This high-protein vegan chickpea blueberry salad is perfect for those warm Summer nights when you crave something fresh and light for dinner. No cooking, no ovens, no stovetops, just a quick, easy, flavourful meal made from simple whole food ingredients. The delicious salad features fresh blueberries, greens, cranberries, red cabbage, chickpeas, hemp seeds and a sweet and tangy tahini maple dressing to bring it all together.

Vegan Chickpea Blueberry Salad - Running on Real Food

Healthy Chickpea Blueberry Salad Recipe - Running on Real Food

Tahini Maple Dressing

If you’ve been here before you know that tahini is a top runner for my favourite food of all time. These days I often top salads with just a big spoonful of the creamy, buttery, sesame spread and that’s all I need. That and a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice. It’s a key staple in my kitchen and I use it frequently in everything from dessert, to smoothies, dressings and dips.

Tahini is a paste much like nut butters but it’s made from sesame seeds. It’s high in iron, works in sweet and savory dishes and is the perfect base for delicious salad dressings.

For this salad I went with a tahini maple dressing. I usually skip the maple syrup in tahini dressing or use just 1 tbsp for this salad, I really wanted that sweet maple flavour to come through with the tangy lemon, so I bumped it up to 2 tbsp. Other than that you’ll just need lemon, water, sea salt, garlic powder and tahini. Whisk or shake it all up and you’re good to go. If you don’t want a sweeter dressing, no worries, just leave the maple syrup out or reduce it down to as little as 1 tsp just to cut the acidity of the lemon. You can also use stevia for a sugar-free option.

Red Cabbage Blueberry Chickpea Salad with Tahini Dressing - Running on Real Food

Cabbage Chickpea Blueberry Salad

This sweet and tart salad features fresh blueberries, red cabbage, greens, chickpeas, hemp seeds, cranberries and an easy tahini maple dressing.

The chickpeas add protein, hemp seeds provide healthy fats, vitamins and minerals, blueberries and cranberries add flavour, texture and antioxidants and red cabbage is packed with nutrition too.

Salad Substitution Ideas

There are lots of options for playing around with this salad to make it you own. Here are some ideas:

  • 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 balsamic vinaigrette or maple dijon dressing

Salad Nutrition Details

One serving of this salad including 1/4 of the tahini dressing provides 388 calories with 54 grams of carbohydrates, a whopping 16 grams of fibre and 19 grams of plant-based protein and 16 grams of healthy fats. It also contains an amazing 40% of your daily iron requirements with 15% of your daily calcium, more than your daily vitamin C needs and a good amount of vitamin A. It’s also high in antioxidants, has anti-inflammatory properties and is a good source of magnesium, folic acid and a range of other essential minerals.

More Healthy Salads

Loving this blueberry salad? I’ve got more! Check out these other delicious, healthy salads:

Roasted Chickpea Avocado Salad // Vegan BBQ Chickpea Salad // Mediterranean Farro Salad Bowls // Avocado Kale Salad with Creamy Basil Dressing // Vegan Roasted Beet Salad // Rosemary Lemon Garlic Chickpea Salad

 

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Vegan Chickpea Blueberry Salad Recipe - Running on Real Food

Summer Chickpea Blueberry Salad

  • Author: Deryn Macey
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 0 mins
  • Total Time: 10 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Category: Salad, Entree
  • Cuisine: Vegan

Sweet, tart, crispy and tangy, this delicious salad is full of flavour, texture and nutrition. It’s high in fibre and protein, easy to make, can be prepped in advance and makes a great addition to Summer potlucks and BBQ’s or just anytime you want a light and fresh dinner that doesn’t require any cooking.

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews
Print Recipe

Ingredients

For the Tahini Maple Dressing

For the Chickpea Salad (per serving)

  • 1 cup very finely sliced red cabbage (use a mandoline if you have one)
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries (or raisins or chopped dates)
  • 3 tbsp hemp seeds (or other nut or seed of choice such as pepitas, walnuts or raw sunflower seeds)
  • 1/2 cup chickpeas
  • 2 handfuls of mixed salad greens, arugula or spinach
  • 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Instructions

  1. To make the tahini maple dressing, whisk all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy. You can add a bit of extra water to adjust the consistency as needed.
  2. Add all the salad ingredients to a bowl then top with the tahini maple dressing.
  3. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

  • The tahini dressing makes enough for 4 salads, adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1
  • Calories: 388
  • Fat: 16 g
  • Carbohydrates: 54 g
  • Fiber: 16 g
  • Protein: 19 g

Keywords: summer, spring, fruit, healthy, easy, raw