I’m still the world’s laziest lunch maker. Ever.
I’m lucky if I make it to the table to sit down like a civilized human being most days. When I’m busting my butt in the kitchen for hours each day, the last thing I want to do is chop more vegetables or do a lot of prep for lunch. So, I tend to fall back on frozen veggie burgers (I love Amy’s California burgers), hummus, salsa, and wraps because they are effortless and ready in 5 minutes. And thank goodness there is no chopping required!
I recently discovered the obvious: prep something the night before and I’ll have more variety in my lunch. I’ve talked about this little problem before (see part 1 and part 2) so as you can see old habits die hard! My problem is that I rarely think about lunch at night time, but perhaps this chickpea salad may finally change that…
I spotted a vegan “Not Tuna Salad” on the Whole Foods website and used it as my inspiration for this amazing chickpea salad wrap. While I don’t think what I came up with tastes anything like tuna salad (let’s be real, it’s chickpeas), I think it tastes even better! And this is coming from a former tuna salad addict who used to eat canned tuna for lunch all the time in university. Yes, I was that girl stacking towers of 59 cent tuna into her shopping cart like a crazy person.
So whether you never liked tuna or maybe you love tuna, add this to your lunch rotation! Pop it into a container, add a wrap and fruit, and you have yourself a well-rounded lunch…no veggie burger required.
Amy, I’ll see you on Wednesday.
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Chickpea Salad Wrap
Yield
3 servings
Prep time
Cook time
0 minutes
Total time
Eric asked me if it really tastes like tuna. “Umm…no…” I said after careful thought, “but it actually tastes better!” Who needs tuna when it tastes this good? It’s fresh, crunchy, filling, and has a great pop of dill. If you’ve had a jar of dill pickles sitting in your fridge for years, now is the time to use them.
Ingredients
- 1 (15-oz) can chickpeas (or 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas)
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 2 tbsp chopped red onion
- 3 tbsp chopped dill pickle (~1 pickle)
- 1 tbsp minced fresh dill
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 tsp regular mustard
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds (or pecans/walnuts)
- salt/herbamare and pepper, to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325F and toast the sunflower seeds for about 11 minutes.
- Mix everything into a bowl, mashing up the chickpeas slightly with a fork, and season with salt (I used Herbamare) and pepper, to taste. Stuff into a wrap or pita, or enjoy with crackers or rice cakes.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)Ok, so I didn’t make this “the night before”, but I did make this at 10am on Saturday morning! Bonus points, right?
(Note: I didn’t end up using the paprika as shown in the photo)…and yes, that’s a dill pickle leaning up against the mustard. The jar of pickles has been in our fridge for a year? Amazingly, I’m not dead after ingesting it. Love pickles.
Chop, mix, and serve. Easy.
Veggies burgers certainly have their time and place in my work week, but thankfully now does this wrap! I hope you enjoy it too!
and a link to share for you today…
In case you haven’t seen it already, check out this thought-provoking NYT’s article by Mark Bittman – “We’re eating less meat. Why?” which talks about the 12% drop in US meat consumption in the last 5 years.
“We still eat way more meat than is good for us or the environment, not to mention the animals. But a 12 percent reduction in just five years is significant, and if that decline were to continue for the next five years — well, that’s something few would have imagined five years ago. It’s something only the industry could get upset about. The rest of us should celebrate. Rice and beans, anyone?” ~Bittman
Love the make-ahead nature of this. And not tasting like tuna salad, that’s a good thing for me, too :) I bet the mustard in this gives it a great tang. And oh, I love mustard.
Great recipe reminder to make things like this ahead of time. So much better than scrambling at the last minute wondering what to make.
It would be a miracle if a jar of pickles lasted a month in our house let alone a year :) Looks yummy!
This looks fabulous! I will be making this for sure this week, that I can promise you. I love every single thing you made here and I would not change a thing. Thanks Ang! :)
YUM! I’ve been on a chickpeas kick..aka a Chick Kick, so I can’t wait to try this! I will only be making it for me though (this serves 3) so would you suggest I cut the ingredients in half or do you think it will last in a bowl and I’ll just add it to a tortilla when I’m ready to eat it?!
Thanks for all the lunch ideas!
Hi mandy, I would guess that it keeps for 4 days in the fridge in an air-tight container.
I’m the same way when it comes to lunch. Usually I’ve been in the kitchen most of the morning and the last thing I want to do is prepare something or do more dishes. This wrap sounds like a great meal to throw into my rotation of leftovers and veggie burgers. :)
Wow, that looks delicious! Had to send this to my husband, because he’s a huge fan of tuna.
I love all these ingredients!! Although I am a tuna lover too :D How funny! I am the exact same way with lunch! Therefore, my recipe page doesn’t have much on the lunch list lol. It’s nice to know that a great cook such as yourself has the same tendencies.
I’m one of those who tends to “forget” about lunch most of the time and end up just snacking from breakfast until dinner. Probably not the best thing to do. I totally need to give these wraps a try. I am also a former tuna salad sandwich addict so I’m sure I’ll love these too. Anything with pickles I kind of go ga-ga for. Thanks for the great recipe Angela! What type of wraps do you use, by the way?
I usually buy the Ezekiel food for life brand, I think it’s called?
What an interesting lunch wrap filling! Looks tasty too!
Your ideas are always so creative. Looks yummy! I heard about the drop in meat consumption recently and was thrilled! Thanks for sharing the article.
Thanks for the recipe! I made these for lunch today, because I had everything on hand. It was delicious!!
Hi Angela,
Wow! Saw this recipe and since my daughter and I are huge chickpea lovers and I’m vegan this was a must try recipe. Easy, delicious and now a favorite lunch for us. Really enjoying your all that you share and sure we’re going to found a lot more great recipes to try. Thank you!
So happy to hear that Anne!
mmmmm I make something quite similar to this, though I add vegan mayo & mash the chickpeas a little. it ends up being like a ‘tuna’ salad wrap :D so good
This looks so good – I just recently began to embrace chickpeas, I always thought I hated them! I will definitely be trying this for lunch this week
PS – I made your carrot cake cookies and my husband can’t stop talking about how much he *loves* breakfast cookies – we went through them FAST – looks like I need to make another batch :) Thanks for all your amazing recipes – I’m pretty sure 90% of my meals come from here!
haha that’s cute :) Ours didn’t last long either! I’m already working on a new flavour :)
I made this for lunch today and was shocked at how much it tasted like tuna salad…but like you say, even better because I always hated that fishy tuna smell and taste. Another winner, Angela, thank you!!
Glad you enjoyed it Angie!
This looks great!
Reading that article made my day! I’m glad to see people are eating less meat! I’ve always felt that movements like Meatless Mondays are a great compromise between veg*ns (like me) and those who can’t imagine life without a steak now and then (like my husband).
I’m excited to try the chickpea recipe too! I hate tuna, but I love chickpeas and dill. :D
I do this all the time! It’s so easy and yummy. Glad you are spreading the love of the vegan egg salad.
Thanks for sharing the article, Angela! A great read!! I’m so happy to see this positive trend in reduced meat consumption.
And I will be making these wraps for lunch next week :)
Angela- YOU are such an amazing inspiration. You told your story with such honesty and are so down to earth. I’m so glad I found your website and you can be sure I will visit frequently for the recipes (and relatability!)
I totally getcha for lunch, but ya know, it makes breakfast and dinner (the meals I tend to put more focus on) a bit more importance. Those meals, I really sink my teeth into!
Thanks for the great blog!! Also The Green Monster Movement RULES!!
Best!
Thank you Deirdre. Thanks for following the blog :)