Curried Chickpea Salad

Nothing beats this Curried Chickpea Salad, complete with curry-seasoned chickpeas, a myriad of veggies, and the best dressing. This salad can be ready in 15 minutes or less and is delicious on its own and divine in some pita with lettuce.

We love a good chickpea salad! Try some of our other favorites: Chickpea Salad, Greek Couscous Salad, or this Italian Couscous Salad.

This Curried Chickpea Salad is part of our Back-To-School Lifesavers — a series of recipes that are intended to have little (or no) veggie chopping, minimal prep time, around 10 ingredients, or less (not including pantry staples), and use kid-friendly ingredients. Click here to see all the recipes in the series!

Curried Chickpea Salad

It’s no secret we’re obsessed with using chickpeas as a sandwich filling — in fact, there are tons of fun flavor variations on this site:

• Vegetarian Tuna Salad — tastes like tuna salad, but made with chickpeas
• Chickpea Salad Sandwich — with fresh veggies and herbs
• Pesto Chickpea Sandwiches — with sliced almonds and sun-dried tomatoes
• Buffalo Chickpea Salad — with a creamy Buffalo sauce 

Curry Chickpea Salad Ingredients

• Chickpeas: also called garbanzo beans — they’re one and the same! See “quick tip” below.
• Celery: To save time, pick already-washed celery stalks.
• Red onion: A shallot or green onions can be used here instead.
• Parsley: Make sure to get flat-leaf Italian parsley, as opposed to curly for this recipe. Flat-leaf parsley has a more robust flavor and curly parsley is used more commonly as a garnish. Cilantro is a great substitute here, as well.

QUICK TIP

Thoroughly rinse and drain the chickpeas. Wet or watery chickpeas will dilute the salad mixture and make it less flavorful. I love using a salad spinner to completely dry the chickpeas before adding them to the food processor completely.

Curried Chickpea Salad Dressing Ingredients

• Mayo: Use good, creamy, full-fat mayonnaise. We recommend Hellman’s/Best Foods®.
• Yellow curry powder: There is a lot of variation here, depending on the brand! Use a curry powder you know you enjoy with a heat level you can handle (we use McCormick®).
• Honey: This helps set off heat from the curry while adding a nice balancing flavor
• Lemon Juice: This delivers needed acid and vibrancy
• Dijon: Make sure to use dijon, not yellow mustard here!

[variation] To make Curried Chickpea Salad Vegan, use vegan mayo! [/variation]

Chickpea Curry Salad Tips

• Don’t over-pulse the chickpeas. We still want some coarse texture and for the chickpeas to be pretty chunky.
• To keep this recipe as simple as possible, we throw everything in the food processor. Pulsing the veggies and chickpeas in a food processor takes mere seconds! If you don’t have a food processor, the veggies will need to be finely chopped and then a potato masher or even a fork can break and crush the chickpeas.

Serving Suggestions

• Prepare a naan-wich or pita sandwich. Layer the chickpea filling on toasted naan or pita with ripe avocado, lettuce, and a few thinly sliced red onions. 
• Make a Curried Chickpea Salad sandwich by toasting some hearty wholegrain bread. Spread mayo on the bread slices and then layer on some lettuce, a fresh, ripe avocado, and plenty of the curried chickpea filling.
• Make a Curried Chickpea Salad wrap by adding some lettuce, ripe avocado, and this sandwich filling into a tortilla that has been spread with mayo. For a low-carb meal, replace the tortilla wrap with a lettuce wrap. 

QUICK TIP

Don’t forget the seasonings! Add additional salt, pepper (and even curry powder) until the filling flavors sing. Canned chickpeas contain different amounts of salt, so you may want less or more than what I’ve indicated in the recipe card.

More Chickpea Favorites:

• Chickpea Curry with the BEST curry sauce!
• Sweet Potato Coconut Curry Soup with chickpeas and kale
• Air Fryer Chickpeas crispy and well-seasoned!
• Mexican Chickpeas with a cilantro sauce
• General Tso Chickpeas with loads of veggies

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Curried Chickpea Salad

5 from 2 votes

- Review this recipe

Nothing beats this Curried Chickpea Salad, complete with curry-seasoned chickpeas, a myriad of veggies, and the best dressing. This salad can be ready in 15 minutes or less and is delicious on its own and divine in some pita with lettuce.

SAVE TO RECIPE BOX

Print Recipe

Curried Chickpea Salad

5 from 2 votes

- Review this recipe

SAVE TO RECIPE BOX

Print Recipe

Nothing beats this Curried Chickpea Salad, complete with curry-seasoned chickpeas, a myriad of veggies, and the best dressing. This salad can be ready in 15 minutes or less and is delicious on its own and divine in some pita with lettuce.

Course Dinner, lunch, Main Course, Sandwich

Cuisine Healthy, Vegetarian

Keyword Curried Chickpea Salad

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Calories 160kcal

Author Chelsea Lords

Cost $6.12

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 can (15.5 oz.) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1/4 cup celery
• ▢ 1/4 cup red onion
• ▢ 1/4 cup parsley (or cilantro)
• ▢ 1-1/2 teaspoons yellow curry powder (Note 1)
• ▢ 1/4 cup mayonnaise full-fat, good quality (Note 2)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon each: honey and lemon juice
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ▢ Fine sea salt & pepper
• ▢ For serving: warmed or toasted pita/naan, lettuce, avocado (optional)

US - Metric

USMetric

Instructions

• PREP: Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas. Thoroughly dry; I do this by adding them to a salad spinner -- quick and easy! Give celery a quick chop (just into 1 or 2-inch pieces). Give red onion a quick chop (just into 1-inch pieces) for measuring.
• PULSE: Add celery, red onion, and parsley or cilantro to a food processor. Pulse to break down into small pieces, scraping the sides of the food processor as needed. Add drained chickpeas and pulse a few times to break down. Add remaining ingredients, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper (we add 1/8 tsp salt & 1/4 tsp pepper -- See Note 3). Pulse a few more times to combine until you've got a chunky yet integrated mixture. (We still want some coarse texture and for the chickpeas to be pretty chunky.) Taste and adjust with an extra sprinkle of salt or squeeze of lemon until the flavors sing.
• ASSEMBLE: Warm or char (over a gas stovetop) naan or pita. Spread mayo over the naan or pita then layer your sandwich faves -- we like lettuce and a ripe avocado sprinkled with some salt and pepper. You can also use up leftover red onion by thinly slicing and adding here. Divide chickpea mixture evenly between naan/pitas. Enjoy immediately!

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: Mayo: Use good, creamy, full-fat mayonnaise. We recommend Hellman’s/Best Foods®.

Note 2: Yellow curry powder: There is a lot of variation here (spice-wise and flavor-wise) depending on the brand. Use a curry powder you know you enjoy with a heat level you like (we use McCormick®).

Note 3: Salt: Canned chickpeas contain different amounts of salt, so you may want less or more than what I’ve indicated in the recipe card. Start with a little, give it a taste, and add more as needed.

Nutrition Information will vary, depending on how the salad is served. Nutrition facts are for the salad mixture only and do not include pita/naan/bread or additional veggies.

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 160kcal | Carbohydrates: 16.8g | Protein: 5.9g | Fat: 8.1g | Cholesterol: 4.8mg | Sodium: 451.4mg | Fiber: 5.6g | Sugar: 0.6g

We do our best to provide accurate nutritional analysis for our recipes. Our nutritional data is calculated using a third-party algorithm and may vary, based on individual cooking styles, measurements, and ingredient sizes. Please use this information for comparison purposes and consult a health professional for nutrition guidance as needed.

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