Summer is the perfect time to enjoy light and healthy salads. This vegan chickpea salad with avocado is a great quick and easy meal prep salad that works perfectly to bring on a potluck. The ingredients are simple and affordable, and the salad can be whipped up in just a few minutes. Plus, it's packed with protein and healthy fats to help keep you feeling full throughout the day. Give this salad a try today!
We love salads that make up for a complete meal; that's why we often add a healthy portion of beans or lentils to them as we do on our couscous and lentil salad and our vegan "tuna" salad.
Use this recipe as a side dish, or bring it to your next potluck with a vegetarian ceviche, to host a deliciously vegan get-together!
Those recipes that will not make us feel bloated include filling salads that keep us going throughout the day and can be used for meal prep on busy schedules.
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💚 Why you will love it
- Creamy & Crunchy
- Nutrient-Packed
- Quick & Easy
- Flavorful Dressing
- Versatile Meal
🧾 Ingredients and substitutions
- Canned chickpeas - drained and rinsed. You can cook your chickpeas in a sauce or use a pressure cooker to make them quicker. You can replace the garbanzo beans with butter, great northern, white, cannellini, baby lima, or navy beans. You can even use black beans or kidney beans.
- Avocado - make sure you use ripe avocados, especially if you are not using olive oil.
- Carrot - in small dice.
- Broccoli - chopped coarsely. Instead of a chickpea broccoli salad, you can use cauliflower, romanesco broccoli, or colored cauliflower.
- Celery - finely chopped. We also like using chopped fennel. We think making a celery chickpea salad is great since celery has so many benefits.
- Cilantro - or Italian parsley, curly parsley, chives, mint, and fresh dill work well. Always use fresh herbs.
- Red onion - or shallots finely chopped. We also like using spring onion and green onion. White or yellow onion also works.
- Cherry tomatoes - we like halving most of them and leaving the smaller one's whole. You can also use ripe and firm plum tomatoes or heirloom tomatoes.
- Lime - we like using lime as it pairs very well with avocadoes, but you can also use lemon juice, grapefruit, mandarin orange, or an orange for a sweeter note.
- Himalayan salt - kosher salt and table salt also work.
- Cayenne pepper - alternatively, use freshly ground black pepper, red pepper, or finely diced jalapeño peppers for a Mexican touch.
Optional: olive oil
🔪 Instructions
- To make chickpea salad recipes, chop the vegetables. When mixing the chickpeas into the salad bowl, leave them as they are (don't mash them).
- Juice line and add seasonings
To dice the avocado, use a knife to cut the avocado lengthwise. Hold half with a pit in one hand, then gently tap a sharp edge into the pit deep, twist the pit out, twist the knife, and plant a tree or discard the pit into your compost bin. Remove any remaining seed's skin. Slice it into dice with a knife and remove it with a spoon.
- Add half-red onion dice, mash them, and add seasoning.
- Combine all veggie ingredients, and chop leafy greens, and dice avocado right before folding.
Alternatively, make the dressing by smashing half of the finely diced red onion, freshly squeezed lime juice, oil, Himalayan salt, and cayenne pepper, using a pestle and mortar. If you don't mind the onion's strong aftertaste, you can add the ingredients separately.
- Toss gently so the creamy avocado melts slightly into the salad's juices. Add the remaining red onion dice. I like to use a spatula to better manage the veggies without affecting their texture.
- Garnish this chickpea broccoli salad with cilantro leaves and slices of red onion, and season with salt and pepper and more lemon juice or lime juice, if needed, right before serving. Add the small cherry tomatoes on top for an extra-popping texture. Serve cold.
📖 Variations
Nuts - add toasted almonds, peanuts, or walnuts for a crunchy and nutty note, as you add more healthy fats to your meal.
Greens - add a handful of chopped raw kale or your choice of leafy greens.
Tanginess - add one teaspoon of Dijon mustard or lemon juice.
