This Gluten-Free Vegan Chickpea Apple Pecan Salad is an easy and healthy recipe made with clean real food ingredients and no mayonnaise. It's the perfect plant-based meal made with a creamy lemon dill tahini dressing that's ready in under 15 minutes for a delicious, no-cook lunch!
Here's Why This Recipe Works
My top 3 favorite reasons:
- A Versatile Plant-Based Meal
- Ready In Under 15 Minutes
- Made With Clean, Real Food Ingredients
A Versatile Plant-Based Meal
This Gluten-Free Vegan Chickpea Apple Pecan Salad is a great summertime salad that is light with amazing flavors and textures.
And, there are so many options to enjoy this recipe, such as:
- In a salad - on a bed of fresh baby spinach or arugula
- In a wrap- a gluten-free or spinach wrap is great
- With gluten-free crackers or chips
- On toast as a sandwich - layered with romaine lettuce, sliced tomatoes, thinly sliced carrots, and thinly sliced red onions
- Lettuce wraps - same layers as a sandwich!
Ready in Under 15 Minutes
This is a quick and easy recipe that can be made with minimal effort, especially if you're busy or on the go.
Simply mash the chickpeas, prep the veggies and pecans, and whip up the dressing all in under 15 minutes!
Made With Clean Real Food Ingredients
You'll love how this recipe is made with fresh and clean real food ingredients, many that you probably already have on hand.
For example, chickpeas, apples, pecans, celery, onions, dill, lemon juice, tahini, maple syrup, and Himalayan pink salt.
It's a healthy plant-based meal that's vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free, and Medical Medium® compliant.
How To Make This Recipe: Step-by-Step Instructions
Here is how to make this recipe and I'll show you with step-by-step instructions below:
Step1: Prepare The Chickpeas:
Firstly, drain and rinse the chickpeas before adding them to a medium-sized mixing bowl.
Using a fork or potato masher, mash the chickpeas.
Another option is to add the chickpeas to a food processor and pulse them until they have a coarse mashed consistency, taking care to not overprocess.
Step 2: Prep The Add-Ins:
Secondly, prep the add-ins by dicing the apples, celery, and onions into small pieces and chopping the pecans.
Step 3: Prepare The Dressing:
Thirdly, add all ingredients for the dressing to a small mixing bowl and whisk together until well combined.
Step 4: Combine All Ingredients
Fourthly, add the dressing and add-ins to the large mixing bowl and stir until well combined.
Taste and adjust the seasonings to your preference.
Karielyn's Expert Tips + Ingredient Substitutions
Here are some of my expert tips to make this recipe perfectly:
To make sure none of the ingredients overpowers the recipe, make sure the chickpeas are smashed really good and all the veggies are diced very finely in tiny pieces.
Chickpeas. These can be either mashed with a fork or potato masher. Another option is to use a food processor to process them to a coarse mashed texture, but taking care to not overprocess them because you will end up with hummus!
Apples. Any variety of apples will work - I've used both red Honeycrisp apples and even green apples and both are good.
Pecans. If you don't have or don't like pecans, you could also substitute with walnuts. If you need to keep the recipe nut-free, you can use roasted sunflower seeds which will still give it a nice crunchy texture.
Onions. I prefer to use red onions but have also used white onions. Feel free to use your favorite variety.
Dill. You can use fresh dill or dried dill and either will work fine.
Lemon. Freshly squeezed lemon juice will give you the best flavor and nutrients since it hasn't been pasteurized, but you can also use store-bought organic lemon juice.
Himalayan Pink Salt. This is my salt of preference, however, you can always substitute it with sea salt.
Want More Healthy Plant-Based Salad Recipes?
Check out these:
- Cauliflower "Potato" Salad
- Roasted Artichoke Salad with Sesame Seed Vinaigrette
- Vegan Greek Salad
- or my CLEAN EATING Cookbook with 75+ plant-based vegan + gluten-free recipes made with clean, real food ingredients just like this one that you will love!
Did You Make This Recipe?
I'd love to hear about it! Please give it a rating and leave a comment below...it would make my day! : )
Gluten-Free Vegan Chickpea Apple Pecan Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 1 can organic chickpeas (15-ounce BPA-free can, drained)
For the add-ins:
- ½ cup organic apple (diced small)
- ½ cup organic pecans (chopped)
- ¼ cup organic celery (diced small)
- 2 tablespoons organic red onions (diced small)
For the dressing:
- ¼ cup organic tahini
- ¼ cup organic lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
- 2 tablespoons organic fresh dill (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons water (filtered/purified) (filtered/purified)
- ½ teaspoon organic ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
Instructions
Prepare the chickpeas:
- Add the chickpeas to a medium-size mixing bowl and mash them using a fork or potato masher, then set aside.
