Avocado Chickpea Salad

Vegan avocado chickpea salad is flavourful, full of protein/healthy fat, and is perfect for stuffing into lettuce/sandwiches for lunches

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Salad, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine American, Dairy-free, Egg-Free, Gluten-Free, Oil-Free, Plant-Based, Special Diets, Vegan, Vegetarian

Diet Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword all seasons, avocado, bread, capers, celery, chickpeas, chives, cucumber, fall, herbs, lemon, lettuce, pickles, radicchio, radishes, spring, summer, winter

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings Cups of salad

Author Laura Wright

Ingredients

Avocado Chickpea Salad

1 ½ cups (1 15-oz can) cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 medium ripe avocados
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
1 stick celery, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped dill pickle
2 tablespoons capers, minced
¼ cup chopped chives

For Serving

Boston/bibb lettuce leaves OR radicchio leaves
sliced sandwich bread
sliced cucumber
sliced radishes
extra chopped chives

Instructions

In a medium bowl, slightly mash the chickpeas with a fork. You still want pieces of chickpea, so don’t fully mash to the point of pureeing.
Cut the avocados in half, remove the pit, and extract the flesh with a spoon. Transfer the avocado to another medium bowl. Add the lemon juice, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper to the bowl and then mash the avocado mixture until mostly smooth. To the bowl, add the mashed chickpeas, celery, pickle, capers, and chives.
Fold the avocado chickpea salad mixture together with a spatula until just combined. Check the mixture for seasoning and adjust if necessary. Serve the avocado chickpea salad with lettuce wraps or in between fresh bread slices with other accompaniments. Salad keeps in a tightly sealed container (see recipe headnotes) for up to 3 days.

Notes

If you’re lettuce-wrapping the salad, any sturdy lettuce leaf that you like is great. I love the bitter edge of radicchio leaves, but understand that this isn’t for everyone. Iceberg, romaine, and Boston/bibb are all great.
The avocado chickpea salad is also delicious dolloped into a grain bowl setup
There’s a good amount of acidity in this salad to keep the avocado from browning. If you want to have some leftover, I recommend tightly packing it into a storage container and sprinkling the top with a bit of extra lemon juice. Also, an appropriately sized container where the salad goes right up to the lid is ideal. Less air = less chance of browning/oxidizing.