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Home > Vegan Recipes

Vegan Chickpea Salad Sandwich (No Mayo)

3/18/21 by Nicole | 12 Comments

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5 from 7 votes. Leave a review!

This vegan chickpea salad sandwich recipe is one of my all-time favorite lunches! It all starts with the sandwich filling, which is so versatile, creamy and delicious. Use on your favorite bread, lettuce leaf or tortilla wrap!

Made without mayonnaise, this simple meal is quickly prepared with ingredients like hummus and pickles for an unbeatable flavor. Make a batch for multiple people, or just have it yourself for a week’s worth of lunches!

Sandwich cut in half and stacked up on wood board; sandwich made with brown bread, lettuce, tomato and loaded with creamy mashed chickpeas.

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Are Chickpea Salad Sandwiches Vegan?

Chickpea salad is a great substitute for vegans who want to replicate a taste and texture that resembles egg salad or tuna sandwiches.

While this recipe doesn’t try to be a vegan egg salad or tuna sandwich, it’s an excellent high-protein meal that’s packed with flavor. Using hummus, in place of mayo, packs in plenty of extra flavor while creating a creamy sandwich filling.

Vegans could make a mayonnaise-based chickpea salad, but not everyone has access to (or enjoys) vegan mayo. If that’s you, I hope you enjoy this variation of chickpea salad!

Three plates with only front on in focus which has open face sandwich of grainy bread, lettuce, tomato and mashed chickpea salad. Other plates with sandwiches plus two bowls in far back filled with chickpea salad and lettuce.

Chickpea Salad Sandwich Ingredients (No Mayo)

To make this epic chickpea salad sandwich recipe, you’ll need the following vegan ingredients:

  • Chickpeas: Most of the recipe’s volume is made from mashed chickpeas. You’ll start with one 19-ounce can of drained and rinsed chickpeas (or cook your own) and mash them to your desired consistency. I like mine finely mashed, but others may like it chunkier!
  • Celery: Finely chopped celery adds an incredibly satisfying crunch to this vegan sandwich filling. While mild in taste, this adds a lot of texture to the mix.
  • Onion: Like celery, onion adds a nice crunch, but it also adds lots of flavor.
  • Pickles: Another amazing add-in, pickle brings a salty, tangy and vinegary bite to the chickpea filling. The recipe uses chopped pickles and pickle juice to bring a unique depth of flavor.
  • Hummus: The ultimate replacement for no-mayo chickpea salad sandwiches, hummus makes for a creamy filling. Use a plain hummus for a classic chickpea flavor or use your favorite flavored hummus for more variety.
  • Black pepper: A dash of black pepper further helps to enhance the recipe’s flavor profiles while providing some antioxidants.
  • Seasoning salt: Along with the pepper I’d also suggest adding some salt. You could opt for table salt but using a seasoning salt with some added flavor helps to round out the sandwich filling nicely.
A woman in a denim shirt stands behind a marble counter top, holding a glass bowl full of chickpeas in front of her. Her head is cropped out. On the counter top is a large, empty glass bowl surrounded my smaller glass jars and bowls filled with different ingredients including chopped celery, white onion, pickles, hummus and spices.

How to Make Easy Vegan Chickpea Salad

Go from start to sandwich-eating in less than 30 minutes! Follow the step-by-step instructions below to learn how to prepare this easy vegan lunch recipe.

Step 1: Mash Chickpeas

Start with a 19-ounce can of drained and rinsed chickpeas; if you plan to cook chickpeas from dry then make sure to follow my special directions below in the “substitutions and variations” section below!

There are two ways you can break down your chickpeas; in a food processor or using a masher. If you plan to use a food processor, go ahead and add all ingredients into that. Otherwise, consider using your best mashing/ crushing tool to break down the chickpeas.

I like to use a special serrated edge “cookie cutter” tool anytime I make this recipe. Its sharp points can easily stab and break apart pieces of chickpea. It’s quick and easy to use!

A potato masher or pastry cutter are also good options, although they can take longer to use than the tool I mention above.

A hand holds a small metal mashing tool which is pressed down into a large glass bowl filled with chickpeas. Around the bowl, on a marble counter top, are small glass bowls and jars filled with other ingredients.

