Smashed Chickpea Avocado Salad

This smashed chickpea avocado salad is an easy and delicious lunch you can bring to work, school, or the beach! It takes 5 minutes to prepare, requires no fancy equipment and is made with simple, good for you ingredients.

Well, here we are. Where did summer go?! I swear every year just goes by faster than the next and it freaks me out a wee bit!! As much as I’ll miss the warmth of summer, I am quite excited for all things Fall- I see you pumpkin spice everything!! Get ready for all the Fall recipes, I have SO many good ones coming your way in the coming weeks.

Anyway, like this Mediterranean Chickpea Salad, the beauty of this recipe is that it’s perfect for your last few beach trips of the summer, back to school, work, or if you just want a healthy lunch to power you through whatever you’re doing.

Ingredients for avocado chickpea salad

This chickpea salad is made with just a handful of simple of ingredient, most of which you probably already have in your pantry! For this recipe you’ll need

• Chickpeas: Because chickpea salad, duh!
• Avocado: For creaminess and healthy fats.
• Red onion: For flavor a bit of crunch.
• Lemon or lime: For flavor and to naturally preserve the avocado.
• Garlic: Let’s be real I put garlic in everything.
• Salt & pepper: For extra flavor.
• Cilantro: This is optional but it adds a great flavor.

How to make chickpea avocado salad

This chickpea salad can be made a few ways. If you don’t have a food processor, don’t worry, this can be done without any fancy equipment at all.

• By hand: To make this recipe by hand, start by adding the avocado flesh to a bowl and mash it very well. Add in the chickpeas and mash until you get smaller chunks. You can use a fork or a potato masher for this step. Next, add in all remaining ingredients and mix well. Taste and add extra salt, pepper, garlic or cilantro if desired.
• With a food processor: Add the drained and rinsed chickpeas with the avocado to a food processor. Process until broken up but a few chickpea chunks still remain. Transfer to a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Mix well, taste, and adjust seasonings as desired.

Chickpea salad tips & tricks

• Once prepared, this chickpea salad will store in the fridge for about 5 days. The lemon/lime acts as a natural preservative and should help prevent the avocado from browning prematurely.
• You can serve this chickpea salad as a sandwich with some lettuce and extra avocado, in a wrap, or just as is! It’s one versatile salad.
• You don’t need to cook canned chickpeas. They have already been cooked, you just need to drain and rinse them!
• If you want the texture of this chickpea salad to be ultra perfect, I suggest removing the chickpea skins before processing/mashing. It can be a tedious task, but if you add the chickpeas between two kitchen towels and rub them around, a lot of the skins should come off on their own.

For more gluten free lunch ideas, check out these recipes!

• Mashed Chickpea ‘Tuna’ Salad Sandwich (Vegan)
• Rainbow Veggie Collard Wraps with Tahini Dressing
• Mexican Three Bean Salad

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