This Best Vegan Tuna Salad Chickpea Recipe is amazing! Make vegetarian tuna salad and serve it on bread, with crackers, as a salad topping, or even on soft tacos. Chickpea Tuna Salad recipes use mashed chickpeas combined with vegan mayo, mustard, and seasonings to make the perfect No Tuna Salad recipe! This Vegetarian Tuna Salad Recipe combines the great flavors you’ll make time and time again.
The Not Tuna Sandwich
This Vegan Chickpea Tuna Salad Sandwich makes a vegan twist on a popular, yet fishy kind of sandwich. Just another example of how you can be vegan and enjoy a variety of tasty dishes!
I never was a fan of tuna salad. In fact, I never liked fish much at all. It was just too…fishy. Comedian Jim Gaffigan makes a hilarious point about eating fish. Here’s an excerpt from his show, Beyond the Pale:
How can you tell when fish goes bad? It smells like fish either way! ‘Well, this smells like a dumpster…let’s eat it!’ No one really likes fish, they just won’t admit it. It’s like, “I like fish just as long as it doesn’t taste like fish.” I’ve got news for you. I don’t think you like fish. I’m almost positive that fish…is supposed to taste like fish. Actually, do you know what’s really good on fish? Anything that kills the taste of fish. How about relish and a gallon of mayo…that’ll do the job. What if we squeeze a little lemon, wrap it in seaweed and cover it in soy sauce! — Jim Gaffigan
He makes a great point! I recommend forgoing the tuna altogether and make this chickpea tuna recipe instead!
Also, commercial fishing is such environmentally destructive. Some scientists estimate over 1,000 sea mammals are killed every day as a result of commercial fishing.
I had to make a tuna vegan sandwich to solve this dilemma.
Now I’ve got a way to have “Tuna” salad…and eat it too. No more gross, fishy taste and no heavy ecological toll on the ocean too! What’s the secret? Garbanzo Bean Tuna Salad!
Also, check out my video on making Vegan Chickpea Tuna Salad recipes!
How Does Chickpea Tuna Salad Taste?
This Mock Tuna Salad with chickpeas tastes amazingly like a regular tuna salad recipe. The combination of other ingredients, including mayo, mustard, onions, and pickles, adds the familiar flavors you’re used to and the mashed chickpeas adds the texture!
What can I put Chickpea Tuna Salad on?
Serve this Vegan Tuna Salad on a bun or bread for a vegetarian tuna salad sandwich! You can also serve smashed chickpea tuna salad on chips or crackers. Place a dollop or two on soft corn tortillas to create a very flavorful soft taco! You can also serve it on a salad!
How to Make Vegan Tuna Salad
It’s easy to make this Vegan Tuna recipe. Let’s begin!
Step One: Mash Chickpeas
Pour the chickpeas into a bowl and use a fork or a potato masher to mash them. It’s ok to leave some clumps from the chickpeas.
Step Two: Create the Sauce
In a separate bowl combine the vegan mayo, mustard, miso paste. Stir to combine. Add chopped green onions, chopped bell peppers, celery seed, and salt. Stir to combine.
Step Three: Make the Salad
Pour the sauce over the mashed chickpeas. Stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate. Chill for about 30 minutes before serving.
That’s all there is to this vegan chickpea tuna!
I first saw the recipe for Tunaless Salad on the VegNews site posted by my friend, Allison Rivers Samson. I was a bit skeptical at first, but was soon enjoying my first of many tasty Vegan Tuna Sandwiches.
Vegan Tuna Salad is so easy to put together and so incredibly satisfying. It’s my summer staple dish, especially for lunch. Interestingly enough, it has the same color, the same, look, and even a similar texture to a tuna salad sandwich, but (thank goodness) the vegan version comes sans the fishy taste!
Love Chickpea Recipes?
If you love chickpea recipes, be sure to give these a try:
- This Vegan Tuna Melt is an open-faced version of Vegan Tuna Salad on a healthy bun (toasted or not) and topped with kale, and maybe even a sliced tomato. Save a fish, save the ocean, and enjoy great flavor all the same time!
- One-Pot Chickpea Curry is so easy to make you’ll want to include it in your meal prep routines!
- Spicy Roasted Chickpeas make a great snack!
For a change of pace, you can try this Vegan Chicken Salad recipe too!
That’s it for this No Tuna Chickpea Salad Recipe!
I hope you love this recipe as we do! Have you tried it? Be sure and leave a comment and a rating of this recipe below and then take a quick photo and share it with me using #namelymarly on Instagram. I love seeing your creations!
