Once upon a time there was a salad that didn't suck... and so it lived happily ever after... until I ate it. Muhahaha goodbye salad!
I love a good meal salad. I'm not talking about those lightly dressed greens on the side, I mean a hearty, satisfying, eat your veggies and lick your fingers kind of salad. This BBQ Chickpea Salad fits the bill.
First of all, I get to eat chickpeas, which is my #1 favourite bean (pea?) of them all. Sorry other beans, it's true. I ❤ chickpeas.
Secondly, I get to cover them in BBQ sauce, is there another explanation needed? I'll give one anyway: Recently some of my friends (amazingly awesome friends I might add), are trying to go vegan (see they're awesome). For any new vegan, I think using BBQ sauce or any other traditional "meat flavourings" (that sounds gross) on your food makes your meals more familiar and comforting. So BBQ sauce is a win-win.
Thirdly, you get to pack in a rainbow of vegetable colours. You know that's gonna be healthy by just looking at it. Eat the rainbow they say... no, not Skittles (although they are totally vegan).
Fourthly (is fourthly a thing?) I get to eat a ginormous bowl of food. I love eating ginormous bowls of food. Size matters.
Lastly, this salad meets all of my qualifications for what a good meal should be. Easy, healthy, satisfying, scrumptious, and totally vegan. Enough said, I need to eat this thing!
To make this salad, just simmer the chickpeas in some BBQ sauce until the sauce thickens and sticks to the chickpeas. Yummy saucy chickpeas. Then chop up all the veggies. A little drizzle of my Creamy Ranch Dressing, and you are looking mighty fine salad.
BBQ Chickpea Salad
Ingredients
- 1 19 oz can chickpeas (2 cups), drained and rinsed
- ½ cup My Favourite BBQ Sauce (page 209 in Fuss-Free Vegan), or store-bought vegan BBQ sauce
- 6 cups romaine lettuce, (two romaine hearts), chopped
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes,, halved
- 1 cup cucumber, sliced
- 1 cup corn kernel, (fresh or frozen and thawed)
- ¼ red onion,, thinly sliced
- 6 Tablespoons Vegan Creamy Ranch Dressing
- Lime wedges for garnish
Instructions
- Add the chickpeas to a saucepan with the BBQ sauce and put over medium heat. Let the chickpeas simmer in the sauce for about 5 to 10 minutes until the sauce thickens and sticks to the chickpeas. Remove from heat.
- Divide the lettuce among two large bowls. Then divide all of the vegetable and the BBQ chickpeas on top of the lettuce. I like to pile each ingredient in its own section so it looks pretty, but you can arrange it however you like. Drizzle with creamy vegan ranch dressing and garnish with a wedge of lime.
Nutrition
Bon Appetegan!
Sam.
Jenn D says
Just made this salad and a jar of your ranch dressing. Both were amazing. This is a salad I can really get excited about! Thank you for another great recipe.
Sam Turnbull says
You're most welcome, Jenn!!
Rebecca says
Can you pre make this? I want to make it for a work pot luck. Can the peas be set in tie fridge after cooking and severed cold? Thank you 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Yes that shouldn't be a problem. Just dress the salad before serving 🙂
Luanna says
I made this salad last night and I can't get enough of it. It was wonderful! I may have to try the honey mustard salad dressing on it the way Dawn did. I like that idea as well. I can hardly wait for the cook book to come out.
Sam Turnbull says
Yay! So happy you loved it so much, it's one of my go-to salads. I can't wait for the cookbook to come out either! Haha. So excited to share it with everyone 🙂
Dawn Cadwell says
I love love love this salad! I use your honey mustard dressing though. Its my favorite!
Sam Turnbull says
Oh I love the idea of using that dressing! 🙂
Toya says
I just made this salad and OH MY GROCERIES!!! It was sooo good! Thank you! Your site is officially my new go to for recipes!
Sam Turnbull says
Yay!!! Love it. So happy you enjoyed the salad Toya!
Rebecca says
Whew...that's lot of sodium!!!
Also I would advise to make your own BBQ sauce to control the sodium (also lots of BBQ SAUCES Have High fructose corn syrup- Kraft is the only brand I know that does NOT have HFCS)
Sam Turnbull says
Feel free to use as much or as little salt as you like, and yes, homemade BBQ sauces are always going to be better 🙂
Polly Newbould says
Hi Sam,
I'm not currently vegan but have been thinking about it for some time (nervous, eek!) I came across your blog yesterday by accident and less than 24 hours later I've stocked my store cupboards with the essentials (probably way more than strictly necessary) and I've just tried this chickpea salad for lunch.... I think this may be start of a beautiful friendship 🙂 and hopefully a journey to being vegan full-time. Thank you thank you this blog is amazing. I'm in England so I may need to substitute some ingredients (I got strange looks asking for tapioca starch) but I guess that's the beauty of veggies, they mostly all go with each other anyway!
xx
Sam says
Polly you totally made my day!! I am so happy that my blog has helped inspire you. If there are any recipes that you are unsure of how to substitute an ingredient just leave a comment and I will do my best to help you out. I'm pretty sure that if I asked for tapioca starch in my grocery store, they would look at me weird too, even though they have it. Haha. Sometimes it's called tapioca flour. If you can't find it in your regular grocery store you should be able to find it in a health food store or online. Congrats on your new vegan adventure! Let me know if you have any questions or need any support 😀
Sam says
Hi Polly,
Another reader just let me know that tapioca starch is called Cassava Flour in the UK. I hope that helps!
