It’s national chickpea day! Who doesn’t love chickpeas? They’re the base for hummus, are essential in falafel and are just good eaten right out of the can. I do love them transformed into a mock tuna salad too and I (like you) followed a lot of recipes and just drained a can and mashed away. Nothing against these recipes, but they were always a bit bland and pasty and left me wanting more. I tried adding seaweed strips, more seasonings and anything I could think of to add more flavor and then it hit me as I was roasting chickpeas to top a salad…why not try adding roasted chickpeas instead?! I came to find it wasn’t the ingredients, but the method of preparation!
Everything I was looking to “fix” in all of these recipes was solved by one simple action. Roasting. My list of ingredients was chopped in half as this is as simple as can be as the star is the meaty, chewy chickpeas that transform once roasted. Now, there’s a fine line when roasting the chickpeas. You want them just starting to toast and still chewy inside. Often, I toast them until really crispy as a topping for salads or soups but I cut the cooking time in half and they were perfection. Just cooked enough to be meaty and they didn’t make the final salad soupy like using drained ones would often do.
I have a Breville oven and I cooked these on airfry convection heat for just 9 minutes. If using a conventional oven, you may need to cook them for slightly longer but check often to make sure you’re not overcooking them. Once cooked, they need to cool completely but that only takes about 5-10 minutes. In the meantime, you can chop the other veggies and get ready to assemble. Another great thing, is that this can all be made by hand. I actually prefer the texture of this by mashing it together with a fork and not using a food processor. Couldn’t be easier!
I tried a lot of different herbs to jazz this up and I kept going back to my tried and true original choice – dill. I use dried and you’re going to cook it with the chickpeas as part of the coating mixture so don’t use fresh. It was all it needed. I use the seasoning mixture Spike but you could use another type of seasoned salt or just add plain salt. The seasoned salt really takes it up a notch though. If you’ve never tried Spike seasoning you can check out my Amazon store at the link at the end of the recipe where I buy it in bulk (I use a lot) or check your local grocery store.
I use Veganaise from Follow Your Heart, but use your favorite vegan mayo. I also added red onion (a bit milder than white or yellow) and some celery and that’s about it! So simple, yet so delicious. I hope you try it using my roasting method. I searched everywhere for another similar recipe but couldn’t find one! I’m sure there must be one as I can’t be the first to think of this, but I promise you it’s a game changer!
Vegan Roasted Chickpea Tuna Salad
2
servings10
minutes10
minutesThe most amazing vegan mock tuna salad made with roasted chickpeas!
Ingredients
1 can can of chickpeas, drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt (I use Spike)
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1 rib celery, chopped fine
1 tablespoon red onion, chopped fine
1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
pepper to taste
Directions
- Drain the chickpeas and using paper towels or a clean dry towel, pat them dry until most of the moisture has been removed. Preheat your oven to 375°.
- In a medium bowl, add the chickpeas, oil, seasoned salt and dill and mix until well coated. Roast in the oven for 9-10 minutes or until just beginning to brown. You don’t want to overcook these. You want them soft on the inside still. Cool completely about 10 minutes.
- In the same bowl you prepped the chickpeas in, add them back and add the chopped celery and onion and the mayo. Mash with a fork until the consistency you like. I still like some larger chunks left but make it however smooth you like. You can add some freshly ground pepper before serving.
- Refrigerate any leftovers. Enjoy!
Notes
- If using salted canned chickpeas, you may want to reduce the amount of seasoned salt you use. I prefer using unsalted chickpeas.
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