Buffalo Chickpea Salad – Nut Free and Veggie Friendly
My least favorite mom task is making lunches. Everyone tells me I’ll miss it when the kids are all gone, but I doubt it. I hate making lunch in the morning. Luckily, this Buffalo chickpea salad makes it a heck of a lot easier. I won’t go so far as to say I actually like making lunch, but I do like this it’s all ready to go and I don’t have to think about it.
I’m not sure why this making lunches is sure a tiresome task for me. It really only takes about ten minutes. I think it’s because I am not a breakfast eater and I hate having to make the kitchen a mess, when all I really want is coffee. Or maybe it’s because for so many years I had to pack my own lunch as well. The entire time I taught, whether college or kindergarten or any grade in between, I brought lunch too. So that was four lunches. And that did take a long time to throw together.
Oh well . . . I’ve got four and half more years of lunches. And I’m not wishing them away. But I will not be sad when the final lunch is made.
Why You’ll Love It:
Buffalo chickpea salad just might be your new favorite lunch! Of course, you can eat it for dinner too. Or breakfast if you want. You do you.
But buffalo chickpea salad is the perfect make ahead lunch that you can enjoy all week. It’s packed with protein and vegetarian friendly. This hearty salad will leave you feeling satisfied and powered up through the afternoon.
Buffalo chickpea salad is bursting with flavor. Crunchy veggies. Spicy hot sauce. Creamy hummus and Greek yogurt. It’s everything you want in a lunch all in one delicious salad.
It’s easy to make buffalo chickpea salad. All you have to do is too everything in your food processor. I do work in batches, see below, but the food processor does all the work. Seriously.
How to Make Buffalo Chickpea Salad
You can whip up this buffalo chickpea salad in about ten minutes.
The first step is to rinse and drain your chickpeas. (Did you know the liquid from a can of chickpeas is called aquaphaba and can be used as an egg replacement to make some pretty incredible dishes? Learn more here. So if you’re feeling inspired, catch that liquid in. a bowl and experiment with aquaphaba.)
Add the rinsed and drained chickpeas to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times until chickpeas are lightly smashed. You don’t want them completely pureed, especially since you are going to continue pulsing as you add ingredients.
Add 1/4 cup diced red onion, 3/4 cup diced red pepper, 3/4 cup shredded carrots and pulse again to combine. You may want to use a rubber scraper to help dislodge the creamy chickpeas from the blades.
Add 12/ cup hummus and 1/2 Greek yogurt and pulse until mixture is creamy. Then pour in 1/4 cup hot sauce, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, and 1 teaspoon garlic powder, and pulse to combine. Again, give it a quick stir with your rubber scraper to make sure everything is mixed together well in your buffalo chickpea salad.
If you don’t have a food processor, no problem. You can make buffalo chickpea salad in a large bowl. We like our chickpeas slightly smashed, so I’d use a potato masher to break them up before adding other ingredients. Even a couple of forks will work. But if you like your chickpeas whole, that’s fine too.
Enjoy!
Buffalo chickpea salad is delicious on brioche buns. If you’re lucky enough to lunch at home, try toasting the buns first. Mmmmm!
My kids love to take it to school in pitas. The pita makes a perfect little lunch with the tangy salad.
This buffalo chickpea salad would also be delicious on a croissant!
We add some lettuce, tomato, and blue cheese crumbles.
If you don’t like blue cheese, try buffalo chickpea salad with an extra smear of Greek yogurt, or avocado would be delicious too.
You can even just serve it on a bed of lettuce with some pit chips.
Happy Eating!
Find more vegetarian recipes here.
Buffalo Chickpea Salad
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
- 2 15 oz. cans chickpeas rinsed and drained
- 1/4 cup red onion diced
- 3/4 cup red bell pepper diced
- 3/4 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup hummus plain or garlic
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup Frank’s red hot sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp onion power
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- blue cheese crumbles for serving
- lettuce for serving
- brioche buns for serving
Instructions
- Add the rinsed and drained chickpeas to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times until chickpeas are lightly smashed.
- Add 1/4 cup diced red onion, 3/4 cup diced red pepper, 3/4 cup shredded carrots and pulse to combine.
- Add 12/ cup hummus and 1/2 Greek yogurt and pulse until mixture is creamy.
- Pour in 1/4 cup hot sauce, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, and 1 teaspoon garlic powder, and pulse to combine.
- Serve on brioche buns with lettuce and blue cheese crumbles.
Notes
If you like our food spicy, up the amount of hot sauce. Prefer food more mild, reduce the hot sauce or add some extra Greek yogurt.
Feel free to add additional hummus or Greek yogurt to get to the consistency you want.
No food processor? No problem. Lightly mash the chickpeas in a bowl (a potato mashed works great) and mix everything together with a spoon.
