Three things I am obsessed with: chickpeas, avocado, and all things MINI… mini pizzas, mini tacos, mini pies, mini skillets. I had these cute little pretzel buns last week so that’s how this recipe started. (Although you could use any kind of bun or sliced bread for this recipe).
I first thought of making little veggie burgers, but since it’s a whopping 103 degrees(!) outside, I’ve been trying to use my oven as little as possible. Plus this chickpea salad is fast, easy, and cold, which is everything I want in a summer recipe. These would be perfect for a summer picnic except, well, it’s way too hot for that. For now, Jack and I will be “picnicking” at our kitchen table.
The base of this salad is made of chickpeas, avocado, tahini, hemp seeds and curry powder. These are all ingredients that I generally keep on hand so I love how I can whip these up for lunch at a moment’s notice.
For this recipe, I used muchi curry powder which is mellow and not too spicy. But feel free to use whatever kind of curry spices you like.
- 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 small avocado
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- ¼ teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ cup diced red onion (*see note)
- ½ cup chopped cilantro leaves and finely chopped stems
- ¼ cup hemp seeds or chopped walnuts
- ½ teaspoon muchi or madras curry powder, more to taste
- Juice of 1 small lemon
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- about 8 mini slider buns
- any fixings you like: onion, lettuce, tomato, herbs, etc
- In a medium bowl, combine the chickpeas, avocado, tahini, garlic, curry powder, lemon, and generous pinches of salt and pepper. Mash with a potato masher or a large fork until all ingredients are cohesive. Stir in the onion, cilantro, and hemp seeds (or walnuts).
- Season to taste. Chill until ready to use.
- Assemble sandwiches whatever fixings you like.
This recipe is vegan, the pretzel buns I used are not. To make these gluten free, scoop the salad into lettuce cups.
The chickpea salad will keep in the fridge for about a day. If you want to store it longer, I'd suggest keeping the avocado out and mashing it in at the last minute.
(just fyi – I got the pretzel buns from Slow Dough Bread Co, through Farmhouse Delivery)
these look simple and delicious. perfect for a picnic dinner!
All my favorite things too! Those little buns…love em’
This looks all kinds of delicious and I’ve been wondering what to do with my chickpeas! Great recipe xx
Omg, YES! These sliders look so tasty. Love the avocado in there too!
They look absolutely delicious!
Yum! What a great break from tuna or chicken salad. And everything is better on a pretzel bun!
Looks delicious!! I love chickpeas + avocado…maybe I would add a little tahini sauce too ; )
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these look amazing. i am totally into chickpeas lately anyway. definitely going to have to give them a go.
Yum! I love your chickpea recipes. This one looks perfect for our picnic tomorrow night! Thank you.
I’m seeing a gorgeous and mouthwatering snack here! I will definitely bookmark this recipe to try. And by the way, I like the idea of adding chopped celery for an extra crunch.
So fresh and beautiful! Starting to think about what to pack for kids lunches this year and I think this will be perfect!
chickpeas + avocado = love. The flavors in your chickpea salad are wonderful. I love the tahini paste, the curry powder and of course, the avocado. I have a simple chickpea salad recipe that I typically use but I think it’s going to take a little vacation now. I’ll be giving your recipe a try soon. <3
Well, your obsession leads to some tasty delights for us all to enjoy. Such a great vegetarian solution to the typical summer picnic sandwiches and hamburgers!
Chickpeas! Avocado! These sliders are super delicious!
Love the addition of avocado in these! And the curry. They are so cute <3
OK, your kitchen is stunning. Life goal right there. And those beautiful, perfect burgers! Love love love
These sliders look absolutely perfect for a hot summer day! What kind of buns did you use? I always have such a hard time finding vegan burger buns in the store!
Hi Sarah – in the notes I mentioned that these specific buns aren’t vegan but the recipe itself is. You could use any kind of bread or I think most of the Rudi’s products are vegan:
http://www.rudisbakery.com/organic/product/100-whole-wheat-buns/
Oh my gosh, no way. I cannot wait to make these!
Love this idea – they make me think of a sort of tomato-less Sloppy Joe! I know some people add some kind of algae to make it taste like seafood salad, but I’m not so sure how it would turn out. Love this as is! <3
Love this! I bet it would be great packed for a weekday lunch. #notsaddesklunch for sure 😉
I like em’ small too. Absolutely great idea to serve these to my vegetarian friends. Thanks!
hi guys! i was so excited to make this – all my favorite things (except tahini, i’ve never had it!) in one bowl! we went to go have it for dinner and it was delicious except we found it to have a very bitter after taste 🙁 do you have any suggestions for us to try next time? thank you!
Hi Natalie – Tahini can have a sharp flavor, maybe try skipping it? (or it could be the raw onion – try rinsing your onion slices before adding them to tame the raw-ness, or skip them and maybe add celery for crunch instead). Nothing else here should really have any sort of bitter taste…
This was DELICIOUS! I used regular curry powder and walnuts instead of hemp seeds. I enjoyed the crunch of the nuts! I tried to skip chopping the onion, garlic, and cilantro and just throw everything in the food processor together which did not work out. I had to pull out the pieces of onion and garlic after processing and chop them. Full disclosure: maybe I just don’t know how to use a food processor. And mine is really old. One setting: plugged in and running. Totally worth it though. Will definitely make again.
I tried the recipe and it was a great solution to a day where it was way too hot to turn on the stove. Great sliders!
great pictures and great food, now just somebody to preppare it :). thanks for sharing it looks amazing.
These pics are so gorgeous. Will be making this chickpea salad sammy.
Made this yesterday! It is a keep for sure. It’s hearty, very flavorful, and perfectly spiced. I had to remind myself to really savor it because I knew I’d be sad once it was gone.
I love the fact that this meal has so much green in it! This is a perfect lunch recipe if you are looking for a vegetarian meal so i’ll try this out soon enough. Thanks for sharing.
My boyfriend thought it was bitter too, but I didn’t think so. May have been the cilantro.
I made them on normal sized buns and added a fried egg on top with a slice of a garden grown tomato, yum!
I also used powdered garlic instead of raw, because I find raw garlic very overpowering.
We had this tonight for dinner with a chopped salad. The only change I made to the recipe was adding about a half cup of grated carrots. It was delicious, and we’ll be eating the leftover in sandwiches tomorrow. A keeper!
I can have this for a whole week straight
I’ve made these sliders as lettuce wraps three times now and everyone loves them! I add extra curry, a bit of chopped celery and serve them with homemade sweet zucchini pickles. Thank you for your fresh, healthy, easy often vegan recipes!
can i use canned chickpeas?
yes, just drain and rinse them first!
These were absolutely delicious! I will definitely be making this recipe again!
Omg I made this today and it was so good 🤤 So happy I can’t across this recipe!
Hi Veronica, I’m so glad you loved it!