This easy chickpea salad sandwich recipe is a delicious vegetarian spin on tuna salad. Made with pantry-staple ingredients it’s sure to become a go-to meal!
Whether you’ve heard it called chickpea tuna salad, chickpea chicken salad, or no tuna tuna salad, sandwich lovers rejoice! This easy chickpea salad sandwich is about to become your new favourite lunch.
We start with canned chickpeas, zesty mustard, and creamy homemade whole egg mayonnaise. Next come the flavour bombs. Capers! Fresh herbs! Scallions! It all gets blended together into a chunky chickpea sandwich spread.
Served between two slices of soft, squishy sourdough sandwich bread and you’ve got yourself a healthy, flavourful, and filling lunch in just a few minutes time!
Recommended Tools
- Measuring cups and spoons or a digital kitchen scale
- Mixing bowl
- Potato masher or fork or stick blender
Ingredients
- Chickpeas: canned chickpeas are easiest, but rinse well before using.
- Mustard: grainy mustard is great here.
- Mayonnaise: use homemade mayo or purchased.
- Capers: you’re using both the capers and the brine, so make sure to get the type that comes in liquid rather than salt.
- Scallions: aka spring onions or green onions.
- Fresh Herbs: dill and parsley are listed in the card, but any fresh herb will do.
- Salt and Pepper
- Toppings: see below for a list of ideas!
- Sandwich Bread: of course you can use any homemade or store bought bread.
Keep scrolling to see clear and detailed process shots, as well as tips and notes to help you make Chickpea Salad Sandwiches perfectly the first time!
Method
TOP TIPS
1. Don’t skip the additions. The capers, herbs, and onion are key to the flavour here – if you don’t like one of them, use a substitution, but don’t leave them out altogether.
2. Use soft bread. Or go for an open-face sandwich. This recipe has some texture and softer bread will hold it in place – for something like a seed or dark bread, you’re better off with a single layer.
3. Top it up. While the salad is packed with flavour, like any sandwich, toppings are key. Don’t leave them out!
Recipe Notes
- Commonly called green onions, scallions are a mild-tasting member of the allium family. In addition to soft onion flavour, scallions also add beautiful pops of green.
- We’ve used capers packed in brine (rather than salt) for this recipe, as we use some of the liquid to flavour the chickpea salad.
- This is semi-mashed, as you want some texture in the chickpeas. If cooking them at home rather than using canned, don’t use baking soda.
How to Store and Freeze Chickpea Salad
- To Store: this will keep in the fridge, sealed in a container with a tight-fitting lid, for up to one week. We prefer glass food storage containers if possible as glass is safer to store leftover food, and doesn’t smell once emptied and washed.
- To Freeze: we don’t recommend freezing the salad once it’s been mixed, as it tends to turn watery after thawing.
Substitutions
- All you have to do to make vegan chickpea salad is substitute the mayonnaise for your favourite vegan mayo!
- If you don’t have scallions or green onion, about a tablespoon of very finely chopped white or red onion can be substituted.
- Dill pickles make an excellent sub for capers, and some of the pickle juice can be used in place of caper brine.
- Use any fresh herbs you like best. Chives are great.
- Dijon mustard is a good option instead of grainy mustard.
Sandwich Topper Ideas
Sure you can eat chickpea salad and bread alone, however, how about one of these topping ideas to kick it up a notch?
- sprouts
- lettuce
- avocado
- cheese
- radish
- pea shoots
- cucumber
- sliced bell pepper
- shaved carrot
- tomato
- arugula
- red onion
- pickles
- shredded cabbage
FAQ
Use the same base recipe, but omit the parsley. Use dill pickle in place of capers and very finely diced red onion instead of the scallions.
Yes! Even more than that, I usually rinse and then soak in cold water for about half an hour before rinsing again when using canned chickpeas. This helps with the gas-producing effects.
They are indeed. Canned chickpeas are cooked and ready to use, but should be rinsed first.
More Great Lunch Recipes
Asparagus Goat Cheese Frittata
Vegan Broccoli Flatbread Pizza
Buttermilk Quiche With Ham, Cheddar, And Chives
The Best Lentil Soup
Recipe
Easy Chickpea Salad Sandwich
Description
Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons or a digital kitchen scale
- Mixing bowl
- Potato masher or fork or stick blender
Ingredients
- 15 oz. canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoons grainy mustard
- 2 – 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, vegan, if preferred
- 1 tablespoon brined capers, drained and finely chopped (reserve the brine)
- 1 scallion, white and green parts finely chopped
- ⅓ cup parsley, freshly chopped
- ¼ cup dill, freshly chopped
- 1 – 2 teaspoons caper brine
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Additional Ingredients
- Sandwich toppings of your choice:, sprouts, lettuce, avocado, cheese, radish, cucumber, sliced bell pepper, shaved carrot, et cetera.
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine chickpeas, mustard, and mayonnaise. Using a fork, potato masher, or stick blender, partially mash the chickpeas to get a thick mixture with about ¼ – ⅓ the amount of whole or broken chickpeas remaining.
- Using a spoon, stir through the capers, scallion, parsley, and dill. Add in the caper brine (starting with 1 teaspoon), salt, and pepper to taste, adding more brine/salt/pepper, as needed.
- Serve with your favourite sandwich toppings between two slices of soft sourdough sandwich bread.
Notes
Nutrition
If you make this recipe, let us know by tagging @baked_theblog + #bakedtheblog on Instagram! We love to feel like we’re in the kitchen with you.
This post was first published in April 2020. It has been updated with improvements to the text and images as of June 2022.
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