Chickpea “Tuna” Salad (Vegan)
by Lauren Grant-Vose
March 23, 2022 (updated 8/21/23) Jump To Recipe
This delicious Chickpea Tuna Salad is a vegan version of a classic tuna salad. Featuring all the traditional flavors of the beloved salad, you won’t miss the tuna at all! Serve over lettuce or on a toasted slice of hearty whole-grain bread.
Table of contents
Why We Love This Recipe for Chickpea Tuna Salad
Any kind of quick salad that’s both tasty and satisfying is a win in our book. And this Chickpea Tuna Salad is just that. It comes together in 10 minutes and is loaded with protein- and fiber-packed chickpeas, crunchy veggies, and a simple yet delicious creamy dressing.
Chickpeas are a great stand in tuna and even chicken in salads. I used it in place of chicken in this Chickpea “Chicken” Salad with Avocado Dressing.
This Chickpea Tuna Salad recipe is also ideal for meal prep—make it ahead of time and enjoy it for lunch throughout the week either over a bed of lettuce or atop a piece of toasted whole-grain bread.
Looking for more fun vegetarian swaps to play around with? Try your hand at making vegan scallops with trumpet mushrooms. They’re amazing!
Key Ingredients for this Recipe
Canned Chickpeas
Canned chickpeas make for a super quick recipe. We like to use reduced-sodium, but if you have regular canned chickpeas that’s no problem! Just pull back a bit on the amount of salt you add before tasting and adjusting for seasoning.
Celery
Fresh celery is a classic ingredient in tuna salad so of course it makes an appearance in this Chickpea Tuna Salad! I recommend storing celery loosely wrapped in foil—this will keep it crisper, longer.
Red Onion
Feel free to use white onion or even green onions if you have those on hand. Red onion is more classic, but any will work.
Vegan Mayonnaise
I love using olive oil mayonnaise or even avocado oil mayonnaise but for this recipe, we used vegan mayonnaise to keep this recipe vegan.
Garlic Clove
Fresh garlic is best in this recipe! If you prefer to use garlic powder, start with ¼ teaspoon.
Dijon
Dijon mustard just adds a little oomph to the salad. I also add it to all of my homemade vinaigrettes and dressings, a must-have pantry item!
White Wine Vinegar
You can also use red wine vinegar, distilled white vinegar, tarragon vinegar, or rice vinegar.
Step by Step Instructions to Make this Chickpea Tuna Salad
Step 1: Mash Half of the Chickpeas
Add one can of chickpeas to a large mixing bowl. Using a fork, lightly mash.
Step 2: Add Remaining Chickpeas
Add remaining can chickpeas to keep the texture varied.
Step 3: Add the Celery and Red onion
For added crunch and classic tuna salad flavor, next add in the finely diced celery and red onion.
Step 4: Stir with the Dressing
Add in mayonnaise, garlic, Dijon, vinegar and stir to combine; season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve on toasted bread or over lettuce with dill pickle spears.
FAQs & Expert Tips
You can make this Chickpea Tuna Salad without mayonnaise by swapping the mayo out for whole milk Greek yogurt or plant-based yogurt.
Store this Chickpea Tuna Salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. I do not recommend freezing this.
Additional Chickpea Recipes to Try
- Our creamy vegan Chickpea Salad Recipe with Basil Avocado Dressing is a summer side salad that’s great for serving at summer barbecues and picnics.
- For a family-friendly meal, this Chickpea Burger with Tahini Sauce recipe is a great option. They have brown rice and are flavored with falafel inspired seasonings.
- This Chickpea Stew with Moroccan-inspired flavors is hearty and totally plant-based.
- This Grilled Corn and Chickpea Salad is another summertime favorite.
- Our Roasted Eggplant, Feta and Chickpea Salad is heavy on the parsley and great served warm or room temperature.
- These Crispy Roasted Chickpeas are addictively crunchy and healthy snacks.
- Our Israeli Couscous Salad has chickpeas, lemon, garlic and cumin.
- We have quite a few hummus variations here. Try our Roasted Garlic Hummus, this Edamame Hummus and our Roasted Red Pepper Hummus.
- We added chickpeas into our Instant Pot Veggie Curry to add some protein.
- And we snuck them into this Sheet Pan Salmon with Moroccan Flavors as well as this Slow Cooker Moroccan Lamb Shanks recipe too.
Thanks for reading. If you make this recipe, please let us know by leaving a star rating and review in the comment section below.
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Chickpea “Tuna” Salad (Vegan)
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 3 ½ cups (4 servings) 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A simple and delicious recipe for Chickpea Tuna Salad! This vegetarian salad is delicious and absolutely satisfying.
Ingredients
- 2 (14.5-ounce) cans reduced-sodium chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 3/4 cup chopped celery
- 2/3 cup diced red onion
- 1/3 cup vegan mayonnaise or olive oil mayonnaise
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 1 tablespoon Dijon
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- Toasted whole-wheat bread and/or green leaf lettuce for serving
Instructions
- Add one can of chickpeas to a large mixing bowl. Using a fork, lightly mash.
- Add remaining can chickpeas, celery, onion, mayonnaise, garlic, Dijon, vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper.
- Stir to combine; season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve on toasted bread or over lettuce with dill pickle spears.
Notes
Store this Chickpea Tuna Salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
To make this recipe vegan, use vegan mayonnaise.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: No-cook
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3/4 cup
- Calories: 313
- Fat: 12 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 43 g
- Fiber: 9 g
- Protein: 12 g
Lauren Grant-Vose
Lauren Grant-Vose is a trained Culinary Food Scientist and Journalist, food writer and photographer. She is the founder of Zestful Kitchen, a healthy-ish food and recipe website devoted to sharing wholesome recipes and useful cooking tips. Lauren has worked for a variety of food magazines and in numerous test kitchens including America’s Test Kitchen, Cuisine at Home, Allrecipes Magazine, Bake from Scratch, Taste of Home, Better Homes and Gardens and more.
Elevate your chickpea “tuna” salad with a sprinkle of nori flakes to bring a taste of the sea, while a squeeze of lemon juice adds a refreshing zing.
I love this dish, I will make it at home, because I love chickpeas. Thank you very much!
Quick recipe for an energizing morning.
I had this chickpea tuna salad for lunch yesterday and it was incredible! So full of flavor and so delicious.
Great idea for a sandwich! I love the crunch of the chopped celery.
Healthy and nutritious combination. Perfect snack box option. Love y0ur presentation too.
Such an amazing recipe for added protein. Thank you!
This was such a hit! Thank you for Love all the ingredients, can’t wait to try this!
“This delicious Chickpea Tuna Salad is a vegan version of a classic tuna salad. Featuring all the traditional flavors of the beloved salad, you won’t miss the tuna at all!” – I’m curious as to why it’s called “Tuna” salad when there’s no tuna in it. Why not just call it chickpea salad. It looks delicious and very tasty, so wondering why it was titled as such?
Hi Cherylynn,
It’s Katie, the site owner and founder of Healthy Seasonal Recipes. I will pop in here for Lauren. We decided to update the name of this recipe for clarity. We do have another “chickpea salad” here on the blog that is not a mock tuna salad like this one and we didn’t want the two recipes to have the same name/focus. Hope that helps clear up any confusion.
Happy Cooking!
-Katie
like your recipe, but where is the tuna? or is that the name of the recipe? can you post your answer please? thanks.
Hi Mary, This is a vegan alternative to tuna salad. A Mock-tuna salad of sorts. Hope that helps clear up any confusion in our recipe title. Glad you liked the recipe and it came out well for you. Thank you for the rating.