Step 2: Add Flavor-boosting Ingredients

All remaining ingredients can be added to the mixing bowl full of mashed chickpeas. In any order, add your celery, onion, pickles, pickle juice, hummus, pepper and seasoning salt.

Stir these ingredients to thoroughly combine and coat the mashed chickpeas with loads of flavor.

A light skinned woman stands behind a marble counter top. She is stirring chickpea salad in a large glass bowl and her gaze is down on the bowl. She wears a large blue denim shirt and has long wavy brown hair tied in a low ponytail.

Step 3: Prepare Sandwich

Finally, serve your vegan chickpea salad! It goes great on your favorite bread (I like a seedy or rye-based bread), in a lettuce or tortilla wrap, as part of a salad, or as a dip for crackers or vegetables!

If you’re making a chickpea salad sandwich, top with even more vegetables like:

  • Avocado
  • Lettuce/ leafy greens
  • Tomato
  • Mustard/ Dijon mustard
  • Pickles
  • Onion/ red onion
  • Sliced cucumber
A hand presses a piece of bread onto the top of a sandwich filled with lettuce, tomato and mashed chickpeas. The sandwich is on a white plate with a second sandwich on plate in the back right corner. In the back left corner sits another sandwich, cut in half and stacked up on a wood board.

Vegan Chickpea Sandwich Variations

While there are many ways to eat this no mayo chickpea salad, you may want to tweak a couple ingredients to suit your tastes.

The easiest way you can do this is to adjust the type of hummus and pickles you use. There are so many flavor combinations you can achieve between these two ingredients, so have fun playing around and finding what’s best for you!

Are Canned or Home-cooked Chickpeas Better?

Cooking chickpeas from scratch may be less expensive but takes significantly longer which isn’t always practical. If you regularly cook your own legumes, or have a pressure cooker to speed up the process, go for it!

Canned chickpeas are a great choice when making this recipe. They’re almost always softer in texture and offer a creamier final product. It’s also easier to get the right amount every time you make this recipe!

Top view of two plates and two bowls; one plate with sandwich in top center; second plate in center has single piece of bread topped with chickpea salad; one bowl with chickpea salad and the other with lettuce leaves.

How to Refrigerate Recipe Leftovers

Chickpea salad is an amazing recipe to prep and use for meals throughout the week. All ingredients are fine to leave in the fridge for up to a week, but you’ll likely eat it up within the first few days since it’s so yummy!

While you could make entire sandwiches and store them for grab-and-go meals, I prefer to make sandwiches as needed. This helps keep the bread as fresh and fluffy as possible; if you assemble the sandwiches and then let sit, some of the filling’s creamy moisture may soften your bread.

Sandwich cut in half and stack on wood board with white bowl of chickpea salad next to it. Sandwich made with brown bread and filled with mashed chickpeas, tomato and lettuce. Blurred sandwich in back left.

If you make this recipe, please rate and comment below to help others benefit from your experience!

Square cropped image of a sandwich cut in half and stacked up on wood board; sandwich made with brown bread, lettuce, tomato and loaded with creamy mashed chickpeas.

Vegan Chickpea Salad Sandwich No Mayo

A chickpea salad sandwich with no mayo is the ultimate vegan lunch idea. Easy to prep, high in protein and fibre to keep you feeling full and packed with flavour from the hummus, pickles and spices; you can't go wrong!
5 from 7 votes. Leave a review!
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Prep Time 25 mins
Total Time 25 mins
Servings 4 Sandwiches
Calories 277 kcal
Cuisine Vegan

Equipment

  • Cutting board
  • Knife
  • Can opener
  • Masher (or food processor)

Ingredients
  

  • 2 ¼ cups chickpeas (19 oz/ 540 mL can, drained and rinsed)
  • ⅓ cup celery , finely chopped
  • ¼ cup onion , finely chopped
  • ⅓ cup dill pickle , finely chopped
  • 1 ½ tablespoons pickle juice
  • ¾ cup hummus
  • ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
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Instructions

  • Mash the chickpeas using one of the methods described above (potato masher, food processor, serrated "cookie cutter", pastry cutter).
    2 ¼ cups chickpeas
  • Finely chop the onion, celery and pickles and stir into the chickpeas.
    ⅓ cup celery, ¼ cup onion, ⅓ cup dill pickle
  • Stir in pickle juice and hummus. Add extra hummus to reach desired texture/ creaminess.
    1 ½ tablespoons pickle juice, ¾ cup hummus
  • Stir in the spices. Spices are to taste so add more if you like. Salt, paprika, onion powder and garlic powder are other tasty options.
    ⅛ teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
  • Serve on your favorite bread, crackers, wraps etc. or use the creative serving ideas above!

