Vegan Chicken Salad is a flavorful, quick, and easy salad made with mashed chickpeas, cranberries, and walnuts tossed with a creamy dressing for a healthy, WFPB wrap or sandwich filler!
Chickpeas are just about the most versatile bean I’ve ever come across. They pair well with so many flavors, making them the ultimate bean in my book.
No wonder they are loved by so many. And this Cranberry Walnut Vegan ‘Chicken’ Salad is another terrific use of this versatile bean!
Why We Love This Recipe!
It’s full of fiber, protein and uses just 8 ingredients (plus salt + pepper), creating the most wonderful faux chicken salad that will rival its predecessor.
It has the same mouthfeel and satisfies your craving for a chunky, sweet, peppery, and crunchy style sandwich.
Who will love this Vegan ‘Chicken’ Salad? Those who are looking for an alternative to the chicken salad you might see at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.
Ingredient Notes
Here is everything you will need, plus suggestions for substituting when possible. You can find the full measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Chickpeas – We used canned, but freshly cooked garbanzo beans are great too.
- Cranberries – When buying cranberries, use organic whenever possible (I like the ones from Trader Joe’s, they’re so brightly colored, too!). You can also use fresh chopped cranberries or chopped dried cherries!
- Celery – Cool and crunchy, the celery can be omitted if you’re not a fan.
- Walnuts – Feel free to change it up with pecans.
- Green onions – Sub with ¼ cup finely diced red onions.
- Vegan mayo or tahini – Use store-bought or this homemade Easy Vegan Mayo or Homemade Tahini.
- Apple cider vinegar – In place of ACV, use white wine vinegar or TJ’s Orange Muscat Vinegar.
- Pure maple syrup – Coconut nectar or date syrup works great as a substitute.
- Salt + pepper – I’m partial to pink salt and fresh cracked pepper, but use your preferred type.
How To Make Vegan ‘Chicken’ Salad
(Note – The full printable recipe is at the bottom of this post)
- Prep veggies and nuts. Slice your celery, feel free to add in some celery leaves if you can. For the scallions, when slicing use both the green and white parts. Roughly chop your walnuts.
- Mash chickpeas. Roughly mash your chickpeas using the back of a sturdy fork. A potato masher or pastry blender will do the job too.
- Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayo or tahini, apple cider vinegar, pure maple syrup. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed to thin.
- Assemble. Add to the mashed chickpeas the celery, onions, cranberries, and walnuts, top with dressing, and mix to combine (shown below).
And now you’re ready to devour this crave-worthy salad!
How To Store + Meal Prep
- Refrigerator: Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 – 6 days in a covered container.
- Meal prep: This recipe is great for meal prep, using any of the suggestions below, and can be stored in serving size portions in multi-use containers (affiliate link) for a grab-n-go meal or snack.
Serving Suggestions
Versatile and delicious, here are a few of my favorite ways to enjoy this recipe.
- Sandwich: Serve with homemade Artisan Bread as a traditional or open-faced sandwich.
- Wraps: Make fresh lettuce wraps using romaine, bibb, butter, chard, collards, or other large leafy greens. Alternatively, this salad would be great in tortilla wraps.
- Salad: Scoop on top of a bed of chopped-up leafy greens such as romaine. Or use packaged spinach, spring mix, or baby kale as a bed.
- As is: You may even find that you love the salad all by itself without any accompaniment! I can easily eat this straight from the bowl all day long. :)
- Fruit: It pairs great with a side of fresh fruit, such as grapes, cantaloupe, sliced apples, etc.
More Mashed Chickpea Recipes
- Mashed Chickpea & Avocado Sandwich
- Sonoma Chickpea ‘Chicken’ Salad
- Chickpea of the Sea Vegan ‘Tuna’ Salad
- Curried Chickpea Salad
- Mediterranean Smashed Chickpea Salad
If you try this healthy salad recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment and rate it below. I love to hear what you think, or any changes you make.
PrintVegan ‘Chicken’ Salad
The chickpea strikes again, making for another great salad that will knock your socks off! This vegan ‘chicken’ salad is delicious as a sandwich filler, topped on a bed of leafy greens or make into lettuce wraps. Any way you serve this healthy salad is delicious!
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Total Time: 15 min
- Yield: Serves 6 1x
- Category: Entree, Salad
- Method: mash, mix
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked or 2 cans (15 oz) chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
- 1 cup celery, diced
- ½ cup organic dried cranberries (chopped fresh would be great too)
- ½ cup walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped
- ½ cup scallions (green onions), thinly sliced, white & green parts
- mineral salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste (I used about ½ teaspoon each)
Dressing
- 6 tablespoons (⅓ cup) tahini or vegan mayo
- 4 tablespoons (¼ cup) champagne, white wine or cider vinegar (I used Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar)
- 2 tablespoons water (as needed if using tahini)
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
To serve
- leafy lettuce of choice
- bread of choice
Instructions
Dressing: Start by mixing your dressing. In a small bowl combine tahini/mayo, vinegar, water and maple syrup. Set aside so the flavors come together. This can be made a day or two ahead and stored in the refrigerator until ready to use. Add a tad more water, or vinegar if you’re a vinegar lover, to thin out dressing as desired. If using vegan mayo, you may like to add 2 more tablespoons.
