Vegan BBQ Chickpea Salad

This salad is meal material. There’s no boring salad here! It’s satisfying, hearty, filling and so delicious. In addition to being so tasty, it’s also super easy to make. You’ll need less than 20 minutes and just a few simple ingredients.

The ingredients are easy to customize too so you can prepare it anytime even if you’re missing some of the salad add-ins.

You can use all sorts of different veggies to bulk up your salad and Romaine, iceberg lettuce, spinach or kale all work for the base.

The creamy ranch dressing is the perfect cooling pairing for the BBQ chickpeas and with all the fresh veggies, it’s a match made in heaven.

Family friendly and easy to make, what’s not to love? Give this fan-favourite salad a try today!

Ingredient Notes

A complete list of ingredients with amounts and full instructions is located in the printable recipe card below. This section covers ingredient and substitution considerations.

• BBQ Sauce. I used a store-bought vegan BBQ sauce to make this recipe but if you prefer homemade, you can try my vegan BBQ sauce recipe. 
• Chickpeas. I used canned chickpeas for this recipe but chickpeas cooked from scratch work too. You’ll need about 1/2 cup per bowl but you can use more or less depending on your nutritional needs.
• Corn. You can use canned, fresh or frozen corn for this recipe and will need about 1/2 cup per bowl.
• Other veggies. I used diced red onion, grated carrot, chopped green onion and a base of lettuce. You could also use spinach or kale for the greens. If you’re missing anything, that’s ok, just use what you have, it won’t make or break the recipe. For extra veggies try chopped tomato and cucumber.
• Avocado. You’ll need 1/4 to 1/2 of an avocado per bowl but feel free to use more or less to suit your needs.
• Cilantro. I used a big handful of fresh cilantro per salad but if you don’t like cilantro, just leave it off.
• Tahini Ranch Dressing. I found the salad to be a bit dry with just the BBQ chickpeas so I made a simple tahini ranch dressing from tahini, lemon, sea salt and dried herbs.

How to Make this Recipe

Step 1: Make the BBQ chickpeas.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas then add them to a pan with BBQ sauce of choice. Cook the chickpeas over medium heat until the BBQ sauce starts to get sticky and gooey. This should take around 8-10 minutes.

Step 2: Make the tahini ranch dressing.

To make the dressing, simply whisk or blend until smooth and creamy. If you’re blending the dressing, blend everything but the herbs, then stir them in after blender.

Step 3: Assemble the salad.

Prepare 4 bowls or plates, or containers if you’re prepping them for later. Add a big handful of chopped lettuce to each then top with the salad ingredients.

Alternatively you can just mix everything up in a large bowl but I like to prepare them individually so the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Top with the chickpeas and dressing and enjoy!

Quick Tip: If you’re making these in advance, store the dressing separately and add just before serving.

Recipe Notes

• If you are meal prepping this recipe, store the chickpeas and veggies separately until before serving. I’d also suggest leaving the avocado off until you’re ready to eat.
• Amazing as a salad but try everything wrapped up in a tortilla to make a BBQ chickpea wrap.

Variations

This recipe is easily customizable and there’s really no need to be exact with the measurements. You can use more or less than any of the ingredients to suit your nutritional needs and taste preference.

Try any of the following substitutions to switch things up:

• Try buffalo chickpeas instead of BBQ chickpeas.
• Try buffalo cauliflower instead of chickpeas.
• Try baked BBQ tofu instead of chickpeas.
• This bbq tempeh also works well in this salad.
• Try this cilantro mint hemp seed dressing as an alternative to the ranch sauce.
• Instead of plain red onion, try this easy pickled red onion.
• Try adding your own easy homemade roasted red pepper.
• Swap the lettuce for 4 cups cooked pasta like bowls, penne, fusilli or rotini to make a BBQ chickpea pasta salad! I’d add fresh spinach to this too.
• Mix and match the salad ingredients from lettuce, cherry, tomato, red onion, green onion, carrot, corn, avocado, cilantro, cucumber, green cabbage or purple cabbage.
• Black beans made a good addition.
• Try massaged kale or baby spinach for the greens or combine a variety of greens.
• Try adding pineapple tidbits.
• Fresh cherry or grape tomatoes make a good addition.
• Try adding toasted pepitas or sunflower seeds.
• Try adding croutons, toasted pita or crushed tortilla chips for crunch.
• Serve with a wedge of fresh lemon or lime.