Chickpea Salad Sandwich with Lemon and Capers

As a Greek household, we had a lot of chickpeas growing up. Primarily in the form of hummus, but sometimes they’d be cooked into stews and soups and things like that from time to time. As an adult, however, I’m much more adventurous with chickpea preparation and eat them in a zillion different ways, but this chickpea salad sandwich is at the top of the list for a few reasons. One, because it is PACKED with flavor (which is a problem I’ve found with other recipes for this kind of sandwich—more on that later.) Two, because it takes less than 20 minutes to make, which is great if I’m feeling a bit lazy but still want to eat something that tastes really good. And three, because it also happens to be super good for you while being very filling, so it’s both satisfying and nourishing (huzzah!)

When I first started making chickpea salad sandwiches for myself I followed some recipes I found on google, and to be honest they were pretttttty bland. Maybe I’m obsessed with lemon (okay, definitely), but I have an entire lemon’s worth of juice in this chickpea salad, plus a couple spoons of deliciously brine-y capers, and some dijon mustard to make for a nice acidic bright balance to the creamy chickpeas. There’s also celery + lemon zest for freshness, and red onion for some zip and crunch. I really like using celery that has the leaves on it, too, since those can be chopped up finely and it adds even more celery flavor into the mix, but using just the stalk is fine too if you don’t have a leafy one.

Adjusting the Chickpea Salad’s Texture

As for the texture, you can make the chickpea salad as chunky or as mushy as you’d like, it just depends on how long + thoroughly you mash the chickpeas. I recommend doing it by hand using an old school potato masher, because that way you won’t accidentally over-mash it and it only takes 4 minutes. But I suppose if you really have an aversion to doing it by hand, you could pulse the chickpeas in a food processor for a couple beats, then empty them into a bowl and stir in the other salad ingredients.

FYI—the chickpea salad also stores really well for leftovers, so it’s handy for meal planning. You could make a big batch of the chickpea salad, keep it in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and assemble your chickpea salad sandwich as-needed the rest of the week 👍 And if you’re wanting more meal-planning chickpea-based recipes, this plant protein salad is a great option for you (and it has lentils!) Enjoy, my friends!!

5 from 2 votes

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Chickpea Salad Sandwich

This chickpea salad sandwich is packed with flavor and has bright lemon juice and zest, cresh celery, red onions, and capers for an easy and delicous meal.

Course Lunch

Cuisine Greek

Keyword chickpea salad

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 4 sandwiches

Calories 630 kcal

Ingredients

Chickpea Salad Sandwich

• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoons mayonnaise normal or vegan
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 3.4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Juice from 1 lemon
• Zest from 1 lemon
• 2 15 ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 stalk celery with leaves is ideal, finely chopped
• 1/4 of a red onion finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons capers drained
• 8 slices of bread toasted
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise for serving
• 8 leaves of kale stems removed and massaged with olive oil
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion

Instructions

Chickpea Salad

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoons mayonnaise, dijon mustard, salt, paprika, lemon juice, and lemon zest until combined. Set aside.
2. In a large flat-bottomed bowl, add the chickpeas and mash with a potato masher until the mixture has smoothed out a bit but is still chunky. Add the mayonnaise and lemon juice mixture, the celery, the chopped red onion, and the capers and stir to combine. If you're going to assemble the sandwiches later, put the chickpea salad in an airtight container and keep refrigerated. It will keep in the fridge for a week.

Assembly

1. To keep the sandwich from being too onion-y (and eliminate onion breath), you can soak the sliced red onion in cold water for 10 minutes, then drain it and pat it dry.
2. Place 1/2 tablespoon of mayonnaise on one side of each piece of bread. Add a generous scoop of the chickpea salad to one of the bread slices for each sandwich, spread it out with a spoon so it is nice and even. Add some of the thinly sliced red onion on top, and then place the kale leaf on top of that. Top with a slice of toasted bread, mayonnaise facing down, and enjoy!
3. Makes about 4 to 6 sandwiches depending on the size of the bread used and how generous you are with the chickpea salad filling.

Nutrition Facts

Chickpea Salad Sandwich

Amount Per Serving

Calories 630 Calories from Fat 171

% Daily Value*

Fat 19g29%

Saturated Fat 3g19%

Trans Fat 0.04g

Polyunsaturated Fat 10g

Monounsaturated Fat 4g

Cholesterol 6mg2%

Sodium 2512mg109%

Potassium 881mg25%

Carbohydrates 92g31%

Fiber 21g88%

Sugar 16g18%

Protein 27g54%

Vitamin A 2408IU48%

Vitamin C 44mg53%

Calcium 251mg25%

Iron 9mg50%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.