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The final edition of my summer sandwich series is a bit of a surprising one. A buffalo chickpea salad sandwich! You read that correctly, chickpea, not chicken. This spicy, crunchy, refreshing sandwich packs all of the flavor and heat of a buffalo chicken salad, but with all veggies. At its core, it is a wonderful vegetarian salad, and with a few easy ingredient swaps, it can be totally vegan too!
Buffalo Chickpea Salad
Making this buffalo chickpea salad sandwich is nearly all of the exact same steps as a buffalo chicken sandwich, with a few mindful swaps. No crazy additions or hard to find ingredients, just some careful choices! The main difference, obviously, is the protein. In a chicken salad, we would shred chicken breast as our base. Here, we are mashing chickpeas. That’s right, take one 16oz can of garbanzo beans/chickpeas and rinse and drain them.
Add them to a mixing bowl, and using a potato or avocado masher, or even a fork, begin to mash the chickpeas. The idea is to not get them too smooth you can make hummus, but no so chunky you may as well have left them whole. Once you have them mashed to your liking, add the following ingredients:
- ¼ cup red onion diced
- ⅓ cup celery diced
- ⅓ cup red bell pepper diced
- ¼ cup green onion sliced thin
- 1 tsp black pepper
- pinch salt to taste
- 1½ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/c cup blue cheese or vegan blue cheese crumbles (optional)
To that, also spoon in 1/3 cup of plain hummus and about 1/2 cup of your favorite buffalo sauce. Most store-bought buffalo sauces are indeed NOT vegan, so if you want this to be a vegan-friendly sandwich, simply look for a dairy free version at the grocery store. I personally love all Primal Kitchen products, vegan recipe or not! Fold all of the ingredients together and that’s it!
Sandwich Time!
Now that you have your buffalo chickpea salad prepped, the rest is a breeze! This recipe yields about 4 sandwiches, but pro tip: double the recipe and save the rest as a dip to snack on later! To assemble the sandwiches, I lightly toasted some thick, hearty, multi-grain bread. I say lightly toast because much like a chicken salad or tuna salad, the filling will just burst out the sides if the bread doesn’t have any give to it.
To one slice of bread, I like to layer on a bit of hummus so the rest of the ingredients have some glue to stick to. Layer on some large torn leaves of bib or romaine lettuce, followed by 2 thin slices of beefsteak or hot house tomatoes. Next, spoon on 3-4 heaping tbsp of the chickpea salad, and top with another slice of bread. Cut in half and serve immediately! This recipe yields about 4 sandwiches, but pro tip: double the recipe and save the rest as a dip to snack on later because it will go fast!
Want More Sandwich Recipes?
- Heirloom Mozzarella Sandwich With Herb Mayo
- Mortadella Burrata Sandwich
- Egg White Grill Sandwich
- Fried Chicken Sandwich With Honey Mustard Slaw
- Roast Beef Sandwich With Herb Horseradish Sauce
- Breakfast BLT
- Baked Turkey Havarti Croissants
Buffalo Chickpea Salad Sandwich
Ingredients
- 8 slices multigrain bread lightly toasted
- 1 can (16oz) garbanzo beans/chickpeas drained and rinsed
- ¼ cup red onion diced
- ⅓ cup celery diced
- ⅓ cup red bell pepper diced
- ¼ cup green onion sliced thin
- 1 tsp black pepper
- pinch salt to taste
- 1½ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ⅓ cup plain hummus
- ½ cup buffalo sauce or hot sauce
- ⅓ cup blue cheese or vegan blue cheese crumbles optional
- 1 head bibb or romaine lettuce leaves roughly torn
- 1 large hot house or beefsteak tomato sliced thin
Instructions
- Lightly toast your bread of choice and set aside
- While the bread is toasting, drain and rinse one can of chickpeas and add to a bowl
- Using a potato masher, an avocado masher, or even a fork, mash the chickpeas until they are chunky but not large whole pieces anymore, shy of being smooth.
- To the mashed chickpeas, add in the red onion, celery, bell pepper, and green onion. Also season with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder
- Spoon in hummus and pour in the buffalo or hot sauce of your choice. Mix together Also fold in blue cheese (if using)
- Layer on slice of bread with lettuce leaves, tomato, and 3-4 heaping spoonfuls of the buffalo chickpea salad. Top with another slice of bread, cut in half, and enjoy! (Repeat this step 3 more times to make 4 sandwiches).
