Vegan Tuna Pasta Salad
I love a good sandwich for lunch however sometimes I get bored of it and fancy switching it up. This chickpea pasta salad is one of my favourite lunches and is so easy to whip together.
For this recipe tend to use whatever salad bits I’ve got in my fridge and whatever pasta I can find in my cupboard. The use of tinned chickpeas is always convenient and cheap as I tend to bulk buy the tins and leave them in the cupboard.
The mix of mashed chickpeas and blended nori sheets (sushi seaweed) are as close to a wholefood version of tuna you could get. I was a bit hesitant at first but since trying chickpea tuna I am obsessed and eat it often!
This summer lunch recipe is minimal effort, once you’ve boiled pasta and diced up all of your veggies chuck it in a big mixing bowl and mix away! You could even eat of the mixing bowl to save on washing up.
This recipe makes enough for four portions which is necessary because once you try it you’ll want to eat it on repeat. So whip up the batch and keep in the fridge for up to four days. Its also super meal prep friendly and great for BBQs and picnics- guaranteed everyone will love it!
Ingredients you'll need for chickpea pasta salad
- Chickpeas - Ordinary tinned chickpeas will do fine for this recipe, just drain and pat dry before mashing. This recipe would also work with your favorite plant based tuna substitute.
- Fusilli pasta - This is my favorite pasta shape for pasta salad, it is cheap and I usually have a bag in the cupboard. Feel free to use whichever pasta you have in your cupboard.
- Nori - Nori are sheets of sushi seaweed that you should be able to buy in most mainstream supermarkets in the Asian section. It can also be found in Asian supermarkets, health food stores or online. The nori sheets give a fishy flavor without any fish which is great to replicate the tuna taste for this dish.
- Vegan mayonnaise - This recipe calls for heaps of mayo which I love. However if you are looking for a lighter version feel free to sub out some of the mayo for unsweetened yoghurt. Alternatively you could dress this pasta salad with a vinaigrette for an even lighter version! I used Hellmann’s(the best) vegan mayo for this.
Some more vegan lunch ideas
Meal prep pasta salad
This pasta salad is great for meal prep as the salad items in it wont go soggy when left in the dressing unlike lettuce based salads. Alternatively if you'd like to dress the salad to serve the best way is to cook the pasta and rinse it in cold water to stop the cooking process then drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil before storing in a container in the fridge- this stops the cooked pasta from sticking together. Then dice the salad items, crush the chickpeas and mix the dressing and store the elements in separate containers in the fridge for up to 3 days before mixing to serve.
Chickpea 'Tuna' Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 480 g Cooked chickpeas
- 250 g Fusilli pasta dry weight
- ½ A red onion
- ½ A red pepper
- A handful of raw spinach
- 150 g Cooked sweetcorn
- 3 Nori sheets
- 1 tsp Dill
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Black pepper
- 3 Heaped tablespoons of vegan mayonnaise
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to packet instructions, drizzle some olive oil onto the cooked pasta and mix well. Leave to cool whilst you prep the rest of the ingredients.
- Drain, rinse and pat dry the chickpeas and pop them onto a flat plate. Use the back of the fork to mash them. I tend to leave some whole- crushing about 80% of them to vary the texture.
- Dice up the onion, spinach and red pepper as small as you like.
- Pop the nori sheets into the blender cup and blend until they’ve gone from sheets to flakes.
- Once the pasta is cool add everything into a big mixing bowl and mix well to make sure all of the ingredients are coated in mayo.
- And as simple as that its all done and ready to serve and enjoy.
- Happy lunching!
Notes
Some more great chickpea recipes
- Kale Caesar salad with roasted chickpeas
- Tomato chickpea curry
- Homemade hummus with zaatar pitta bread
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