This vegan chickpea salad recipe is healthy, hearty and full of flavor. It’s made with nutritious ingredients like broccoli, zucchini, red pepper, red onion, almonds and lemon tahini sauce and is easy to make in just 15 minutes.

Healthy Vegan Chickpea Salad Recipe - Running on Real Food

Quick and Easy Vegan Meals

This salad is a great option for a weeknight dinner or anytime you need to throw together a quick, healthy meal with simple ingredients.It’s awesome to have a few salads like this in your back pocket for those lazy nights when you don’t feel like cooking but you have veggies you need to use up and still want to eat something healthy and nourishing. It’s really easy to make too, you’ll need less than 20 minutes to make the whole dish, depending on how speedy you are at chopping veggies1

I love this dressing and I really had a craving for it tonight, it’s so good! The flavour is awesome and it really brings all the veggies to life.

Ingredients for Vegan Chickpea Salad with Broccoli, Zucchini and Bell Pepper

Recipe Health Benefits

This salad is high in fiber, protein, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. If you need a feel-good, immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory superfood salad, this will do trick. Let’s take a quick look at what some of these superfood ingredients have to offer.

Red Pepper

There are a lot of reasons to include red bell peppers in your diet and yellow, orange and green for that matter. Red peppers are loaded with free-radical fighting vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that also helps increase our absorption of iron. They’re also a good source of vitamin E, another antioxidant that’s especially good or a healthy immune system

Red peppers are also a good source of vitamin B6 and folate, which help proven anemia and vitamin A, which is important for healthy eyes and regenerating cells and tissues. Plus, in addition to vitamin C, they’re also a source of vitamin A and lycopene and these 3 together make the red pepper a disease-fighting superfood.

Zucchini

Zucchini might seem like it’s mostly water but it’s actually high in vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant, high in manganese, which protects your tissues from harmful free radicals and it contains significant quantities of vitamin A, magnesium and copper. It’s also a good source of potassium, is high in fibre and contains some of the same compounds as carrots that promote healthy eyesight. Eat them often!

Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas)

Chickpeas, or garbanzo beans, are an excellent source of fiber, folic acid and manganese and contain iron, magnesium, folic acid, copper and zinc. Did you know that eating a diet rich in fiber can help lower cholesterol and improve blood sugar levels. Regularly eating legumes such as chickpeas is a good way to cover many of your nutritional needs on a plant-based diet.

Lemon Tahini Dressing

I love tahini and it’s one of my favorite ingredients. I use it often in everything from salad dressings to desserts (try my 3-ingredient tahini cookies – they’re the best!). As much as I love tahini for its taste and creamy texture, it’s also a good source of calcium, iron, vitamin E, potassium and magnesium.

How to Make a Vegan Chickpea Salad with Red Onion, Red Pepper, Kale and Tahini Sauce

Red Onion

Onions contain vitamin C, sulphuric compounds, fiber and folic acid, a B vitamin that plays a roll in healthy cell creation. Overall, red onions contain a higher amount of antioxidants compound than white or yellow onions do but they’re all still excellent choices. Red onions, in particular, contain quercetin, a polyphenol compound with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The flavanoids red onions contain may also help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.

Almonds

Almonds are a source of protein, vitamin E, copper, magnesium and essential unsaturated fatty acids and fiber which can help to lower cholesterol, lower blood sugar levels and may help prevent cardiovascular disease.

Broccoli Kale Vegan Chickpea Salad Recipe - Running on Real Food
Easy Vegan Chickpea Salad with Kale and Broccoli

Why Make this Chickpea Salad?

it only takes 15 minutes
it’s customizable (see below for subs)
it’s great for cleaning out the fridge
the lemon tahini dressing is amazing
it’s high in fiber and plant-based protein
it’s hearty and filling
it’s a perfect meal prep salad
it works well for potlucks and BBQ’s
it tastes great!

Recipe Substitutions

Like most of my recipes, there are no real rules for this one. Here are a few subs you can make:

  • use any color of bell pepper
  • use any kind of onion
  • use cucumber instead of zucchini
  • use diced and roasted squash instead of zucchini
  • try my almond maple lime dressing instead of tahini dressing
  • use any kind of nut or seeds instead of almonds (pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds walnuts or sunflower seeds would be good!
  • use swiss chard or collard greens intead of the kale (I wouldnt’ recommend spinach as it would get soggy)
  • use steamed cauliflower instead of broccoli (you could also lightly steam the broccoli if you prefer)
  • add a scoop of cooked brown rice or quinoa for an extra hearty salad

More Healthy Vegan Salads

…or check out my awesome collection of 28 satisfying and healthy vegan salads.

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Broccoli Kale Vegan Chickpea Salad Recipe - Running on Real Food

Vegan Chickpea Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing

  • Author: Deryn Macey
  • Prep Time: 20 mins
  • Total Time: 20 mins
  • Yield: 5 1x
  • Category: Salad, Entree
  • Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten-Free

This crunchy chickpea salad is loaded with nutrition thanks to broccoli, zucchini, kale, red pepper, red onion and almonds. Bonus: you only need 20 minutes to make this simple but delicious vegan meal.

★★★★★

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Ingredients

For the Salad

  • 3 cups chickpeas, drained and well-rinsed (500 grams, approx. 2 19 oz cans)
  • 1/2 cup raw almonds, chopped (75 grams)
  • 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds (40 grams)
  • 3 cups chopped broccoli (225 grams, lightly steam first, if desired)
  • 2 cups chopped zucchini, chopped (1 medium, 300 grams)
  • 1/2 a red onion, diced (1 cup, 150 grams)
  • 1 red pepper, diced (1 heaping cup, 175 grams)
  • 5 cups lightly packed, de-stemmed and chopped kale (150 grams)
  • olive oil and lemon for massaging the kale
  • 1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

For the Lemon Tahini Dressing

  • 6 tbsp tahini (90 g)
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3 cup water (or more to reach desired consistency)
  • 1 tsp each sea salt and garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

Instructions

  1. De-stem the kale, cut into bite-sized pieces and place in a large bowl. Massage the kale with a tiny bit of olive oil (optional, can be oil-free) and lemon juice to soften it. Set aside for 5-10 minutes. Alternatively, you can very lightly steam it before adding to the salad.
  2. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and chop all the veggies and the almonds.
  3. To make the lemon tahini sauce, whisk all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Add a little water to adjust the consistency, if needed.
  4. Add everything to the bowl with the kale and mix well. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
  5. Serve immediately or store in the fridge up to 4 days in a sealed container. If storing, you may want to keep the dressing separately until serving so the salad stays fresher.

Notes

This makes 5 large meal-sized servings. Could serve 6-8 as a side.

Keywords: healthy, easy, raw