Are you trying to eat more plant-based meals? Now you can enjoy all the flavors of your favorite tuna salad in this chickpea no-tuna salad.
It's a tasty alternative you can use to create easy lunches or meals. You're going to love this vegan tuna salad with chickpeas and hearts of palm! There are so many flavors going on it's hard not to like!
Updated: This post was originally published in April 2020 and has been updated with new photos and additional content.
You may be thinking the combination of cashews, chickpeas, and hearts palm may seem odd, but it blends well together. I love to make a batch of it ahead of time and enjoy it during the week.
It makes a terrific lunch when served with a bowl of roasted parsnip and cauliflower soup or this roasted red pepper soup.
💚 Why You Will Love Chickpea Tuna Salad
- Great flavor! If you aren't a big fan of chickpeas, you will be once you eat this no-tuna chickpea salad.
- Super easy to make! Blend up some chickpeas with a few other ingredients in a food processor, and in just minutes, you get the yummiest vegan chickpea tuna salad sandwich!
- Perfect for meal prep. Make a batch ahead of time to have quick lunches throughout the week.
- Eating less traditional tuna salad is better for the environment.
🛒 Ingredients
Most of these are simple pantry staple ingredients, but there may be a few that you are not familiar with using. Here's what you need:
- Cashews: Soaking cashews in water overnight helps them blend up into a tasty creamy replacement for mayonnaise.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic gives it the best flavor.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Mixed with the cashews to give it the richness of mayo.
- Lemon juice: Use fresh if possible to give the creamy dressing a burst of freshness.
- Hearts of palm: A tender vegetable usually sold in jars or cans. They flake up nicely into a texture very similar to tuna. They don’t bring a lot of flavors, so they easily absorb all the flavors added to the salad.
- Chickpeas: Use cooked and cooled chickpeas, or you can opt for canned chickpeas to save some time.
- Scallions: Adds mild onion flavor to the vegan tuna salad.
- Nutritional yeast: Gives the salad a bit more umami flavor, which is important when preparing plant-based dishes.
- Dulse flakes: From the sea vegetable family, this ingredient gives a hint of umami taste. It’s a great immune booster, improves digestion, and has antioxidant properties. You can buy it in many health food stores and Asian markets or find dulse flakes online.
- Red onion: Adds a nice vibrant crunch and flavor to your sandwich.
- Whole grain bread: Or you can use your favorite wrap, lettuce leaves or skip making a sandwich.
- Sandwich pickles: Add saltiness and another layer of crunch to the sandwich.
- Spinach leaves: You can also use another green or even microgreens.
✅ How to Make Vegan Tuna Salad
Are you ready to get started? Here's an overview of the steps involved, but check the recipe card for detailed instructions and quantities.
- Gather all your ingredients together and set up your food processor.
- Drain and rinse the soaked cashews. Add them to a food processor along with water, garlic cloves, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt.
- Pulse until creamy.
- Add the hearts of palm and chickpeas and pulse until combined but chunky.
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add the scallions, nutritional yeast, and dulse flakes. Give it a taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
- Build your sandwich. Layer up a slice of toasted bread with chickpea tuna, pickle, red onion, and greens. Cover with the top slice of bread. Slice in half with a sharp knife and enjoy!
🍽️ How To Serve
While my favorite way to enjoy vegan tuna salad is in a sandwich, it's actually quite flexible and can be used in a variety of ways.
- Skip the bread. For a low-carb option, serve it up in bib lettuce or romaine lettuce leaves.
- Wrap it. Swap the bread for your favorite tortilla wrap.
- Serve it over a bed of greens and add your favorite salad veggies.
- Scoop it up with crackers, chips, or veggie sticks.
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips and FAQs
- Don't over-pulse the chickpeas and hearts of palm after adding them to the food processor. You want them to retain some texture.
- Feel free to swap the sandwich ingredients for your favorites!
- Don't forget to soak your cashews. If you do forget, you can do a quick soak by covering them with boiling water and letting them sit for fifteen minutes.
- Taste and adjust to your own tastes! It's important you make it the way you enjoy your tuna salad.
- Zero waste tip: Put extra hearts of palm aside for a salad topping.
Use a cashew cream, either homemade or storebought to give it a similar creamy texture and a bit of flavor like mayo. I also like to add some olive oil and garlic to give it additional fat and flavor.
Store it in an airtight container for up to five days in the refrigerator. Unfortunately, you can't freeze it.
🌎 Sustainability Suggestions
Although tuna fish is an affordable protein source high in omega-3 fatty acids, there are many concerns about eating it. Here are three of the most important reasons to skip tuna!
- It contains high levels of mercury and should be avoided or eaten occasionally. Wild salmon is a great seafood alternative when you want to add variety to your seafood intake.
- Canned tuna may also contain BPA from the cans it is packaged in, so try to purchase brands that state BPA-free.
- Albacore tuna, the variety used for canned tuna, is an endangered species. Read about how to make wiser seafood choices and eat sustainable fish!
➕ Vegan Chickpea Recipes
If you made this recipe, please leave a star 🌟 rating on the recipe card right below! You can also drop a review in the comment section. Your feedback is appreciated! And don’t forget to tag @themindfulfork so we can see your creations.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Tuna Salad Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup cashews soaked overnight in water
- ½ cup water
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup hearts of palm chopped
- 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas drained & rinsed
- 4 scallions (approx 3 tbsp) sliced thin
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon dulse flakes
- 1 red onion sliced thin
- 8 slices whole grain bread sliced
- 1 jar sandwich pickles
- 1 cup spinach leaves and/or microgreens
Instructions
- Drain and rinse soaked cashews. Add to food processor along with water, garlic cloves, olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Pulse until creamy.
- Add hearts of palm and chickpeas and pulse until combined but chunky.
- Transfer to a bowl and mix in scallions, nutritional yeast and dulse flakes. Adjust seasoning for desired taste with salt & pepper.
- Toast bread. Top bottom slice of bread in order - chickpea tuna, pickle, red onion and greens. Cover with top slice of bread. Slice in half with a sharp knife.
Notes
- Don't over-pulse the chickpeas and hearts of palm after adding them to the food processor. You want them to retain some texture.
- Feel free to swap the sandwich ingredients for your favorites!
- Don't forget to soak your cashews. If you do forget, you can do a quick soak by covering them with boiling water and letting them sit for fifteen minutes.
- Taste and adjust to your own tastes! It's important you make it the way you enjoy your tuna salad.
- Zero waste tip: Put extra hearts of palm aside for a salad topping.
Susan
Do the dulse flakes get added with the cashews? They've been left out of the instructions
Cindy
I will correct that! When blending the cashews, you should add the dulse flakes into the food processor (step 1). If you like the taste of dulse flakes, add a little more along with the seasonings in step 3. Hope you enjoy it! Don't forget to leave a star rating for the recipe!