More protein - make a quinoa avocado chickpea salad by adding a ¼ cup of cooked quinoa per serving to add 8 grams of protein to each bowl.
👨🏻🍳 Suggested random add-ins we love
- Grilled zucchini, chopped grilled asparagus, or roasted Brussels sprouts
- Seeds vegan parmesan
- Marinated artichoke hearts
- Eggplant pickled eggplants made like my Italian descendant Argentinean mother-in-law still make it.
- Grilled buttery garlic cloves
- Green onions, finely chopped, soaked in red wine vinegar if they are too pungent
- Vegan mint pesto, the paster piece on this vegan poke bowl
- Caramelized white onion, boiled in slow flame with ¼ cup water, with a lid for 20-30 minutes.
- Homemade vegan parmesan healthy sprinkle.
- Creamy, green, and scrumptious vegan Goddess sauce
- Autumnal roasted butternut squash dice
- Spanish escalivada recipe: roasted Catalonian vegetables cold side dish
- Add red pepper flakes or fresh sliced jalapeño peppers if you like spicy salad bowls.
Tip: I recommend limiting the additional oily dressings when making a chickpea avocado salad. Choose intense flavors coming from spices or garlic or onion powder. If your chickpea salad is avocado-less, choose more nut-based healthy fats dressing.
Mexican variation
Tortilla chips - add crushed baked tortilla chips for a crunchy texture and a Mexican note.
Peppers—Add red bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, or yellow peppers for a delicate sweeter note and extra antioxidants.
Beans - use black beans instead of chickpeas.
Cheesy variation
Nutritional yeast—If you want a cheesy note, top your perfect salad with a teaspoon of nutritional yeast or homemade vegan parmesan cheese.
Deluxe - add a dollop of vegan ricotta cheese on top.
Italian variation
To give your dish a fabulous Italian twist, use a tablespoon of vegan basil pesto or vegan arugula pesto instead of olive oil, salt, and pepper as a dressing. We recommend using one tablespoon for every two servings.
Fresh herbs - omit the cilantro and alternatively replace it with fresh parsley or fresh basil.
Vinegar - replace half of the lime juice with red wine or apple cider vinegar.
🥢 How to serve
Serve this salad as a main dish, or as an appetizer, serving it with tortilla chips or pita chips for your guests .
When we serve this avocado and chickpea salad as an easy appetizer or snack, we love using non-GMO yellow or blue round tortilla nacho chips (affiliate links) to top them with the salad.
We like blue corn tortilla chips, sweet potatoes, quinoa, and cassava chips. You can even make soft tacos with grain-free tortillas; we love Tia Lupita Grain-Free Tortillas (affiliate).
❓ FAQ
This Chickpea Salad Recipe contains plant protein, lots of fiber, healthy avocado, and cancer-prevention red onion. Also, the minimum suggested amount of olive oil can be easily omitted, making it an oil-free, gluten-free, WFPB, vegan, raw salad. This means you are getting the most out of all the nutrients like vitamins and minerals available in your food in their rawest state.
It is important to understand that the longer we expose all nutrients to heat, their bioavailability decreases, and their potential cancerous cells increase.
You can make this vegan chickpea avocado salad up to one day ahead. Refrigerate the mixed garbanzo beans and vegetable dice. Reserve the whole avocado and make the vinaigrette and store.
When you are ready to serve avocado, combine it with the veggie dice and dressing.
Refrigerate beans! Store leftover beans in a sealed container in the refrigerator. The canned chickpeas will last for 3-5 days. You can also freeze them for later use. Just place them in a freezer-safe bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months.
You can not only make a chickpea carrot salad but your favorite hummus or add it as a plant-based protein source to your poke bowls in place of the classic green edamame beans.
When choosing an avocado, look for dark green and firm avocado with a smooth texture. Avoid avocados that are brown or appear to be bruised. If looking for a ripe avocado and for ripeness, gently press the stem end of the avocado. A giving slightly avocado means that it is ripe. If it does not give at all, it is not ripe yet.
