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Veganizing tuna salad is SO easy! Learn how to make it with just 9-simple ingredients and less than 10 minutes of your time. This makes for the perfect lunch on the go and kids will love it!
Today is an exciting day! Not only do we have a new recipe for ya, but I also did my first shoot with the brand new ceramic plates that we picked up on Etsy a few weeks ago. I know, completely unrelated, but I’m too excited not to talk about it! They are from a mother daughter pottery business from a small town in Ohio called Linda Renee Pottery and I would highly recommend them 🙂
Okay, now on to the recipe.
We thought that it would be fitting to make a classic vegan tuna salad as a part of our vegan fish taste test video on YouTube. We do have another chickpea tuna salad on the blog that uses tahini and sauerkraut which is delicious as well, but today, we are staying true to the OG recipe that our mama’s used to make us.
The great thing about this recipe is that it requires just 9 simple ingredients: chickpeas, vegan mayonnaise, celery, red onions, sweet relish, mustard, lemon, black pepper and the secret ingredient, seaweed.
The seaweed is optional BUT it is recommended if you want that fishy flavor (without the fish, of course). It’s pretty mild so you don’t have to worry about an overpowering flavor. Trust me, vegan fish isn’t really my jam, but this I can enjoy!
We served ours for as a sandwich for lunch with sliced tomatoes, red onions and lettuce. It is also great with crackers as a snack!
If you’re looking for more vegan sandwich recipes, we’ve got you covered!
- Buffalo Tofu Sandwich with Homemade Ranch (Easy & Vegan)
- Baked Tofu and Pesto Sandwich (Easy + Oil-free)
- Barbecue Tofu Sandwiches w/ Homemade Coleslaw
- Oyster Mushroom Sandwiches (MLTA)
- Homemade TTLA Sandwich
Make sure you tag us on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you recreate any of our recipes, we love to see your photos!
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Classic Vegan Tuna Salad (Easy + 9-Ingredients)
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
Description
Veganizing tuna salad is SO easy! Learn how to make it with just 9-simple ingredients and less than 10 minutes of your time. This makes for the perfect lunch on the go and kids will love it!
Ingredients
- 1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup finely chopped celery
- 1/4 cup finely diced red onions
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sweet relish
- 1 tablespoon mustard of choice
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 sheet finely shredded nori OR 2 tablespoons dulse flakes (optional but highly recommended)
- 1/8 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Serve with
- 8 slices of toasted bread
- Sliced tomatoes
- Thinly sliced red onions
- Lettuce or spinach
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl, add in the chickpeas. Using either a potato masher or a fork, mash the chickpeas until they resemble a “tuna” consistency. We like ours a bit chunky.
- Add in the remaining ingredients and mix everything together until smooth. You can do some additional mashing if you think that the chickpeas need to be broken down more. Adjust seasonings to taste.
- We served ours in a sandwich with thinly sliced red onions, tomatoes and lettuce.
Notes
- If you would like to skip the mayo, mashed avocado or tahini work well.
- The nutrition facts do not take into consideration the ingredients of the sandwich.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Lunch, Entree
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition facts label provided by Nutri Fox.
Disclaimer: The nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional’s advice. This page may contain affiliate links, which simply means that we earn a commission if you purchase through those links, but your price remains the same. Thank you for supporting Sweet Simple Vegan!
This vegan “tuna“ salad is quite good. And simple just like your name suggest! Lemon and mustard were new to me for a chickpea kind of salad. Very much added to the flavor. Thanks!
Great recipe but I wanted it to taste/feel a little more tuna-y, so I thought about something I could sub for chickpeas, which can be a bit on the bland and mushy side, and decided to try artichoke hearts. It is awesome! It has that brininess (“tuna-yness”) that I was missing with the chickpeas. So all I did was sub a can of artichoke hearts (rinsed, well-drained, and well-chopped) for the chickpeas. Everything else stayed exactly the same. SO good!
My search for the perfect “tuna” salad recipe is over! I’ve tired so many and they all just taste like mashed up chickpeas. This one is THE one! It gets closer to any chickpea “tuna” salad recipe I’ve tried. I made a batch at the start of the week and have been having it every day for lunch, on a wrap with other veggies, on toasted bread as a sandwich, or just straight up with a fork. Thank you!!! This will become a staple for me. I can’t wait to try a “tuna” melt–something I’ve really missed.
7/21/20 – Made this for lunch today. I didn’t have sweet relish or dulse flakes; however, it still turned out great and was quite tasty. I added Old Bay as recommended by another comment. How long is the chickpea water good for if I don’t have a need for it immediately? I hate wasting anything. I absolutely love your channel and the emails.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! We’ve kept it for up to a week and it was fine 🙂
Hi !
what could I use instead of the sweet relish?
In Italy it’s (almost) impossible to find
Love your channel guys !
This is, by far, my favorite vegan tuna salad recipe! I cook for my mom, who is mostly vegan and she often asks for “normal” food, which I’ve learned means flavors she was used to before changing her diet. This recipe fits the bill perfectly! I love that it’s easy to throw together with things I usually have in the pantry, I’ve made it without the red onion and celery when I didn’t have those in hand and it’s still delicious. I bought a jar of dulse flakes years ago and haven’t touched it since, so glad I have a way to use it now! I usually eat the sandwich as you have in the recipe, sometimes I add a slice of vegan cheese. Tonight I had the idea to add tempeh bacon to this sandwich, I will try that next time! Thanks for such a great recipe!!
I just made this and it is awesome. I actually made this because I made your lemon poppyseed loaf (which was mind blowing by the way) and had leftover chickpeas and thought this was the perfect option. It was awesome, I did add a little black salt for the eggy taste of tuna salad and some old bay. Can’t wait to try more or your recipes and love all of your videos.
That is such a great idea, thanks for sharing. We should have totally made some of that loaf with our aquafaba haha. And black salt + old bay sound delish in this!
I’m going to put some of this together tonight to allow the flavors to blend. Maybe I’ll double the recipe. We will have it for lunch tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it was received.
Yay! I hope thats you like it 🙂
This was great! I feel like I make a new chickpea salad recipe every week, and this one is definitely. a keeper!
We are so happy that you liked this Anna, thanks for sharing! 🙂