Mash chickpeas: In a medium to large bowl, add your garbanzo beans and roughly mash with a strong fork or potato masher. Mash at least ¾ of the chickpeas so it binds well.
Assemble: Add in celery, cranberries, nuts, scallions, salt, pepper and dressing, mix well. Serve at room temp or let chill in the refrigerator for an hour before serving.
Serve: Serve on your favorite bread as a closed or open faced sandwich, or on a bed of leafy greens. You may even opt to simply enjoy the salad as is.
Serves 6
Store: Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 – 6 days, in a covered container.
Notes
Add extra of anything you like, and vice versa, if you’re not keen on an ingredient use less or omit! One particular ingredient may be the vinegar. I’m not much of a vinegar fan but I loved the orange muscat champagne vinegar and found I used quite a bit and loved it!
Change up the walnuts, using pecans, almonds, sunflower seeds, etc. If using sunflower seeds, use half the amount called for.
For the dressing, I have only made this using tahini since I do not use any kind of store bought vegan mayos. If using vegan mayo, adjust accordingly adding more mayo as needed, maybe ½ cup instead of ⅓. I do recommend trying this recipe with tahini, it is seriously so good that you would never know and it is much better/cleaner for you than the store bought mayos!
Nutritional values are estimates only. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Updated: Vegan ‘Chicken’ Salad was originally published in November 2013. It has been retested and updated with new photos and helpful tips in June 2020. The only change made was to the name, it was originally titled ‘Cranberry Walnut Chickpea Salad’.
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Carolyn says
Delicious and so satisfying. This will be part of my normal rotation.
★★★★★
Lainie says
This is delicious! I skipped the onions but otherwise followed the recipe (no added water to sauce either-it was a nice consistency without water). I used a whisk to smooth out the sauce. The textures, colors and medley of flavors are lovely.
★★★★★
Debra says
Wow, this was incredibly delicious, far exceeding my expectations! I regularly had been making mock tuna salad using chick peas and this recipe has blown that away! I never would have thought to use that much ACV but that’s what really puts this over the top, IMO, as you can really taste it’s apple-y distinctive taste and the sweet/acid ratio is perfect. I’m so fortunate to have found your recipe and will be checking out your other recipes Thank you,
★★★★★
Morgan says
This recipe is awesome! All the add-ins mix perfectly. Delicious on a piece of Ezekiel toast.
I was craving a traditional “chicken” salad so I switched up the dressing.
– 2/3 cup mayo
– 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
– Juice of one lemon
★★★★★
Dan says
I’ve Been No Oil Whole Food Plant-Based for about 10 years now and this is hands down the best plant-based recipe I have ever tasted and that includes my OWN creations! :) But I have to give credit where credit is due, this is a real winner! Anyone, Carnivore or Plant-Based loves or would love this recipe! It’s just darn good! I use Tahini and water as you describe in the recipe and I use Apple Cider Vinegar and it turns out perfect every time! This is such a crowd pleaser I always triple the recipe, it makes it easy for the tahini because that way when I triple it, I just dump the whole jar in! But, it’s great for sandwiches, stuffed in a tomato or whole wheat pockets for on the go or of course, for sandwiches! Anything you would do with chicken salad you can do with this! Only this tastes 100 times better than chicken salad and is 1000 times better for you, for the chicken and the planet! Thank you for this amazing Recipe! I have been making it so long, I have the old picture you used to use, the one you have up now is New! :) Take good care and Thank You!
★★★★★
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
You are an inspiration – 10 years with no oil is amazing! So glad you enjoy the recipe with the tahini, I love it too! Thanks for sharing, Dan!
Karen Lippman says
This was delicious!! I didn’t have scallions so used some finely chopped onions. This recipe is a keeper and I can’t wait to make this for friends for a girls lunch.
Cathy says
This is my favorite chickpea salad recipe. I use fresh cranberries that I cut into quarters. I buy enough at Thanksgiving and freeze them just so I can make this yummy salad all year. It’s delicious as an appetizer served in butter lettuce cups and super good served as a sandwich filling on toasted whole grain bread with lettuce and tomato. Thank you for this delicious recipe.
★★★★★
Angel says
Very good! I only had 1 can of chickpeas on hand, powdered onion, and eyed a lot of the other ingredients but it all turned out perfect. Was a very nice vegan lunch with pickle slices and baked sweet potato fries ❤ thank you!
★★★★★
Aubrey says
My new favorite chickpea salad! It’s so incredibly yummy!
★★★★★