Vegan Pesto Chickpea Salad

Vegan pesto chickpea salad – because I have a jar full of fresh homemade low-fat pesto sitting in my fridge. this vegan salad is a kind of summer in one bowl, loaded with full of protein and good fats from walnuts.

This recipe for vegan pesto chickpeas salad is basically a reminder that you can have a healthy meal while still chilling in-front of the Netflix all day. Having a jar full of low-fat basil pesto in my fridge does all the magic. Here is who will especially enjoy this chickpea summer salad

• Lazy people who struggle to make a decision between takeaway and whipping up something quick in their kitchens.
• People like me who don’t want to switch on the stove or OVEN right now.
• People who adore chickpeas and of-course pesto.
• People who want to have a delicious meal while still keeping the calories in control.

If any f the above is YOU, let’s have a treat but promise me that you will make this healthy pesto ahead of time so you can have more no-cooking Netflix filled days <3, remember Code once and reuse it? Same here, Make pesto once and use in multiple meals 😀

Ingredients and Substitutes

• Obviously chickpeas, canned ones or home-cooked. I used to batch cook my beans and freeze earlier, but now that I got my instant pot, cooking beans became easy-peasy. You can use any kind of beans, kidney beans, butter beans, white anything works just fine. These are the protein powerhouses for vegan diets.
• Any vegetables you like, basically carrots, cucumbers, red onion, tomatoes, bell peppers, cabbage. the choice is yours. cherry tomatoes work well.
• My home-made low-fat basil pesto made with fresh basil leaves from our own green space.
• Fresh herbs like parsley or coriander if you are not very particular like me.
• If you have more calories left for your day, go crazy with salad cheese too.
• Also, you can top up the protein by adding in spiced tofu-like this one.

Vegan Pesto chickpea salad -which diets?

This summer salad is suitable for vegan and gluten-free diets.

Can I make this salad ahead for a party or meal prep?

You can do this ahead of time and store in a sealed container, however, my personal preference for packing salads is just placing all the ingredients in the box and mixing it fresh just before consuming. Otherwise, the vegetables like cucumbers lose their crispiness and who wants to eat a soggy cucumber?

this can make a great picnic food in Summers, just take time to chop everything fine and mix it in the park watching jumping kids and puppies!

This recipe is not suitable for freezing but however, you can freeze the individual ingredients.

Video recipe for a chickpea summer salad

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