Did you know that you can make a delicious vegan tuna salad by swapping the tuna out for some garbanzo beans?
I know that may sound crazy, but vegan tuna salad is not only a real thing it’s also absolutely delicious.
The secret to making your vegan tuna salad to taste like regular tuna salad is capers. The capers add a bright, briny flavor that the tuna would normally provide, so we get all the flavor of traditional tuna salad, without the tuna.
Basically, you just sub in some chopped chickpeas for the tuna and everything else stays the same, and you end up with this super delicious, plant-based, tuna-like salad (without the tuna).
You do however, want to make sure that you buy plant based vegan mayonnaise (like this one or this one) if you want to keep your vegan tuna salad, 100% vegan.
On the flip side, if you want to give this vegan tuna salad a try but you’re not really worried about the vegan part, you can of course use any mayonnaise you have on hand or try swapping in some greek yogurt for the mayonnaise to lighten things up a bit.
However you choose to approach this vegan tuna salad, I can’t wait to hear what you think!
MORE HEALTHY TUNA SALAD RECIPES:
Ingredients
- 1 can garbanzo beans drained and rinsed
- 1/3 cup finely diced red onion
- 1/3 cup finely diced celery
- 1/3 cup finely diced radish
- 3 tablespoons capers roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise be sure to buy a vegan brand to keep this recipe 100% vegan
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add garbanzo beans to food processor and pulse a few times until you have a gravel-like consistency.
- Transfer beans to a medium bowl and add in the onion, celery, radish, capers, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Combine well.
debbie says
Oh my Goodness I felt this needed to be spelled out, the chic pea tuna is soooooo good, I did it with the half mao half yogurt, makes a delicious sandwich and I cant wait to stuff some tomatoes with it and spread on a piece of celery, crackers, spread on a piece of romaine lettce, omg so many uses for this scrumptious mixture. Thank you so much for all your posts we love them all.
Dani says
Thank you so much for sharing, debbie!! I’m so glad you enjoy the posts 🙂
Patricia says
If it’s a chickpea salad, why do we call it garbanzo beans in the list of ingredients. It’s a little confusing.
Dani says
It’s funny because most people call them chick peas, but they are typically sold as garbanzo beans, but they are the same thing 🙂
Heidi says
How does it have cholesterol in it when plant foods don’t have it? It says 10mg cholesterol…
Rach says
That’s a good question… I wonder if the vegan mayo had some coconut oil in it. That is the only plant I beleive that has some cholesterol.. even still this tiny bit is nothing compared to it’s animal counterpart. I would just check the label of the vegan mayo you buy 🙂
Dani says
It’s from the mayo:)
Daphne says
I haven’t used capers before and don’t know what they are. Could you tell me where I would find them in the grocery store?
Dani says
They are usually in the same section as the pickles/olives/roasted peppers/etc.
Carolyn says
This recipe is delicious!!!
Dani says
Yay!! So glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks for letting me know.
Sally Wilson says
Hey there,
Just wondering what size can of Chickpeas you’re using?
Dani says
15 ounces 🙂