These easy chickpea salad sandwiches are made with smoky avocado dressing, crunchy cucumbers and red bell peppers, all piled between crusty bread slices. Perfect for a healthy lunch or light dinner!

These chickpea sandwiches are special. A French chef named Jean-Pierre taught me to make them. Sort of.

I had a chickpea sandwich for lunch at a pub a while back. At the time I wasn’t too enthused about the idea of a chickpea sandwich. It sounded kind of boring to me, but it was the only thing on the menu that I could eat.

I guess I’m never that enthused about any option that’s the only option. It turned out to be surprisingly tasty, and since then a bunch of chickpea sandwiches online have caught my attention. I wanted to create my own version but was at a bit of a loss as to what I could do differently. That’s where Jean-Pierre comes in.

A couple of weeks ago I attended a cooking class with my mom and brother. This was a birthday gift from my brother and me to my mom. It was one of those events where you cook a three course meal under the instruction of a pro, and then you get to eat it. I’m not going to name names or anything, but the person who made the reservation for us promised he would inform the cooking school folks about my dietary restrictions and that it wouldn’t be a problem. Instead we arrived to a menu including a chicken laden salad and salmon-stuffed puff pastry. (Enter sad trombone sound effect.) The instructor and his team were awesome about accommodating though, and able to pull together meatless variations of all of my courses. The first one was something they called a tower salad. We stuffed all of our ingredients into a big cylinder to mold it into a tower. That salad was totally vegan and it was freaking delicious! It was also enormous. I could have gone home happy after that, and was pretty close to telling Jean-Pierre not to worry about modifying the other courses. The binder in the tower salad contained, among other things, avocado whipped with lemon juice and liquid smoke. It was so good. I had to cop his logic for this sandwich. The sandwich absolutely lived up to its salad predecessor, and is perfect when you’re in need of a healthy vegan lunch!

Tips for Making Awesome Chickpea Salad Sandwiches

Look for liquid smoke near the barbecue sauces at your supermarket.

at your supermarket. The trick to selecting a ripe avocado: pull out the stem. If it’s ripe, it will be green underneath.

pull out the stem. If it’s ripe, it will be green underneath. To keep this recipe gluten-free , use your favorite gluten-free sandwich bread.

, use your favorite gluten-free sandwich bread. If your avocado is very fresh, you can get away with making this about a half day in advance. Much more than that, and your avocado will probably start to turn brown.

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5 from 1 vote Print Smoky Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwiches These easy chickpea salad sandwiches are made with smoky avocado dressing, crunchy cucumbers and red bell peppers, all piled between crusty bread slices. Perfect for a healthy lunch or light dinner! Prep Time 10 minutes Total Time 10 minutes Servings 4 Calories 474 kcal Author Alissa Ingredients 1 very ripe avocado, mashed well

2 tbsp. lemon juice, about 1 lemon

2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. liquid smoke

1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste

1 3/4 cups cooked or 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/2 cucumber, seeded and diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

2 scallions, chopped

2 tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped

8 slices sandwich bread

A few handfuls of arugula or lettuce Instructions Place the avocado and lemon into medium mixing bowl. I like to it beat with a whisk or fork to get avocado as smooth as possible, but you can skip that if you're into chunky. Add the vinegar, smoke and salt. Mix well. Taste-test and adjust the seasonings as needed.

Add the chickpeas and roughly mash them. I like to leave about half of them in-tact, but mash up as much as you like. Add the cucumber, pepper, scallions and cilantro. Mix to blend everything.

Distribute mixture among three or four sandwiches, topping each with arugula or lettuce. Nutrition Facts Smoky Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwiches Amount Per Serving Calories 474 Calories from Fat 117 % Daily Value* Fat 13g 20% Saturated Fat 2.1g 11% Sodium 1074mg 45% Potassium 536mg 15% Carbohydrates 77g 26% Fiber 9.3g 37% Sugar 7.9g 9% Protein 14.8g 30% Calcium 200mg 20% Iron 5mg 28% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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