Curried Chickpea Salad Sandwich Recipe

This curried chickpea salad sandwich recipe makes for the perfect vegan lunch. It’s packed with flavorful ingredients and creates a nutritious, versatile chickpea salad that is ideal for meal prep and for packed lunches.

Serve as a sandwich or wrap topped with any additional veggies you like! It’s also tasty to eat with crackers, pita bread, tortilla chips, or as a lettuce wrap.

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Are Curried Chickpea Salad Sandwiches Vegan?

Many curry chickpea salad recipes use mayonnaise, which, unless specified, isn’t vegan. Other than that, most chickpea salad sandwich recipes are vegan-friendly.

This recipe is a creative variation from typical mashed chickpea salad, which is a staple lunch for many vegans!

Curry Chickpea Salad Sandwich Ingredients

All you’ll need to make this delicious sandwich filling are a few simple ingredients. They include:

• Chickpeas: Use mashed chickpeas for the base of your sandwich. I use a can of chickpeas for convenience, but you can use freshly cooked chickpeas if you like; just make sure they’re soft enough to mash. See below for different chickpea-mashing ideas.
• Carrot: I love grated carrot in this sandwich filling. It adds a slight sweetness some crunch. Other vegetables can work as well including cucumber, zucchini, bell pepper; really whatever you like! Just chop it finely or grate it if possible.
• Green onion: Add lots of flavor to this sandwich with green onion. While any type of onion can work, green onions offer a mild flavor when raw. If you like a more pungent onion flavor, red onion is a great choice.
• Raisins: Curry and raisins taste delicious together, in my opinion! They add some sweetness which can help balance bitter notes in turmeric (a key ingredient in curry powder). Any type of raisin can work for this recipe. You could substitute for another fruit like fresh grapes or apples or leave out the raisins/ fruit if you don’t want a slightly sweet chickpea salad.
• Hummus: Many chickpea salad recipes use mayonnaise in the filling to add moisture and hold it together. You can replace the hummus in this recipe with additional mayo but I like to use hummus as it adds extra flavor.
• Vegan mayonnaise: I like to use hummus and some vegan mayo to get the most flavor out of this sandwich filling. You can use all mayo or all hummus for this recipe if you like; or play around with the ratio of hummus to mayo until you’re happy with the taste!
• Curry powder: As this is a curried chickpea sandwich, you’ll need some curry powder. There are lots of curry powder options, so try a few until you find one that you like. This recipe uses 2 tablespoons, so the flavor comes through very strongly; use more or less to your taste.
• Garlic powder: While curry powder has plenty of flavor, I can’t resist adding in some extra garlic in the form of garlic powder.
• Salt and black pepper: Curry powder often has salt in it, but if yours doesn’t, or you feel you would like some extra flavor, add salt and/or black pepper to your liking.
• Bread, crackers, wrap, etc.: To create a sandwich, you’ll need some bread to serve the chickpea filling on. Wraps, crackers, pita, tortilla chips or even lettuce wraps also work great when serving this mashed chickpea salad.

How to Make a Chickpea Curry Sandwich

This recipe is incredibly easy to make and takes just 20 minutes of prep work. Read the instructions below to see how I make these curried chickpea salad sandwiches.

Step 1: Mash Chickpeas

The only (slightly) challenging part of this recipe is mashing chickpeas. You can use canned or freshly cooked chickpeas that have been drained and rinsed.

Some people use a fork to mash chickpeas, but I find this very difficult. I also struggle to use a potato masher, but both options work if that’s all you have.

A food processor is a great choice if you have one available. Simply add in the chickpeas (on their own) and pulse until they’re chopped to your liking.

I’ve found that a round food cutter with a sharp edge is the best tool for mashing chickpeas. This cuts chickpeas into small pieces and is easy to clean. It looks like a cookie cutter but with a sharper edge.

A pastry cutter may also work if its blades are sturdy enough to work through chickpeas.

You can mash chickpeas into any texture you prefer. I like some smaller pieces of chickpea throughout, but you can also mash or puree it to a smooth consistency.

Step 2: Mix Ingredients

When you’ve mashed the chickpeas, prepare the rest of your filling ingredients. Add them to a mixing bowl along with the mashed chickpeas.

Next, peel and grate some carrot and finely chop the green onion. Measure and add in everything else.

If your raisins are quite dry, you may want to soak them in water first. A few minutes in boiling/ hot water can plump the raisins nicely.

When all your ingredients are in the mixing bowl, stir to combine.

Taste and adjust the salt and/or black pepper to your liking.

Step 3: Serve

Now the curry chickpea salad is ready to serve!

You can make this into a sandwich or wrap. I’ve also served this on crackers or in a lettuce wrap; all very tasty options!

How to Create a Balanced Vegan Meal

I consider a balanced meal one that contains a good source of plant-based protein, carbohydrates, fats and lots of vegetables or fruits.

This chickpea salad has it all! There’s plant-based protein in the chickpeas, along with some nutritious carbohydrates. There’s some added vegetables and fruits in the chickpea filling and plenty of opportunity to add more to the sandwich as you assemble it.

There are also typically healthy fats in hummus (often olive oil and tahini) plus some additional fats added in the mayo. Fats help keep people feeling full and satisfied and are essential for absorption of certain nutrients.

Adding whole grain bread, crackers or a wrap to the chickpea salad can add extra carbohydrates and fiber for a meal that packs in lots of energy. If you want a lighter meal, try serving the mashed chickpeas over a bed of greens or in lettuce wraps!

Chickpea Sandwich Variations

There are endless ways to make tasty chickpea sandwiches. Check out my recipe for a classic mashed chickpea sandwich!

If you want more variety, you can try different:

• Spices
• Type of hummus used (or try mashed avocado)
• Vegetables added to the chickpea salad
• Bread, wrap, pita, crackers or salad greens you serve the mashed chickpeas with
• Vegetables added to the sandwich/ wrap
• Other sauces added to the sandwich (ex. add some type of chutney)
• If you like things spicy, adding cayenne pepper or hot sauce

How to Store Leftovers

Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

This is a great recipe to meal prep for lunches! It packs easily for school or work, either as an assembled sandwich, wrap, or on its own with a side of crackers.

If making a sandwich to take with you, be mindful of adding watery vegetables; you don’t want soggy bread. You can pack watery vegetables (like tomatoes) on the side or in between two layers of the chickpea salad.

While I haven’t tried freezing this recipe, I'd advise against it as hummus typically separates and becomes watery once thawed.

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

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