Video

Notes

Nutrient analysis accounts only for chickpea salad filling and not bread or additional ingredients used to serve the filling.
Accuracy of nutrition information cannot be guaranteed (certain ingredients may not have all nutrients listed in the database); amounts may vary (and will vary depending on brands of ingredients used); all nutrition fact values rounded to the nearest whole number.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 Serving (¼ of recipe)Calories: 277 kcalCarbohydrates: 41 gProtein: 13 gFat: 8 gSaturated Fat: 1 gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3 gMonounsaturated Fat: 2 gSodium: 695 mgPotassium: 278 mgFiber: 12 gSugar: 8 gVitamin A: 104 IUVitamin C: 2 mgCalcium: 118 mgIron: 2 mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

More Vegan Main Meal Recipes

Like this recipe? You should also try:

  • Vegan Orange Chicken Recipe
  • Green Curry with Tofu
  • Vegan Chili Recipe (Three Bean, Gluten Free)
  • Vegan Soba Noodle Stir Fry (with Peanut Sauce)

About Nicole Stevens

Nicole is a vegan Registered Dietitian (RD) and founder of Lettuce Veg Out.

She helps people thrive on a vegan diet with balanced recipes and easy-to-understand nutrition science.


Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Debra S Weaver

    June 06, 2022 at 2:45 pm

    This was great! I think the pickles make the recipe. I added paprika turmeric, and served in pitas.

    Reply
    • Nicole Stevens

      June 06, 2022 at 3:32 pm

      Happy you enjoyed it Debra! I also think pickles are the key to this recipe 🙂

      Reply
  2. Craig

    January 15, 2022 at 4:18 pm

    Nicole;
    I came across your chickpea sandwich recipe, while looking for chickpea recipes as i have a can of them in my pantry. And you recipe really caught my eye. Due to its simplicity and looked really yummy 😋, i'm going to be trying it out this weekend or week. I to thought that adding dill or sweet pickled peppers and juice might be a good fit as well. I'll let you know......
    Craig

    Reply
    • Nicole Stevens

      January 17, 2022 at 10:57 am

      Hope you enjoyed and I'd love to hear how it turns out!

      Reply
  3. T

    August 10, 2021 at 4:34 am

    Just wondered what I can use to replace old bay seasoning, since it isn't available in our local shops in oz

    Reply
    • Nicole Stevens

      August 10, 2021 at 6:51 am

      Old Bay is a seafood seasoning (like a seasoning salt) so if you have access to anything like that it should work instead.

      Reply
  4. Kate

    June 16, 2021 at 7:21 pm

    Wow absolutely delicious! (Replaced pickle juice with aquafaba & added dill)

    Reply
    • Nicole Stevens

      June 17, 2021 at 8:43 am

      So happy you enjoyed Kate! Dill would be an amazing addition!

      Reply
  5. Jeannette

    April 06, 2021 at 9:34 pm

    I have made this quite often. It is so easy to make and so delicious. This is my go to sandwich when I plan to go to the beach for the day.
    Thank you Nicole!

    Reply
    • Nicole Stevens

      April 07, 2021 at 8:50 am

      Glad you enjoy! It's definitely a great recipe to pack for lunches!

      Reply
  6. Judy

    March 22, 2021 at 2:46 am

    Love this recipe.

    Reply
    • Nicole Stevens

      March 22, 2021 at 11:16 am

      So happy you enjoyed it Judy!

      Reply

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Hi, I'm Nicole! As a vegan Registered Dietitian, I empower vegans to live a balanced life and gain confidence in the kitchen.

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