🐟🌿 This Chickpea Tuna Salad is a quick and EASY protein-packed recipe with fresh veggies for a light crunch! With bright, tangy flavors and a satisfying texture, it’s ready in 10 minutes for quick lunches or as a side salad for dinner!
Easy Chickpea Tuna Salad Recipe
Take advantage of that old standby that’s readily available and inexpensive: canned tuna! A twist on my creamy Easy Chicken Salad, this tuna salad with chickpeas offers so much to love:
- It’s ready to eat in less than 10 minutes and great for meal prep.
- Every bite is protein-packed and nutritious with a creamy consistency and satisfying crunch.
- As written, the recipe is naturally gluten-free and perfect for lunch, dinner, or snacks.
This is the perfect change up to your typical tuna salad recipe. I made this as written and enjoyed every bite! All ingredients really compliments each other. The sugar, even if you use a little bit, it a must! It kept surprisingly well, too. This will be in my lunch rotation.
Bridget
Love Tuna Salad?
If you’re looking for another way to jazz up canned tuna, check out my Tuna Pasta Salad. The recipe uses rotini pasta and many similar ingredients to this one. Rather than dill pickles, I used sweet pickle relish, and there’s a bit more mayo, so everything stays nice and creamy.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Pantry staples and some easy-to-find fridge ingredients are all you need for this easy chickpea and tuna salad.
- Chickpeas (a.k.a. garbaznzo beans)
- Canned tuna: I recommend water-packed! I use this readily available canned white albacore tuna packed in water, which I drain. It’s up to you if you want to use reduced-sodium tuna, wild-caught, or anything else
- Veggies: Celery, dill pickles (substitute sweet pickle relish for a slightly sweeter taste), red onion, and garlic
- Mayonnaise: You can experiment with Greek yogurt if you like, but it won’t be as creamy
- Lemon juice
- Red wine vinegar: Other vinegars such as apple cider vinegar, balsamic, or champagne vinegar may be substituted
- Fresh dill: Or other fresh herbs such as basil, mint, parsley, or your favorite
- Capers: If you don’t have them on hand or don’t like them, they’re easy to omit
- Granulated sugar: This is perhaps optional, but it balances the flavor. I recommend adding it because of both the vinegar and the lemon juice, which are sour
Can I add extra veggies or spices?
Yes, you sure can. Avocado will add creaminess, while cucumbers or red bell pepper will add crunch. Red pepper flakes add a bit of kick, a squirt of Dijon mustard will give a richer flavor, olive oil will also add richness, and other types of fresh herbs are welcome. You can really customize this to your liking
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Chickpea Tuna Salad
It doesn’t get any faster or easier than this easy tuna and chickpea salad!
- Mash half the chickpeas in a large mixing bowl. I like to use a meat mashing tool, but a potato masher or fork also works. I prefer the creamier consistency, but you can leave the chickpeas whole.
- Add everything else. (I’ve experimented with whisking the mayo and liquid ingredients separately in a small bowl and then adding that to the large mixing bowl, but in the end makes no difference, and it’s one less thing to do!)
- Mix well, and optionally cover and chill for 30 minutes, or serve immediately.
This is the perfect salad on crackers or pita chips, on your favorite bread as a sandwich filling, or wrapped in lettuce to create tuna lettuce wraps. Add a vanilla fruit salad, pina colada fruit salad, or pink and purple potato salad for a filling meal.
Chickpea Tuna Salad
Equipment
- 1 ground meat masher optional
Ingredients
- 15 ounces canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 5.5 ounces canned tuna, packed in water and drained (can sizes ranging from 5.2 to 6 ounces are fine)
- 1 stalk celery, diced small
- 2 small dill pickles, diced small
- ¼ cup red onion, finely diced
- 1 or 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice, the juice from half of a lemon, approximately
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, apple cider, balsamic, or champagne vinegar may be substituted
- 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh dill, or to taste (fresh basil or mint may be substituted)
- 1 tablespoon capers, omit if you don’t have or don’t like
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, optional but highly recommended to balances the flavor
Instructions
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas and add about half the can to a large mixing bowl.
- Use a ground meat mashing tool (or a fork) to lightly mash these chickpeas. Tip – I prefer the overall texture of the salad when I lightly mash half the chickpeas like this, although it's technically optional.
- Add the drained tuna and all remaining ingredients to the mixing bowl and stir very well to incorporate and coat everything.
- Taste and check for flavor balance. If desired, add more salt, pepper, vinegar, lemon juice, etc. Flavor Tips – If it tastes at all boring or bland, it likely needs more salt, so add it, as desired to taste. The same can be said for a bit more sugar. Many people are scared to add sugar to a savory dish but it tends to balance the flavor, rather than making the dish read sweet. If it's a little bit too dry, add more mayo for creaminess. Adding more lemon juice or vinegar will also make it less dry, but it will make it more sour and potent tasting. A dash of cayenne pepper will add a touch of heat.
- Serve immediately as-is, on crackers or bread, or dollop it inside Romaine lettuce leaves or butter lettuce leaves, or serve it inside a sandwich. You can optionally cover and chill it for about 30 minutes prior to serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Very good.Used tzeky instead og mayo. worked well
I am glad it turned out very good for you!
This is the perfect change up to your typical tuna salad recipe. I made this as written and enjoyed every bite! All ingredients really compliments each other. The sugar, even if you use a little bit, it a must! It kept surprisingly well, too. This will be in my lunch rotation.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Bridget, and I’m glad you enjoyed every bite and that this will be in your lunch rotation!
Haven’t made it yet but like most of your recipes it sounds fantastic. I’m addicted to Trader Joe’s chick peas in cumin parsley so can’t wait to make it with those!
You will love this one then! I love so many of those TJs salads/sides from their refrigerator case!