I have been wanting to try some version of this recipe for quite some time but I couldn’t imagine it would be very flavorful. Then I happened to see a version (not vegan) by Chef Geoffrey Zakarian and decided to play around with it a bit. This Chickpea Salad exceeded any expectations I had for it and you’ll see below, we even enjoyed it in a spinach wrap.

Some of the flavors I used are traditional such as celery, parsley and lemon juice. I added toasted walnuts and capers. In retrospect, I might have added some chopped Kalamata olives for even more flavor.

The first thing you’ll need to do is drain and rinse a can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans). I give them a brief pulse or two in the food processor. I try not to over process as I really want some texture here.

I previously chopped the walnuts, parsley and celery again, to avoid over processing. They, along with the remaining ingredients: capers, salt, freshly cracked black pepper and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice get a quick pulse or two. A small amount of olive oil brings everything together.

I folded in a very small amount of vegan mayonnaise to make this salad. I like the Just Mayo brand, but there are several really good ones on the market such as Vegenaise by Follow Your Heart and Nayonaise by Nasonya. You could use a homemade vegan mayonnaise. For a few homemade ideas, I found this page and I’m definitely going to try the silken tofu recipe.

Serve with a salad of mixed greens, tomatoes and cucumbers. Those fancy little stripes were made with a citrus zester on the cucumber just before slicing. I think it adds a nice touch, especially if you’ll be serving this salad to guests.

I had leftovers, so I decided to prepare a spinach wrap using the ingredients from the salad above. I did have to add more vegan mayo to the wrap. It would have been too dry. I also added two slices of vegan cheese. It was really yummy!

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