Sharon’s Chickpea Salad or Sandwich Spread

This chickpea salad recipe is super easy and completely delicious; it takes only about 15 minutes to make, and there are so many ways to serve it — as a sandwich, appetizer, or dolloped into a lettuce leaf. The hint of sweet pickle relish really gives this preparation a great flavor! See suggestions following the recipe. Recipe contributed by Sharon Nazarian, from Big City Vegan. Photos by Hannah Kaminsky.

Sharon’s Chickpea Salad or Sandwich Spread

This chickpea salad recipe is super easy and completely delicious; it takes only about 15 minutes to make, and there are so many ways to serve it — as a sandwich, appetizer, or dolloped into a lettuce leaf.

4.5 from 2 votes

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Course: Sandwich spread

Cuisine: Vegan / Healthy

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 3 to 4

Author: Veg Kitchen

Ingredients

• 15- oz can chickpeas garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• ½ cup carrots shredded (about 2 medium carrots)
• ½ cup celery finely chopped (1 large or 2 average-size stalks)
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice from about 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise or as desired
• 2 tablespoons chives or scallion finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish or more, to taste
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast optional but highly recommended
• 1 to 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill or 1 to 2 teaspoons dried to taste
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon sea salt or to taste, optional, see Note

Instructions

• Mash chickpeas in a bowl with a potato masher until there are no whole chickpeas left. A potato masher works best but if you don’t have one, you can use a fork (or for the totally lazy, place the chickpeas in a food processor and pulse on and off until finely chopped).
• Combine the mashed chickpeas with the remaining ingredients and mix together. Serve as suggested below.

Note: Depending on what brand of chickpeas you use, you may or may not need to add additional salt. Some canned beans have more salt than others. You can buy no-salt added chickpeas for complete control over your sodium intake. You could also soak and cook your beans instead of buying canned. This requires a little extra work but can be more economical.

Serving Ideas

• Serve as a sandwich with toasted bread. Try it on Food for Life Ezekiel bread with sliced tomatoes, or your favorite multigrain bread over a bed of greens, like baby spinach, baby kale, or romaine lettuce.
• Or make romaine lettuce boats. Just scoop some chickpea salad onto a romaine lettuce leaf – so good and refreshing.
• This is also delicious on whole grain crackers or stoneground tortilla chips served as an appetizer.

• Explore more of VegKitchen’s Vegan sandwiches and wraps.