Vegan Chicken Salad with Chickpeas
Creamy, crunchy with a hint of sweet, this Vegetarian and Vegan Chicken Salad recipe (aka chickpea salad with pecans and grapes) is a twist on the classic. Like my Smashed Chickpea Salad, it’s delicious on a bed of greens shared with crackers, as a sandwich, cute little tea sandwiches or stuffed into pita bread. Versatile and such a delight, this recipe is vegetarian, vegan and gluten free.
This recipe was first published in 2017 and has been updated September 2022 with additional recipe notes. The original recipe is unchanged.
Why You’ll Love This Vegan Chickpea Chicken Salad
No chicken here! Just classic ingredients in a not so classic mash-up. But I love this reinvented version even better. Here’s why you should give it a go:
Let’s DO this!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Quick Guide: How to Make Vegetarian Chicken Salad
Get your potato masher out for ease of making and snappy clean up! Here’s how to pull this delicious vegetarian chicken salad with chickpeas together (see recipe card for details):
See all the ways to share vegan chicken salad below!
Variations on Mock Chicken Salad
There are delicious ways to switch up this vegan and vegetarian chicken salad. Try em’ all to see which one curls your toes! Here are some ideas:
Apples – Instead of grapes, try adding diced apples instead. Chop em’ small for best texture.
Cherries – fresh pitted bing cherries subbed for grapes are a delight when in season.
Dried Fruit – This is another sweet component. So sub the grapes for dried cranberries or dried cherries. It’s such a nice surprise.
Walnuts – Try subbing walnuts for pecans. They’re fabulous with apples!
Technique: Food Processor vs Potato Masher
You may be thinking, why not just throw all the ingredients in a food processor? Just like in my other chickpea salad smash-ups, I’ve tried it and the texture of hand mashing is superior to a food processor.
Here’s why: the food processor creates little sharp edges from the slicing action of the blades resulting in a less creamy texture. Mashing the chickpeas offers a much softer mouthfeel, almost creamy yet still with good texture.
This mini masher is similar to the one I use. It’s fantastic for things like this Creamy Guacamole Recipe too!
How to Share Vegan Chickpea Chicken Salad
A Few Recipe Tips
See blog post for variations and how to share this chickpea salad. *This recipe doubles with ease for six servings. See recipe notes for lemon adjustment.
This recipe is sooo good on any of my bread recipes: Multigrain Bread, Multigrain Sourdough, Gluten Free Sourdough or Sourdough Pita Bread
Recipe adapted from my Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwich .
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
You might also like:
Join the Vanilla And Bean community to receive free sweet and savory vegetarian recipes, and get my Five Secrets to Vegetarian Cooking email series delivered to your inbox!
This content was originally published here.
