Three things I am obsessed with: chickpeas, avocado, and all things MINI… mini pizzas, mini tacos, mini pies, mini skillets. I had these cute little pretzel buns last week so that’s how this recipe started. (Although you could use any kind of bun or sliced bread for this recipe).
I first thought of making little veggie burgers, but since it’s a whopping 103 degrees(!) outside, I’ve been trying to use my oven as little as possible. Plus this chickpea salad is fast, easy, and cold, which is everything I want in a summer recipe. These would be perfect for a summer picnic except, well, it’s way too hot for that. For now, Jack and I will be “picnicking” at our kitchen table.
The base of this salad is made of chickpeas, avocado, tahini, hemp seeds and curry powder. These are all ingredients that I generally keep on hand so I love how I can whip these up for lunch at a moment’s notice.
For this recipe, I used muchi curry powder which is mellow and not too spicy. But feel free to use whatever kind of curry spices you like.
Curried Chickpea Salad Sliders
- 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 small avocado
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- ¼ teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ cup diced red onion (*see note)
- ½ cup chopped cilantro leaves and finely chopped stems
- ¼ cup hemp seeds or chopped walnuts
- ½ teaspoon muchi or madras curry powder, more to taste
- Juice of 1 small lemon
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- about 8 mini slider buns
- any fixings you like: onion, lettuce, tomato, herbs, etc
- In a medium bowl, combine the chickpeas, avocado, tahini, garlic, curry powder, lemon, and generous pinches of salt and pepper. Mash with a potato masher or a large fork until all ingredients are cohesive. Stir in the onion, cilantro, and hemp seeds (or walnuts).
- Season to taste. Chill until ready to use.
- Assemble sandwiches whatever fixings you like.
This recipe is vegan, the pretzel buns I used are not. To make these gluten free, scoop the salad into lettuce cups.
The chickpea salad will keep in the fridge for about a day. If you want to store it longer, I'd suggest keeping the avocado out and mashing it in at the last minute.
(just fyi – I got the pretzel buns from Slow Dough Bread Co, through Farmhouse Delivery)
I made these for a little soul sister tribe get together but instead of the buns, I used some sprouted bread I got at our farmers’ market and topped with fresh microgreens. So many compliments! Love all of your recipes and my Love and Lemons Everyday cookbook has me inspired to cook again. Been a hot minute. : )
Hi Hallie, I’m so glad everyone loved the sandwiches! I hope you enjoy the cookbook!
These were delicious! We had them for a sweet spring picnic! Can’t wait to have them again 🙂
Hi Sarah, I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Omg I made this today and it was so good 🤤 So happy I can’t across this recipe!
Hi Veronica, I’m so glad you loved it!
These were absolutely delicious! I will definitely be making this recipe again!
can i use canned chickpeas?
yes, just drain and rinse them first!
I’ve made these sliders as lettuce wraps three times now and everyone loves them! I add extra curry, a bit of chopped celery and serve them with homemade sweet zucchini pickles. Thank you for your fresh, healthy, easy often vegan recipes!
I can have this for a whole week straight
We had this tonight for dinner with a chopped salad. The only change I made to the recipe was adding about a half cup of grated carrots. It was delicious, and we’ll be eating the leftover in sandwiches tomorrow. A keeper!
My boyfriend thought it was bitter too, but I didn’t think so. May have been the cilantro.
I made them on normal sized buns and added a fried egg on top with a slice of a garden grown tomato, yum!
I also used powdered garlic instead of raw, because I find raw garlic very overpowering.
I love the fact that this meal has so much green in it! This is a perfect lunch recipe if you are looking for a vegetarian meal so i’ll try this out soon enough. Thanks for sharing.
Made this yesterday! It is a keep for sure. It’s hearty, very flavorful, and perfectly spiced. I had to remind myself to really savor it because I knew I’d be sad once it was gone.
These pics are so gorgeous. Will be making this chickpea salad sammy.
great pictures and great food, now just somebody to preppare it :). thanks for sharing it looks amazing.
I tried the recipe and it was a great solution to a day where it was way too hot to turn on the stove. Great sliders!
This was DELICIOUS! I used regular curry powder and walnuts instead of hemp seeds. I enjoyed the crunch of the nuts! I tried to skip chopping the onion, garlic, and cilantro and just throw everything in the food processor together which did not work out. I had to pull out the pieces of onion and garlic after processing and chop them. Full disclosure: maybe I just don’t know how to use a food processor. And mine is really old. One setting: plugged in and running. Totally worth it though. Will definitely make again.
hi guys! i was so excited to make this – all my favorite things (except tahini, i’ve never had it!) in one bowl! we went to go have it for dinner and it was delicious except we found it to have a very bitter after taste 🙁 do you have any suggestions for us to try next time? thank you!
Hi Natalie – Tahini can have a sharp flavor, maybe try skipping it? (or it could be the raw onion – try rinsing your onion slices before adding them to tame the raw-ness, or skip them and maybe add celery for crunch instead). Nothing else here should really have any sort of bitter taste…
I like em’ small too. Absolutely great idea to serve these to my vegetarian friends. Thanks!