This post may include affiliate links; for details, see our disclosure policy.
Looking for healthy and easy lunch recipes? This curried chickpea salad sandwich is essentially a vegetarian chicken salad using chickpeas instead.
Looking for some new lunch ideas? We’ve been trying to think of some ways to mix up our lunch time to keep things interesting. Here’s a take on our chickpea salad sandwich, revamped to be a curried chickpea salad. And it’s really a take on a vegetarian chicken salad using chickpeas instead! Our Chickpea Salad Sandwich is so popular that we wanted to have another variation on it. Keep reading for how to make it!
How to make curried chickpea salad
This curried chickpea salad is truly easy to make: and we’re not just saying that. It takes just 10 minutes to whip up the chickpea salad and throw it onto a sandwich. The only cutting involved is thinly slicing some green onions and chopping cashews. Mix that up with some chickpeas, mashed with a fork, mayonnaise, lemon juice, curry powder, and you’ve got a fresh, refreshing curried chickpea salad.
One note: you can use canned or cooked chickpeas for this chickpea salad sandwich. Our preference is canned chickpeas (see below), but both work. Here’s our Pressure Cooker chickpeas method if you happen to have an Instant Pot. If you don’t, use our How to Cook Dried Beans in a Dutch Oven (which includes chickpeas / garbanzo beans). However, if you do use canned chickpeas in this recipe, remember a few things
- Canned chickpeas have a bit of salt added, so you’ll want to flavor with a few pinches of kosher salt before using.
- The texture of chickpeas cooked at home can be drier than canned, so you may have to add a bit more mayonnaise to the chickpea salad. Because of this, we prefer making it with canned chickpeas. However, we’ve made it many times with cooked chickpeas too.
How to serve this curried chickpea salad
With its tangy curry flavor, this curried chickpea salad is a unique alternative to a tuna or egg salad. Try it for lunch in a sandwich or wrap, or as a snack spread on crackers. You could also try it as lettuce wraps, or just eat it right out of the bowl! Give it a try for a new way to look at lunch.
Looking for more easy lunch recipes?
Outside of this curried chickpea salad, here are a few more easy lunch recipes:
- Hummus and Veggie Roll Ups
- Radish and Egg Salad Sandwiches
- Ricotta & White Bean Fancy Toast
- Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs or Perfect Boiled Eggs
- 5-Minute Pesto Arugula Breakfast Sandwich
- Vegan Banh Mi Sandwich
- Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich
- Coleslaw & Swiss Melt Sandwich
- Classic 5 Ingredient Hummus with veggies or…
- Almond Cashew Homemade Crackers
- Basil Egg Salad
- Glowing Green Smoothie
- Chocolate Blueberry Smoothie
- Avocado & Chickpea Salad
- 100 Lunch Ideas on What to Pack for Work
- 10 Amazing Vegetarian Sandwiches
This recipe is…
This curried chickpea salad sandwich is vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan (with vegan mayo or cashew cream), plant based, and dairy free.
Print
Curried Chickpea Salad
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2 to 3 1x
Description
Looking for healthy and easy lunch recipes? This curried chickpea salad sandwich is essentially a vegetarian chicken salad using chickpeas instead.
Ingredients
- 15-ounce can chickpeas (or 1 1/2 cooked)
- 4 green onions
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, vegan mayonnaise, or cashew cream
- ½ tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup (optional)
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ cup chopped cashews
Instructions
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas; place them in a bowl and mash them a bit with a potato masher or fork until they break down in consistency. Thinly slice the green onions.
- Add the mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, curry powder, kosher salt, and honey or maple syrup.
- When ready to serve, add the raisins and add chopped cashews. Serve on crackers, or in a sandwich or wrap.
- Category: Salad
- Method: Raw
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Curried Chickpea Salad, Curry Salad, Vegetarian Chicken Salad, Chickpea Salad, Vegan recipes, healthy lunch recipes
This salad looks light, flavorful, and delicious! I’m a big fan of curry, and I love the idea of using chickpeas in place of chicken or tuna. I rarely eat meat for lunch, so am always on the lookout for mid-day vegetarian meal ideas =).
That looks PERFECT-LGreat flavors combination!
This looks great! I can’t wait to try this- I’m always looking for something easy to take for lunch!
This looks SO yummy but I’m not a huge fan of curry. Do you think it’d be ok to just leave the curry out or is there another spice you would suggest using?
Great question! I used to not be a fan of curry too, but I’ve been using it more in small quantities and am liking it more! If you’re not feeling adventurous, I’d probably leave it out of this recipe and up the mustard quantity a bit. In the “original” version, I used celery seeds, which I really like – you could try that! Let us know if you try it out — and you also could try the original version I linked to instead (it doesn’t include the apples and raisins, and is a little more savory). Good luck!
Wow I’m always looking for something new for lunch, this looks so yummmy!!! Sounds healthy too, score! THanks for the recipe :)
Chickpea plus apple… very interesting. I’m a big fan of the chickpea salad I picked from Orangette: just garbanzos, herbs, and chunked Parmagiano Regiano in a light, lemony dressing. This seems like a great change of pace from the familiar. It somewhat reminds me of a fresh rendtion of the canned curried chickpeas my roommate Francesca and I used to buy at Trader Joe’s (I mean that as a complement). It looks delicious.
Oh, that sounds delicious too! I can never get tired of chickpea salads :) Thanks for the idea!
Delicious…! Loved the addition of curry powder and mustard! Lovely presentation btw :)
This is such a good idea! I’ve had curried tofu, chicken, and tuna salad (not all at once, barf) but have never thought about using chickpeas. This will definitely be on my list of things to make :)
Hah! I think tofunachickenpea curry salad sounds like a wonderful dish :)
I need to try this stat!
Your blog is one of the nicest spots on the ‘healthy’ foodie world, and I just wanted to compliment you! And this dressing, and this salad, and raw brownies for dessert. Oh Lordie. This salad is literally all my favorite go-to foods (except broccoli, but that can be arranged!). I made it on Sunday, and I never thought I’d look forward to my 9-5 on Monday, just so I could eat this deliciousness for lunch. I stuffed some lightly toasted pitas with spinach, salad, cranberries, toasted cashews and dressing, and it was fabulous. Thanks!