Vegan Tuna Salad
Ingredients
- 15 oz can chickpeas garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 2 tablespoons white miso paste
- ½ cup vegan mayo
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped red bell pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped dill pickle (relish works too)
- 1 teaspoon celery seeds
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mash the chickpeas with a fork. They don't need to be all completely mashed, but mostly.
- In a small bowl, combine the mustard, mayo and miso paste and stir together until well combined. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well.
- Pour the mayo mix over the mashed chickpeas and stir until combined. Transfer to a lidded container and refrigerate for about 10 – 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Enjoy!
I used to buy these sandwiches all the time from the health food store and adored them. I never knew how they were made though, thank you!
I know first hand this is good! I think I will make it tomorrow. I just need Sterzings!!!
Oh my, this looks scrumptious Marly!
I am a fish lover but I’m not Necessarily a lover of mayo – or at least too much of it; all that to say I’m always looking for ways to make meat substitutions so am willing to give Sammie a shot since I am a fan of chickpeas – LOL on the comedian schtick!!
Oh, Debra, you should watch his whole show! He had us in tears he’s so funny!
Here’s my predicament. I absolutely love fish. The smell, the texture, that fantastic taste of the ocean. But I don’t eat it because I’m not evil. I guess what I’m trying to ask is… how can I make it fishy without the fish?
I think the miso paste helps give it that umami taste. However, you might want to check out Allison’s recipe that calls for seaweed flakes. I have a feeling that might just hit the spot for you! Here’s the link again: http://www.vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=398&catId=10
Wow, I never knew vegan tuna was possible. Amazing!
I’ve seen chickpeas used in vegan “tuna” sandwiches before but never had a recipe and now I can’t wait to try it. Love all the flavors in your sandwich from all the veggies 😀
Well I know what we are having for lunch. This looks and sounds so good! I hate the fishy smell that comes along with tuna sandwiches, so I’m excited to give this a try! Thank you for sharing this with me today. I hope you have a blessed week with good food, laughter and love. Hugs from Austin!
i love the simplicity of this recipe! i’ve been experimenting with vegan tuna recipes for a bit now and am excited to try this one!bookmarked it with my cookmarked.com account to experiment( http://cookmarked.com ). 🙂
I will give this a try when I get hold of some sweet miso. I make a vegan tuna sandwich from tinned braised tofu mixed with toasted crumbled nori, which is pretty nice.
I love fish but not tuna sandwiches! But I love chickpeas! You found a great way to overcome the fishy smell 🙂
Hope you are doing great, Marly!
Marly,
What a tasty vegan tuna salad recipe, without the fishy smell!
Hi,
These were amazing. I made them for my wife and son and they loved them. I put it on toasted squaw bread and topped it with some finely sliced peperoncinis.
Have you ever put capers in there or used dill pickles instead?
Thank you so much.
I have not tried using capers or dill pickles. My family doesn’t like either, but I do! In fact, the original recipe called for dill pickles, I just happen to like the sweet a little bit more. Maybe because my mom used sweet pickles in potato salads and things like that. You know what? I’m going to give the dill pickle version a try the next time. Great idea!
What kind of mustard? The spice or the condiment?
Just regular condiment mustard. Of course, if you prefer you could use a dijon…
Hands down, the best “untuna salad” recipe I’ve tried! Thank you!! I think the miso is key, and the celery seeds add so much too! I made it with dill pickles and also the Veganaise-like recipe (but lower fat, and cheaper!) from melomeals! It was so delicious that the omnis cleaned it out before I got seconds! Thanks for sharing!
instead of white miso I use seaweed flakes, it makes it taste like fish, if you like the ‘tuna’ taste, its amazing and tastes really good
Lana – love these substitutions for a “fishier” Vegan Tuna Salad!
This sounds looks amazing. Spicy recipe. Vegan Tuna Salad dish is my favorite dish.I made many from these recipes. last night I made Chapli Kabab recipe from one of the best cooking website sharing a link with you: ( https://www.sooperchef.pk/chapli-kabab-recipe/ ).
I love it! Now i dont know if i made this wrong, but i get more of an egg salad sandwich vibe from this recipe (which was a super nice suprise). I put it on sliced bread and mash a half an avocado on each sanwich. Makes for a delicious sandwich when i am at work. Going vegan has been delicious thanks to you!
I should note that i left out the relish, onion, and pepper.
Ahh, I see! I think leaving out the relish and onion would definitely add more of a tuna salad experience. Also, I have tried this and it works, but if you want to add a few pieces of nori (the sheet you use for sushi…you can buy them in the Asian aisles of most grocery stores), it will definitely add more of a tunafish flavor! I would start with just tearing off a few little bits and stirring that throughout, because it can add a strong flavor. Then add more if you like it!