Chickpea Salad with Olives and Walnuts {with Video} [Gluten-Free, Vegetarian & with Vegan Option]

Chickpeas replace the tuna or chicken in this hearty, vegetarian Chickpea Salad with Olives and Walnuts.

Stop the presses!

I’m making a chickpea recipe that doesn’t involve hummus!

OK, relax. It’s not big news; I’ve done it before (Lemon-Parmesan Chickpea Salad / Chickpea Tacos with Avocado Blue Cheese Dressing).

Speaking of the news, a long, long time ago (in the year 2000), I took my first professional writing job as a reporter for a local newspaper.

One of my assignments was to…WAIT! Are you sure you can handle the excitement?

OK, then I’ll continue…One of my assignments was to attend and report on…

women’s club meetings!

I know. I know. You are so jealous right now. That’s some serious hard-core journalism right there. I mean, it’s on par with big name journalists like Geraldo Rivera.

Speaking of Geraldo, a long, long time ago (in 1995), I was on a high school trip to New York City to watch a live taping of The Geraldo Rivera Show. We were all surprised when Geraldo came to talk to us before the show. I, being a shy, quiet, reserved teenager (yup, that’s sarcasm), quickly ripped a sheet of paper out of a notebook I carried in my bag and ran up to Mr. Rivera, begging for an autograph.

He signed the paper (Exhibit A), which just so happened to be the back of some sort of grocery list I had been creating about two months prior (Exhibit B). Go figure!

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Eventually, Mr. Rivera signed all of the students’ tickets to the show (Exhibit C), but I feel I was responsible for initiating this event. 🙂

Exhibit C

Anyway, so now I’ll get to the part where any of this has something to do with a recipe for Chickpea Salad with Olives and Walnuts. That takes us back to the women’s club. The ladies of the club served finger sandwiches at every function, and they were always trying to feed me.

On a side note, journalists of small-town newspapers don’t make very much money. So, I guess you could say I was a starving artist. 😉

One of my favorite finger sandwiches from the women’s club ladies was made with cream cheese and green olives. It was this sandwich that inspired me oh so long ago to create a recipe for chicken salad with green olives and walnuts. Fast forward to the present and one day while staring at my plethora of canned chickpeas, it hit me! I could make a vegetarian version of my favorite chicken salad using chickpeas instead of chicken! Although not a vegetarian, I’m constantly trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into my diet.

When I make my chicken salad, I chop all of the ingredients in a food processor because I don’t prefer big chunks of chicken. So, I decided to do the same with the chickpea salad and IT WAS THE BOMB!

The combination of the saltiness of the olives and the subtle crunch of the walnuts is sooooo perfect…sorry, chewing now. 😉 You can find out for yourself by giving it a try…

Learn how to make it

To make this Chickpea Salad with Olives and Walnuts, start by adding olives and walnuts to the bowl of a food processor.

Pulse 10-15 times, scraping the sides as needed. Add chickpeas and pulse approximately 7-10 more times until desired consistency is reached, again scraping the sides as needed. The consistency should be somewhat similar to tuna salad.

Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in mayonnaise of your choice plus salt and pepper.

Refrigerate until ready to eat. Enjoy on crackers, bread or lettuce wraps…or make some finger sandwiches and take them to your local women’s club. The ladies will love ’em! 😉

Now, watch the video to see how easy it is to make! 🙂

5.0 from 1 reviews

Chickpea Salad with Olives and Walnuts

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

Chickpeas replace the tuna or chicken in this hearty, vegetarian Chickpea Salad with Olives and Walnuts.

Author: Watch Learn Eat

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

• ½ cup pimento-stuffed green olives, packed (no liquid)
• ½ cup raw walnuts, packed
• 1 (15 oz.) can no salt added chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• ¼ cup mayonnaise of choice (for vegan option, use vegan mayonnaise)
• Kosher salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Add olives and walnuts to the bowl of a food processor.
2. Pulse until finely chopped (approximately 10-15 times), scraping the sides as needed.
3. Add chickpeas and pulse approximately 7-10 more times until desired consistency is reached, again scraping the sides as needed. The consistency should be somewhat similar to tuna salad.
4. Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in mayonnaise plus salt and pepper to taste.
5. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

Notes

©Watch Learn Eat. All content and images are copyright protected. Recipes and images are not to be used or republished without prior permission. If you adapt this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, and link back to this post for the original recipe.

3.5.3226