The chickpea ‘tuna’ salad has been around for many moons, but I recently discovered it and it’s changed my life. I love a classic tuna salad but I try to eat as many plant based meals as I can, and this alternative is just as good (if not better) than the real thing! You can follow my recipe, or just mash a can of chickpeas with a fork, and dress it up as you would a classic tuna salad!
INGREDIENTS
1 can of chickpeas
2 to 3 tablespoons vegan mayo, depends how creamy you like it (I like Soy-Free Veganaise or Avocado Oil Fabanaise)
3 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 to 2 teaspoons dried dill (dried or fresh), or to taste
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
1 onion, finely diced (whole onion if small, 1/2 if large–red or white onion works)
2 stalks of celery, finely diced
2 pickle spears, finely minced
1 to 2 teaspoons capers (optional)
pinch of cayenne pepper, optional
DIRECTIONS
First things first, mash the chickpeas (strained and rinsed). You have a few options here: you can simply grab a bowl, pour in the chickpeas and then get to mashing with a fork. I find this option yield a chunkier result, which I’m personally down with. If you a creamier more uniform result, I’d recommend adding the chickpeas to a food processor and processing until most of the chunks are removed and it’s fairly smooth, but you don’t want puree so aggressively that you end up with hummus, you feel me?
Either method you choose, once the chickpeas are mashed up, then add in all of the additional ingredients and mix it up in a large bowl. It’s truly that simple! It keeps for days in the fridge in an airtight container. Feel free to double up on the recipe if you want to have more ready to go for lunches.
