Chickpea Blueberry Salad
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.
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.
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
- Blueberry Spinach Salad
Summer Chickpea Blueberry Salad
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Prep Time: 10 mins
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Cook Time: 0 mins
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Total Time: 10 minutes
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Yield: 4 1x
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Category: Salad, Entree
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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.
Ingredients
For the Tahini Maple Dressing
- 4 tbsp tahini
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 3 tbsp water (use more as needed to adjust consistency)
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp sea salt, or to taste
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
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
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!
★★★★★
As soon as I saw this salad I had to make it and I’m so glad I did. I really enjoyed the tahini maple dressing and the freshness of the blueberries. I also added some grated carrot. DELICIOUS!!
★★★★★
Loved this combination, and I made it with my no-oil balsamic, dijon maple dressing. Huge hit!! I want to make it again using a different bean instead of chickpeas. What would you suggest???
★★★★★
I’d probably do white kidney beans, fava beans, navy beans or black-eyed peas!
Wow! This chickpea blueberry salad looks so delicious and healthy. Thank you so much for sharing such a great recipe!
You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy it.
So excited about that tahini dressing especially! And how many textures/colors/flavors are in that salad! Perfect to meal prep for lunches on the go 🙂
This salad was FANTASTIC!! Unfortunately, I didn’t have any chickpeas, which I LOVE, but I’ll be sure to include them next time. Had a little trouble with the dressing. It came out very thick like a paste – was stuck to the sides of the blender – so I kept adding more olive oil to try to get it to a liquid state. I was able to get it to mayonnaise consistency. Not sure what the problem was.
I will definitely be making this salad often! SCRUMPTIOUS!!!! Even my junk-food-junkie hubby like it!! SHOCKING! =D
★★★★★
This looks so fresh! I like the combination of flavors and also purple fruits/veggies are my favorite. Pinning and trying it soon!
★★★★★
What in interesting combination. Looks great. I mean those colors just LOOK healthy! I’m just imagining how good this would taste, actually I think i’ll add the ingredients to my shopping list right now! Thanks for posting 😉
I crave salads and smoothies when it’s hot! While I always love a good salad, I rarely drink smoothies any other time than in the summer. They are just so refreshing when it’s hot outside! This salad looks delicious- especially the dressing!
This looks so good!!
I love this–that dressing sounds divine!