Prep the add-ins:
- Dice the apples, pecans, celery, and onions into small pieces.
- Add the diced add-ins to the mixing bowl and set aside.
Prepare the dressing:
- Add all ingredients for the dressing to a small mixing bowl and whisk together until well combined.
- Taste and adjust the seasonings to your preference.
Assembly:
- Add the dressing to the mixing bowl and stir everything together until well combined.
- Serve on a wrap, bed of baby spinach, in romaine lettuce or with gluten-free crackers.
- Store in an air-tight BPA-free container in the refrigerator.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
Copyright Notice
The notes, instructions, and photographs for this recipe are copyrighted material and are protected under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). They cannot be used legally without my written permission.
MEAl5 says
thank you for this recipe! it was amazing and I can't wait to make it again!
Karielyn says
Hi there MEAI5! Thanks so much...so glad to hear you enjoyed it 🙂
Karen McKinney says
This sounds delicious! Do you know how many grams of protein and carbs are in the recipe? I'm on a low-carb eating plan.
Karielyn says
Hi there Karen! Nutritional information is at the bottom of the recipe, but keep in mind it is just an estimate.
Thanks for your question and I hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂
C Yvonne says
Made this yesterday. LOVED IT! Thanks so much 🙂
Karielyn says
Hi there Yvonne! I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it and I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know...thank you! 😉
Anissa says
thank you for this recipe...i made it TWICE last week!! my family of 7 loved it!!! of course i had to like triple the recipe to feed everyone but they all enjoyed it!!!
Karielyn says
Hi Anissa! I am so glad to hear that your family enjoyed it, especially the children!
One good thing about this recipe in regards to double/tripling it is that all you really have to do is dice more of everything and add an extra can or two of the chickpeas.
You could also stretch it out by adding it on a tortilla, pita pocket, or over a bed of kale/spinach.
Thanks for taking the time to leave me feedback, I really appreciate it 😉
Elizabeth Townsend says
I just made this and it is bursting with flavor! Instead of vegannaise I used raw mayo ( recipe on the rawtarian'is site.) I also used red onion in place of white. I had it on a bed of organic baby kale, Swiss chard and spinach. Thank you for posting!
Karielyn says
Hi Elizabeth! I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed it!
This is really one of my favorite lunch recipes to make and I even made it this past week for my non-vegan parents and they loved it too.
I'll have to check out the raw mayo recipe for sure...I'd much rather use that instead of the vegannaise to keep the recipe as unprocessed as possible.
Thanks again for taking the time to leave feedback 😉
Elizabeth Townsend says
You're welcome 🙂 the raw mayo is super easy to make and very versatile. I also make the raw ranch dressing and I bet even that would be great in this recipe.
Karielyn says
Elizabeth...oh yum! Now you have me wanting to try both lol!
Thanks again for the tips, I love them 😉
Cathy says
Hi Karielyn, as a new vegan, i'm really excited to try this recipe out - it packs in good protein with the chickpeas, yay!
I was wondering how many people this recipe serves (as a meal)?
Thanks for your wonderful recipe!!
x
Karielyn says
Hi Cathy! I love chickpeas and the protein they provide!
This recipe will make approximately (2) cups. The nutritional information is calculated for 1/2 cup which is (1) serving.
I'm glad you're going to give the recipe a try and hope you enjoy it 😉
Robin says
Making this today for the THIRD time. Can not express enough how much we LOVE this! Enjoyed it wrapped in red leaf lettuce the first two times, this time it is going to be packed up with some flax crackers for an easy meal after a hike on the mountain.
Thank you for this nutrition packed delicious meal!
<3 🙂
Karielyn says
Hi Robin! I am ~so~ glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe! I actually made it twice back to back myself!
In fact, I think I might go make some for lunch today now that I'm thinking about it again lol!
I haven't tried it with crackers yet, but I'm sure that's really good too.
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave feedback...I really appreciate it 😉
Evelyn says
Hi Karielyn!
I'm getting a lot of ideas on how I can use chicpeas. Eating vegan is never boring, because we can be very creative all while making the flavors pop.
I love how you share five facts about your ingredients. It drives home the point how healthy and it is and good it is for us.
Take care,
Evelyn
Karielyn says
Hi Evelyn! You are so very right! I just started falling in love with chickpeas lately because they are so versatile, vegan and gluten-free too.
I used to buy one can each week but last grocery trip, I bought 6 cans! There are so many chickpea recipes I've come across I want to try.
I think I might start buying them dry in bulk and sprout them before using them...extra nutritious!
Thanks for the comment about the 5 Fast Facts...I hope it helps to bring awareness of what is in the foods we are eat - the good that's in them and the bad that's not 🙂