Eva says
One word .... Nommmmm. I have been eating chickpea for years and never thought of mixing bbq with them !!!! I made it for lunch and me and my daughter are digging in !! Thanks a million!
Eva says
Chickpeas** LOL
Sam says
Haha you're very welcome!! So happy you enjoyed it 🙂
Laura says
Oh my gosh was this delicious! I've been cooking off your blog like crazy lately 🙂 I think this is the 3rd recipe of yours I made this week! It's so unseasonably warm here in Buffalo NY, throwing this together for dinner reminded me of summer. I'm taking the "switch kitchen staples out for vegan versions as you run out" vegan transition method so unfortunately I used non vegan ranch but that will soon be replaced! They do sell bottled vegan ranch right?
Sam says
Yay!! So happy you are enjoying my blog, and congrats on your transitioning 🙂
Since you are in the US, yes, you will be able to buy vegan ranch dressing, I believe Follow Your Heart makes one. Or you can always make your own from my recipe here.
Let me know if you have any questions or need any support 🙂
Paul says
This was really yummy! We ate this with sweet potato and a little bit of quacamole on the side! Looked great too! I would post a foto if i could!
Sam says
Aww thanks Paul! Glad you enjoyed it so much. You are welcome to share a photo on my Facebook page if you like: https://www.facebook.com/itdoesnttastelikechicken
Srivani says
I LOVE chickpeas too! So this was a no-brainer! The main problem I had was keeping these delicious morsels around until I made the salad at dinner... my own fault since I made them at about noon. I didn't use all the BBQ chickpeas in the salad, which is a bonus since I'm now eating them for breakfast. I have no shame! Thanks Sam. Another hit! And just so incredibly easy!
Sam says
Aww you're welcome Srivani!! I love how many of my recipes you have tested out, and I love even more that you keep loving them!! 🙂
Laurie says
Made this salad this past weekend and we really liked it. I used the vegan ranch dressing recipe. I'll make this comment about the dressing here, since the salad and dressing recipes are paired. Don't use almond yogurt. I used it and even though it was plain and not flavored, it still had a definitely sweet undertaste. I added lots of extra onion and salt and it was good, but just an FYI. The salad and the ranch dressing are definitely on our "do again" list, but next time I'll probably use the vegan sour cream instead.
Sam says
So happy you liked the recipe Laurie, and good warning about the almond yogurt. I imagine the sweetness can vary quite a bit from different brands, so it would be good to taste before adding it to the ranch. I used a coconut based yogurt one time, and it tasted great. Thanks for the tip Laurie!
Vicki says
We used Veganaisse Ranch the first time we made the Salad, 125mg sodium and Veganaisse Bleu Cheese 150mg sodium. It's been hot this week tempted to make it again. Also no added sodium Garbanzo beans and Corn (canned) added a whopping 20 mg of sodium. From the Queen of low Sodium!
Sam says
Goodness! Apparently I have to start watching my sodium intake. It really sneaks up on you doesn't it?
Vicki says
We made this today and the salad was excellant!! Regarding the sodium remarks read your labels, I've purchased plenty of items with no salt added or reduced, some store brands are great.
Sam says
Yay! I am so happy you enjoyed the salad Vicki! I agree about the sodium. Thanks for coming back and leaving your review!
Laura says
This was really good. I charred the corn, red onions, an extra heart of romaine and a yellow bell pepper I needed to use up and it really added an extra ooomph of flavor to the dish. I didn't have any non dairy yogurt on hand so I decided to just use a different vegan ranch recipe. My 6 year old really enjoyed the bbq chickpeas and ranch combo. This one gets to stay in my recipe collection
Katie says
Looks tasty and easy; my kind of recipe!
Sam says
It is both of those things! (In my not so humble opinion). haha. Enjoy!
Simon says
Looks like it's high in sodium. Only half should come from the chick peas.
Sam says
For a lower sodium recipe, you can use unsalted chickpeas and a low sodium or homemade BBQ sauce. Hope that helps!
Kelly says
Looks amazing!! Making this tonight!
Sam says
Yay! Hope you like it 🙂
Kathy Sturr says
Oh, and YAY for your awesome friends!
Kathy Sturr says
Yum! Anything with BBQ sauce - I usually get creative and mix up my own but in a pinch it is always Dinosaur BBQ's Wango Tango!
Stacy says
This looks so good! I've been trying to bring more lunches to work and this looks perfect-- I love the ranch!
Btw-- did you save your chickpea water?? So sad if it went down the drain. 🙂
http://www.veganfatty.com/vegan-meringues/
Sam says
Thank you Stacy! I absolutely save the bean water, except only from unsalted cans of chickpeas. I find the salted ones taste too much like beans when you make them into meringues. Here is my recipe for meringues.
Carolyn says
Nice idea. I think I'll give this a try.
Sam says
Thank you! I hope you enjoy it 😀