This vegan chicken salad is a quick and delicious meal, ready in less than 15 minutes! Great for sandwiches, wraps, or over a bed of lettuce.
This vegan chicken salad is the perfect dish for summer picnics, festive lunches, and anytime in between. I could eat it all year long!
It's a simple and easy recipe to have on hand if you're in a hurry and want something tasty, but only have a few minutes to make something to eat for your family, or when last-minute invitations come up.
Making a plant-based version of the classic chicken salad is extremely easy. I've just used my vegan mayo and chickpeas to replace the chicken. There are so many vegan alternatives to chicken out there, but chickpeas are healthy, inexpensive, and easy to get, so they're a perfect choice!
I had already used chickpeas to make my vegan tuna and they worked so well that I knew I had to use them again and now this is one of my all-time favorite salad recipes.
Ingredient substitutions
- Chickpeas: I used canned chickpeas, but you can also to cook them from scratch.
- Vegan mayo: store-bought works great, but homemade is even better. It can also be replaced by vegan sour cream.
- Chicken seasoning: you could omit this ingredient and your salad would be delicious as well, but it enhances the flavor and will make taste your chickpeas like the real thing.
- Add-ins: this recipe can be made with a variety of nuts (like almonds or pecans), veggies (like green onions), and fruit (like grapes or dried cranberries) for added flavor and texture.
How to make vegan chicken salad
- Add the chickpeas to a bowl and mash them with a fork or a potato masher.
- Add all the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Serve as a sandwich or over salad.
You’ll find the complete recipe with measurements in the recipe card below.
Pro tips
- Replace the vegan mayo with other sauces or dressings like vegan sour cream, or vegan ranch if you want.
- For a healthier version of this recipe, replace some of the mayonnaise with mashed avocado or coconut yogurt.
- This recipe is ready in less than 15 minutes and you can serve it immediately. However, ideally, you’ll want to refrigerate it for at least an hour to give the flavors a chance to come together.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is great for sandwiches, wraps, on crackers, over a bed of lettuce, or just by itself.
Yes, you can. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
You can add pretty much everything you have on hand. Here are a few suggestions to try: nuts, seeds, olives, pickles, dried fruit, apples, grapes, or other veggies like bell peppers or green onions.
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Vegan Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed, see notes if you want to cook them from scratch
- ½ cup vegan mayo
- 1 celery rib, chopped
- 2 tablespoon red onion, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried dill
- ½ teaspoon chicken seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Add the chickpeas to a bowl and mash them with a fork or a potato masher.
- Add all the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Serve as a sandwich or over salad. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
- You can also use 1 and ½ cups of cooked chickpeas (250g) instead of the canned chickpeas.Â
- Vegan mayo can be replaced by vegan sour cream.
- You could omit the chicken seasoning and your salad would be delicious as well, but it enhances the flavor and will make taste your chickpeas like the real thing.
- Add-ins: this recipe can be made with a variety of nuts (like almonds or pecans), veggies (like green onions), and fruit (like grapes or dried cranberries) for added flavor and texture.
Kelly says
Hello! Made this for lunch yesterday and it was so easy and delicious. Thanks a lot for your recipes Iosune 🙂
Adriana @ Simple Vegan Blog says
Hi Kelly! Thank you so much 🙂