This vegan tuna salad, made from chickpeas, will blow your mind! Easy to meal prep and perfect for on the go! Carefully selected ingredients give it a seafood taste while being meatless. Can be Top 8 Allergy Free.
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When made correctly, this chickpea vegan tuna salad will blow you away. It’s handcrafted to perfection to be the best healthy vegan tuna salad sandwich out there.
We do use just over a dozen ingredients to make this recipe, but it really is to die for. Plus, it’s easy for a meal prep idea for lunches for the week. The best is that it’s actually better if you let it merry together the flavors for a day or two.
It can even (VERY EASILY) be Top 8 Allergy Free. Perfect for lunchboxes, picnics, and so much more. This can be a huge crowdpleaser!
What ingredients do you need for vegan tuna salad?
I know you are impatient and want to see exactly how I made this, so without further a doo, here are the ingredients that you need for this healthy tuna salad:
- Chickpeas
- Hearts of palm
- nori sheets or dulce flakes
- Vegan Mayo
- Lemon
- Salt
- Celery
- Pepper
- Chia seeds
- Red onion
- Garlic powder
- Rice vinegar
- Capers
- Old Bay seasoning
When you combine these ingredients together, it’s so comparable to the “real” thing. You’d be shocked. It’s really vital for the best tasting vegan tuna salad sandwich that you use all the ingredients listed.
How do you make vegan tuna salad?
The recipe itself is super easy to make. It almost takes me longer to type out the ingredients and directions as it does to actually make it. You want to chop your vegetables – the onion, celery and capers. Also need to grind up a small sheet of nori (or omit this step if using nori flakes).
The biggest step comes in when you need mash your chickpeas and separate your hearts of palm. The chickpeas can be mashed with the back of a fork. It’s ok if the skin is left on the chickpeas, but if it bothers you, then you can remove before mashing.
With the hearts of palm, you can use two forks to separate, like you do or have seen with pulled meats (chicken/pork/jackfruit). However, since we need it small, I usually just prefer to chop it up as small as I can straight from the jar.
Once you have the above steps completed, then all you need to do is combine it with all the other ingredients into a large bowl. You want to combine it really well. I prefer to let mine set in the fridge for at least an hour, but it’s really best if you make this a day or two ahead of time and really let it marinade in all the flavors! Yum!
Serve as desired (ideas below).
What is nori and where do I find it?
Nori is a seaweed that has been dried out. You may recognize it most from being in large sheets used to roll up sushi. Most stores (including Wal-mart and Target) also sell nori sheets in snack size packages in the section that has Asian foods. This part of the recipe is what really gives it a fishy/ocean flavor that mimics the taste you’d have from tuna. It’s incredibly healthy for you.
We use a spice grinder to grind up the nori sheets, but you can also purchase nori flakes already ground up. Find flakes at your local health store or buy them from Amazon. For reference we paid about $4.75 at our local health store for a 1.5oz container. It lasts a long time.
What can I put this vegan tuna salad on top off?
Our favorite way to eat this is by making a vegan tuna salad sandwich. Put the mixture in between two slices of bread or toast. But there are tons of other ways you can also eat.
Other ideas are:
- on crackers
- on top on a salad
- put on top of cucumbers
- inside a pita
- rolled up into a flour or corn soft taco shell
WHAT ARE SIDES THAT GO WITH THIS VEGAN TUNA SALAD?
There are endless possibilities to serve with this vegan sandwich recipe. We often love to just serve it with potato chips, like these crunchy kale chips, or a light salad. Even some raw veggies would be perfect with our dairy free ranch dressing.
Other ideas are:
- Vegan Potato Salad
- Cucumber and Tomato Salad
- Italian Vegan Pasta Salad
- Spicy Corn on the Cob
- Cucumber Salad
- Tomato Quinoa Salad
Can I make this Top 8 Allergen friendly?
This recipe is allergen friendly and can be made Top 8 Free. Because our recipes are written as vegan, they are already egg and dairy free.
You need to ensure that the mayo that you use is soy free (like Follow Your Heart soy free) (or you can make your own top 8 free mayo).
As long as you use soy free mayo, the rest of the dish is already Top 8 free.
Can I meal prep this chickpea tuna salad ahead of time?
Yes! This vegan tuna salad sandwich recipe is actually better prepared a day in advanced at least. It will also keep for at least 5 days in the fridge (if you can hold out on eating it that long!)
What are other vegan sandwiches to try?
You must also try our vegan chicken salad! If you are in the mood for breakfast – this bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit is perfect (yes, completely vegan!). The ultimate summer grilling recipe has to be our Classic Vegan Black Bean Burger (It’s the BEST!) Or, try this Vegan Masala Sandwich.
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Chickpea Vegan Tuna Salad
Ingredients
- 1 can chickpeas
- 1 can hearts of palm
- ½ cup celery, minced
- 1 teaspoon capers, minced
- ½ red onion, minced
- 2 teaspoon ground nori or nori flakes (can sub for dulse flakes)
- 1 juice from whole lemon
- ¼ cup mayo
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon old bay seasoning
Instructions
- Chop vegetables – onion, celery and capers as directed.
- Grind up a small sheet of nori (or omit this step if using nori flakes).
- Mash your chickpeas with the back of a fork. This takes between 5-10 minutes to do well.
- Chop small the hearts of palm or you can separate using two forks (similar to pulled meat or jackfruit).
- Combine all the ingredients into a bowl and stir together really well.
- Let set in the fridge for at least an hour, but it's really best if you make this a day or two ahead of time and really let it marinade in all the flavors.
- Serve as desired (between two pieces of bread or other ideas in post).
Notes
Video
Nutrition
I just maked this and it is so good! Thank you!
So happy to hear that you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing
Home run, A+++ all the way. Texture and flavor are totally on point and delicious. Love all the recipes on Make it Dairy Free. You can’t go wrong with any of them. Thank you Larisha and Andrew!!!!
We’re so happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much for your kind words
We are trying to cut down on fat. Is there something I can substitute for the Mayo? TIA
Avocado would be our only other rec, but it’s still a fat, just healthier.
This was absolutely delicious!! I put it over a baked potato! Yum! I will be putting this in my recipe rotation.
yum! So glad you liked it
Where has this vegan tuna salad recipe been all my life!?! I left out hearts of palm because I couldn’t find any at the store and put in diced pickled instead of capers. It was amazing! The dulse is a game changer. Thank you so much for giving us something new and delicious to put in our sandwiches. 🙏🏽
We’re so happy to hear that you loved it! Not sure where you live but hearts of palm are usually in a can near where canned artichoke hearts would also be. At least that has been our experience. Thanks for taking time out of your day to leave a review, we appreciate that so much. Have a great weekend.
Just made this and it was a BIG HIT!! Didn’t get to put it in the refrigerator! Safe to say I will be making this again very soon! Thanks for sharing!
Yay! We love to hear that! Thanks so much for giving our recipe a try and taking the time out of your day to leave a review
Looks like a great recipe! I personally don’t feel fantastic after eating anything with raw onion (just doesn’t agree with me). Would you just make it without the red onion? Or put in a little bit of onion powder to get a hint of onion? Thanks for this!
Yes, you could do either, leave it out entirely or add a bit of onion powder