalapenos. If the mayo flavor is too strong, you can add a little more dijon mustard or a little more vinegar to add tang. I've tested this ratio a few times though and it works great.
- Assemble a sandwich by adding either more mayo or some yellow mustard to bread. Add sliced tomatoes and avocado if using, scoop about a 1/2 cup of the chickpea salad depending on the size of your bread. Top with lettuce or arugula and enjoy!
Keywords: chickepeas, dijon, easy, lunch, pickles, salad, sandwich, sourdough, vegan
