A simple, yet hearty chickpea salad recipe that is perfect for vegans and non-vegans alike!
Some of you are probably thinking… “not another chickpea salad!” Or if you are like me, you may be thinking… “Yes! Another chickpea salad!”
There are plenty of chickpea salads floating around the blogosphere- so many of which are extremely delicious- but this one has a bit of a twist to it. Let’s just say that this chickpea salad hits up all of your major food groups, even the fruit group.
While I was never a chicken salad lover growing up (mayo scared me), I remember seeing and reading about recipes for chicken salad that contained fruit. Normally grapes or apples were involved and I inevitably thought that was “weird” and sounded unappetizing. Why in the world would you combine chicken and fruit?
Ten years later and I do not eat chicken at all anymore, but my thoughts on fruit with savory foods have drastically changed. So when I came across a fruit-filled chicken salad recipe on a blog a few weeks back, I had an instant hankering for chickpea salad with fruit!
I could not just leave it at fruit, though. I wanted an added protein-packed crunchy element, too. Enter one of my favorite nuts: cashews!
Cashew and Grape Chickpea Salad
Vegan + Gluten-Free
Serves 2 to 3
Ingredients
15 oz can chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and outer shells removed
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 cup red seedless grapes, quartered
1/2 TB dried onion flakes (optional)
2 to 3 TB vegan mayo (I prefer Vegenaise)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 TB cashews, chopped
fine sea salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
Directions
1. Place chickpeas in a medium bowl. Mash with a fork until desired texture is reached. I like mine mostly mashed but with some pieces still intact.
2. Once chickpeas are mashed, add celery, grapes, and onion flakes to the bowl. Stir until well-combined.
3. Stir in vegan mayo and mustard.
4. Gently fold in chopped cashews.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
I served this salad on lightly salted rice cakes. If you have not tried chickpea salads on rice cakes yet, you really need to! I imagine it would also be delicious in Romaine lettuce wraps, on toasted bread, or scooped up with crackers/tortilla chips. Or heck, just eat it by the spoonful. I might be talking from experience when I say that it tastes delicious all on its own 😉
I was not kidding when I said I had your food groups covered:
Protein from the chickpeas and cashews
Veggies from the celery
Fruit from the grapes
Whole grains from your bread/dipper of choice
Healthy fats from the cashews
Do you think you don’t like the sweet/savory combo? Are you certain you can’t live without your chicken salad? Try this on for size.
Do you have any favorite chickpea salad recipes? I’m hooked so I would love for you to share your favorites in the comments!
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I have a confession: mayo STILL scares me. I don’t remember the last time I used mayo in ANYTHING. I WILL try one of these yummy looking salads you’ve posted though. The madness has to end at some point 😉
I totally get that. I cannot stand the idea of eating REAL mayo. You seriously need to buy Vegenaise. It is amaaaazing (and even Jeremy approved). You can find it at Hy-Vee!
Apparently I’m the only vegetarian (technically pescatarian) who hasn’t tried Chickpea salad! yum. I’ll give this a try!
Ooooh my gosh, you need to!! Chickpea salads are one of my favorite things ever 🙂
This looks delicious, Hannah! I can imagine the textures from the grapes and cashews with the creamy mayo is addicting too!
SUPER addicting… like it was hard for me to make this into two portions instead of one 😉
So I’m trying to get more excited about salads lately, and wowza this ones looks delicious!! I’m not a big fan of mayo, think I could try Greek yogurt instead?
Thanks!
http://www.playingforeats.com | Carly
You could definitely try Greek yogurt! Also, I HATE mayo but I love Vegenaise, so you just might like it!
I must admit having chickpeas be the feature of a salad never occurred to me before now. Thanks for opening up possibilities.
It is amazing! Chickpea salads are kind of a big deal in the vegetarian/veagn world 😉 Vegetarian or not, you definitely need to give one a try!
I like swapping out avocado for the mayo. . . but I will pretty much try to put avocado in EVERYTHING. 🙂
Well I have nothing bad to say about that! Avocado is one of the greatest foods in existence. I am certain of that!
Really great idea to put this in lettuce wraps. I love that you added more crunch with the cashews…my favorite nut!
Aren’t cashews awesome? I definitely ate quite a few plain ones while mixing this up 😉
This looks SOO good! You don’t happen to have any extra for Sunday do you? 😀
Haha, unfortunately I do not 🙁 I definitely need to make some again soon, though!
This looks fantastic! I will certainly make this for lunch soon. Pinning it 🙂
Thank you Jamie! I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think 🙂
I love salads like this for lunches or an easy dinner! And big yes to the grapes – my favorite! And the cashews sure don’t hurt either 🙂
I am so glad that I no longer think adding fruit to savory foods is weird. It is a super delicious combination.
This sounds so good! I just started eating chicken again last year, but I still have a special love (and gravitate toward) my veggie/vegan foods. Definitely want to try this!
I always tell my meat-eating friends and family that they would LOVE chickpea salads even if they are vegan. I think I am finally starting to convince them of that 😉
You know what I adore about you & your blog.. the uniquness of your recipes. I would never of though to fold in cashews to this mixture.
You are way too kind, Jessie! Random ideas pop into my head at the STRANGEST times!
How have I STILL not made chickpea salad?! This looks beyond divine…especially with the grapes in there!!
Seriously.. if you do one thing the rest of this month, it NEEDS to be making a chickpea salad. You would LOVE it!
what could be used as a substitute for the vegan mayo? i still dont want to use regular mayo but I was thinking plain yogurt…
Yes, you could use plain Greek yogurt if you do not eat dairy-free. Mashed avocado is another favorite of mine in “chicken” salad!