Is this a chickpea salad? Or is it a chickpea spread? Whatever you call it, it’s delicious!
Eating veggies has always been my downfall. Not going to lie, but I think because my parents overcooked veggies growing up (my mom still loves her fresh green beans boiled for 45 minutes) I never ate them growing up. In fact, the only vegetables I ate were raw cucumbers and carrots.
It wasn’t until my late husband took me to a steakhouse that I had fresh steamed asparagus for the first time (in my early 30s!) and discovered how delicious it was. My Dad used to eat asparagus out of the can and that still grosses me out to this day.
How to find inspiration to eat veggies!
YouTube is my go to over all other social media for streaming. At last count, I think I subscribed to about 230 channels. Last weekend I was scrolling through my feed and up popped Chef Derek Sarno – a vegan chef! You can check out his YouTube channel here. He made a chickpea salad that inspired my recipe. Of course you know I left out the onions!
The best part about his “spread” is that it is zero WW points. So you can enjoy the 4 points of sourdough bread to make a sandwich, or 4 points to make 3 taquitos. The possibilities with this spread is endless.
Ingredients:
- canned chickpeas (if you don’t have greek yogurt on hand, feel free to use a couple tablespoons of the aquafaba – the liquid in the can – to help mash the chickpeas)
- seasonings: I used salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika and dried parsley – if I would have had fresh parsley I would have used that)
- red cabbage – I love the crunch
- pickled jalapenos – I love the added punch of spiciness this adds, but it’s completely optional
Making this chickpea salad into a grilled cheese
To keep this vegan, you can use vegan cheese, but we used 1/2 ounce of monterey jack cheese. The sourdough bread was 2 ounces, or 4 WW points. The cheese was 2 WW points, so this is a delicious 4 WW point sandwich. Lately I’ve been using avocado oil spray in place of butter to make my grilled cheese and it adds zero points and still makes a crispy grilled cheese.
We also turned this filling into taquitos – my corn tortillas are 4 WW points for three corn tortillas, so you can have three taquitos for only 4 WW points – so filling and delish! You can air fry them at 360 for around 8 minutes, or use a skillet with avocado oil spray. Make sure to start cooking with the seam side down, then turn every couple of minutes to get them crispy all the way around.
Chickpea Salad
This chickpea salad is inspired by Chef Derek Sarno, who I've recently become obsessed with his YouTube Channel - you can check that out here. This "salad" is great to spread on bread for grilled cheese, throw it in a corn tortilla and make taquitos, use it as a dip for veggies and pita chips - the possibilities are endless!
Ingredients
- 1 15 ounce can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
- 1 tablespoon greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/3 cup red cabbage, chopped
- 2 tablespoons pickled jalapenos, chopped
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together, then using a potato masher or fork, mash the mixture.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- This is ZERO WW points!
Notes
Lately I've been using avocado oil spray to make my grilled cheese, or use on toasted sourdough bread, for zero points. So delish!
Do you love chickpeas? Check out my falafel recipe!