This chickpea salad is very versatile – try this healthy dressing with different flavors. We loved using our creamy vegan sauce, our homemade vinaigrette, and vegan basil pesto on our chickpea avocado salad.
🥡 Storage
To keep this salad fresh, refrigerate your healthy chickpea salad in an airtight container for up to one day. To make it last a few days, see how to meal prep salad in one step.
🥗 More salad recipes
If you loved our chickpea avocado salad, you would also love these delicious salad bowls that make great meal prep dishes.
Try out our favorite recipes for salads: tabbouleh salad, lentil salad, couscous and lentil sprout salad, or vegan poke bowl.
If you love chickpeas and high protein vegan meals, don't forget to check out our saffron garbanzo beans stew and our roasted red peppers hummus.
If you like simple dishes with chickpeas, try out this Traditional Spanish Chickpeas with spinach tapa.
And for even more recipes, join our Facebook Fan Page for support, inspiration & fun!
⭐ If you try this recipe, let us know! 💬 Leave a comment, rate it, and don't forget to tag us @ourplantbasedworld on Instagram. Cheers!
🎥 Video
📋 Recipe
Vegan Chickpea Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 14 oz chickpeas drained and rinsed (1 can)
- 1 carrot small, diced
- 1 head broccoli small, roughly chopped
- 1 stalk celery finely chopped
- ½ cucumber English, cut into bite-size pieces
- 10 cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 avocado medium, ripe, diced
- ½ cup red onion diced
- ½ cup cilantro or parsley, finely chopped
- 1 lime large, or lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ cayenne pepper or finely chopped jalapeno
Optional
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra-virgin, skip for WFPB diet
Directions
- Chop all the vegetables as per suggested next to each ingredient.
- In a large bowl, add chickpeas, cucumber, celery, carrots, tomatoes, avocado, red onion, broccoli, and cilantro.
- In a small pestle, add the optional olive oil, lemon juice, half of red onion, salt, and cayenne pepper and then whisk.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and gently stir to combine.
- Serve cold on its own or with grilled tofu or crispy tofu.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Nutritional Disclaimer
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice. See our full Nutritional Disclosure here.
Affiliate Disclaimer
Please note that some of the links here are affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links. I recommend all of the products listed because they are companies I have found helpful and trustworthy.
As the lead content writer and recipe developer at Our Plant-Based World, he combines his passion for health and sustainability with a Plant-Based Nutrition Certification to create accessible, delicious vegan recipes. His expertise in plant-based cooking supports the blog's mission of fostering a healthier, environmentally conscious lifestyle through simple and seasonal dishes. His commitment to making vegan cooking enjoyable and inclusive for everyone shines in each recipe and article.
Nancy
I love how simple and tasty this recipe is. It has all the combo and flavours!!
Choclette
This is my sort of salad. Healthy, filling and so full of flavour. I find anything with avocado hard to resist.
Holly
Delicious! I made the Mexican variation with half chickpeas and half black beans for dinner and it was devoured!
Gus
Hi Holly, nice mix! I need to try that bean combination!
Liza
Another fantastic recipe from Our Plant Based World! I love the combination of flavors in this colorful salad, and I followed your variation suggestion and added cooked quinoa. Love the dressing, too!
Jen
This was delicious! I love the creaminess the avocado gives it.
Biana
Chickpeas and avocados is such a great combination! I like all the veggies in this salad, it is so colorful.
Dana
I love how hearty and healthy this is! So refreshing, too. Something I could eat an entire bowl of for lunch. Or topped onto a tostada!
Gus
We love having this recipe on corn tostadas, a very complete meal!
Alison
This salad made a delicious plant-powered lunch! The creamy avocado and protein rich chickpeas made it super filling and delicious!
Gus
Thanks for trying our Alison! We're so glad you enjoyed it. 🙂