Chickpea Blueberry Salad
This vegan blueberry chickpea salad is the perfect fit for warm summer nights when you’re craving something light for dinner. It’s quick and easy to make with just a few ingredients and is sure to be a new favourite!
Features
- This sweet and tart salad features fresh blueberries, red cabbage, greens, chickpeas, hemp seeds, cranberries and an easy tahini maple dressing.
- Dietary Features: Vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, nut-free.
- Ready in 10 minutes!
- High in protein and fiber for a healthy main dish but makes a nice, light side salad too.
- Pair it with my sweet potato black bean burger or quinoa beet burger for the perfect summer meal!
Ingredient Notes
This list is not complete. Please see the recipe card at the end of the post for the complete ingredient list with measurements and detailed instructions.
- Tahini: The dressing is made with tahini, lemon and a bit of maple syrup. Good tahini makes a big difference here! It should be very smooth and creamy, almost pourable, with a slightly sweet taste and it should not be overly bitter. I like Soom and Arz Fine Foods.
- Maple Syrup: The dressing calls for sweetener to balance the lemon juice and add a subtle sweetness that works well with the blueberries, however, if you’d like the recipe to be sugar-free, you can omit the maple syrup. I will also include some alternative dressing recipes below.
- Greens: Any greens work. You can use finely chopped and massaged kale, spinach, arugula, romaine or any mixed leafy greens.
- Cabbage: The recipe calls for red cabbage but green cabbage would also work.
- Cranberries: For a lower-sugar recipe, these can be omitted. Substitutions include raisins or chopped dried apricots or dates.
- Hemp Seeds: These add texture, healthy fats and a little protein. You can leave them out or swap them for walnuts, slivered almonds, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
- Chickpeas: Canned chickpeas work, just give them a good rinse before use.
- Blueberries: You’ll need fresh blueberries for this recipe. Blackberries or sliced peaches would also be good!
How to Make this Salad
This salad is super easy to make in just a few minutes! There’s no cooking involved. All you need to do is whisk together the dressing, chop the cabbage and assemble the salad.
Variations
- swap the hemp seeds for walnuts to make a blueberry walnut salad
- swap the mixed salad greens for baby spinach to make a spinach blueberry salad
- use raisins or chopped dates in place of the cranberries
- use fresh sliced strawberries or raspberries instead of blueberries or combine them, a strawberry blueberry salad would be amazing!
- try it with miso tahini dressing, balsamic vinaigrette or maple dijon dressing
Storing
- The salad without the dressing can be assembled ahead of time and stored in the fridge for 1-2 days.
- After dressing has been added, it’s best enjoyed fresh.
- The tahini maple dressing will keep for up to 1 week in the fridge. The dressing may separate a bit after storing or thicken considerably. If so, just give it a good stir and thin with a little water if needed.
Related Recipes
- Roasted Chickpea Avocado Salad
- Vegan BBQ Chickpea Salad
- Mediterranean Farro Salad Bowls
- Avocado Kale Salad with Creamy Basil Dressing
- Blueberry Spinach Salad
This salad is filling enough for a light main dish but can also be served as a side with these sweet potato black bean burgers or beet burgers. For a perfect summery meal, try my vegan blackberry crumble for dessert!
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Scroll down to the comment section to leave a star rating and review.
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Summer Chickpea Blueberry Salad
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 0 mins
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: Salad
- Cuisine: Vegan
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Sweet, tart, crispy and tangy, this delicious salad is full of flavour, texture and nutrition. It’s high in fibre and protein and makes the perfect light summer meal that’s easy to make, no cooking required!
Ingredients
For the Tahini Maple Dressing
- 4 tbsp tahini (60 g)
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 3 tbsp as water, plus more as needed
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp sea salt, or to taste
For the Chickpea Salad
- 8 heaping cups of mixed salad greens, arugula or baby spinach (2 cups per salad)
- 4 cups very finely sliced red cabbage (1 cup per salad)
- 1 cup dried cranberries or raisins (1/4 cup per salad)
- 12 tbsp hemp seeds (3 tbsp per salad, substitute walnuts)
- 19 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (1/2 cup per salad)
- 2 cups fresh blueberries (1/2 cup per salad)
Instructions
- To make the tahini dressing, whisk all the ingredients together until smooth. Start with 3 tbsp water and slowly add more as needed until it’s thick and creamy but pourable.
- I like to make this salad as individual servings but you can also make it in one large mixing and then divide it between 4 servings. To make as individual portions, start with a bed of 2 cups of greens in each bowl. Top each with equal amounts of the rest of the ingredients.
- Top each with a generous drizzle of the tahini dressing.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 388
- Fat: 16 g
- Carbohydrates: 54 g
- Fiber: 16 g
- Protein: 19 g
Originally published August 22, 2018.
The dressing isn’t great and the measures of fruit are too high. Maybe with a blueberry or lemon vinaigrette or a feta dressing (no longer vegan, tho) it would be good. There’s definitely potential here!
One of my top salads to make. Delicious and filling.
Delicious! I subbed cannellini beans because I was out of chickpeas. I’ll add nuts for some added crunch next time.
Just finished eating this and had to review right away. I loved how this turned out. Honestly I love any salad with abundant toppings. I made a couple adjustments based on my preferences, so I used very thin tahini and only 3 tbsp water, which made a very light dressing. I used both pepitas & hemp seeds, added avocado and shelled pistachios and left off the raisins. Will definitely make this again.
Delicious!
Wonderful!! Ate two servings at one..haha. Thanks for this.
My husband and I have been eating a whole foods plant based diet for about 6 months. This is a yummy salad! We will enjoy this salad all summer long!