This Greek-flavor-inspired chickpea salad is the perfect vegan lunch. Mashed chickpeas and vegan-mayo with cucumbers, kalamata olives, dill, lemon and walnuts for crunch—you can’t beat this fresh plant-based meal.

I am so excited to share with you my cucumber dill chickpea salad recipe. It is one of my favorites for many reasons:

the Greek-inspired flavors
it’s a no-cook meal
it comes together in a short 15 minutes
it keeps in the fridge, making it a perfect meal-prep staple
the versatility means it can satisfy a sandwich, salad, or snack craving

If you are new to the idea of chickpea salad, it is a dish a lot of vegans and plant-based eaters make as a substitute for chicken or tuna salad. In place of the chicken or tuna, chickpeas are mashed and often mixed with mayo and chopped vegetables to achieve a similar consistency.

Borrowing inspiration from my go-to tzaziki recipe and my favorite Greek salad toppings, I brought ingredients like cucumbers, dill, kalamata olives together to create a plant-based lunch I crave on the regular.

I’ve included prep and serving tips, ingredient substitutions, and how to seamlessly add this recipe into your weekly meal-prep rotation so that you can keep that lunch hour sacred.

cucumber dill chickpea salad ingredients:

You’ll find the full recipe below—but here’s what to expect in this plant-based recipe:

Chickpeas
Vegan Mayo
Cucumbers & Celery
Kalamata olives
Fresh Dill
Lemon
Walnuts

keep it simple - ingredient substitutions:

Chickpeas:

I find that chickpeas work best when making this type of salad, sandwich spread, etc., but you could definitely substitute white beans if that is what you have in your pantry right now. You could end up with a smoother consistency with white beans, so keep that in mind while mashing your beans if you make the swap.

Vegan Mayo:

While I aim for most of my meals to be plant-based, I am not strictly 100% vegan at this time—which is why I like the term plant-forward. Meaning, my meals revolve around plant-based ingredients and are not built around an animal-based protein.

If you too are flexible, vegetarian, or still on your journey to becoming fully plant-based, there are a few substitution options for vegan mayo—both vegan and non-vegan friendly.

You can certainly use regular mayo in this recipe, and you also might enjoy splitting the amount of mayo the recipe calls for with Greek yogurt (you could use a vegan version of this too). I actually really enjoy the freshness the Greek yogurt adds, so if you’re interested, I’d definitely recommend trying this.

I have also seen chickpea salad recipes use hummus to bind everything together, but this isn’t my personal favorite way to do this. If that’s what you have available to you right not, you can definitely give it a shot.

If you’re a more experienced plant-based eater, and like to make your own cashew cream or vegan mayo from aquafaba, both of those could work. You may just have to experiment with the quantities!

Cucumber & Celery:

Both cucumbers and celery are used in this recipe for freshness and crunch. You can swap either of these out for crunchy vegetables you have on hand—bell peppers, diced carrots, some red onion to taste.

Remember, as you swap out ingredients, the flavor of your chickpea salad recipe will vary from mine, but you may end up creating something you really love—so go for it!

Kalamata Olives:

In my opinion, the Kalamata olives make this chickpea salad what it is. The Kalamata olive is named after the city of Kalamata, located in the southern Peloponnese, Greece, as this is where they were originally grown.

They pack such a great flavor in this chickpea salad, that I’d keep this ingredient as a staple in this recipe. However, of course you could use a different Greek olive, or your basic black or green canned olives—just keep in mind how mild or briny your substitute is. Again, the flavor won’t be the same as this recipe was originally written, but feel free to play with it.

Fresh Dill:

Similar to the Kalamata olives, if there was an ingredient I’d beg you to keep, it’s the dill. I encourage you to use fresh dill, as it brings so much freshness to this chickpea salad, but you can swap for dried if you’re in a pinch.

Fresh parsley would be my second choice when choosing a fresh herb for this particular recipe, but I encourage you to use any fresh herb you love when making chickpea salad.

Lemon:

I love to add a fresh squeeze of lemon to virtually anything. It brightens everything right up! I wouldn’t substitute this one, but you could try adding a bit of vinegar if you really can’t use fresh lemon.

Walnuts:

When I am serving this chickpea salad on top of a bed of greens, or as a hearty dip with pita or veggies, I love to add walnuts for an extra crunch. It balances out the texture of the chickpea mash. My second choice here would be almonds, but pecans could work here as well.

prep and serving tips:

In just 15 minutes, you’ll have 3 lunches prepped for your week ahead! Start by mashing the chickpeas a bit, then add the vegan mayo, and mash some more to your desired consistency. Stir in your chopped veggies, dill and olives, and you are basically good to go.

When ready to serve, top with the walnuts, some extra dill and a squeeze of lemon.

I love eating this chickpea salad as a dip with cucumber slices and pita bread, or it’s also wonderful enjoyed over a bed of greens (dress greens with an extra squeeze of lemon).

You could definitely serve this in a wrap, stuffed in a pita pocket, or on a sandwich with extra slices of cucumber and greens. Or, try lettuce wraps with romaine or butter leaf lettuce.

add it to your plant-based meal prep rotation:

Many of my recipes make about 3 servings, because I find I can add more variety to my weekly menu that way, and I am not stuck eating one dish too many times throughout the week. That said, you may find that with your preferred serving, you only get 2 meals out of this one—I find that to be the case when I am not meal prepping, and I am simply making lunch for me and my husband.

If I want to make sure there are leftovers, or enough to go around for both of us to grab lunch from the fridge throughout the week ahead, I double the recipe.

I love adding chickpea salad to my vegan meal prep menu, it is a dish you can prep without using the stove, the oven, or any major kitchen appliances or tools. While you’ve got vegetables roasting in the oven, and a stew or chili on the stove, you can multitask and prep this delicious no-cook meal in minutes.

I hope you love this dish as much as I do, and I hope it simplifies your meal prep and planning.

Be sure to follow along for more plant-based goodness on Pinterest and Instagram.

Cucumber Dill Chickpea Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

• 1/3 cup of diced cucumber

• 1/3 cup of diced celery

• 1 tbsp. fresh dill

• Juice of a ¼ of lemon

• A heaping tablespoon to a ¼ cup of vegan mayo

• ¼ cup of pitted Kalamata olives, roughly chopped or sliced

• Walnuts for topping

• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Mash your drained and rinsed chickpeas with a fork or potato masher. Consistency is up to you, but I mash until about half the chickpeas are smooth, and the other half are gently crushed.

2. Add vegan mayo and stir to combine.

3. Add diced vegetables, dill, and lemon juice.

4. Stir in half of the sliced olives, reserve the other half for topping your chickpea salad.

5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

6. To Serve: Enjoy with pita bread and cucumber slices, on a wrap or sandwich, or over greens. If enjoying over greens as a salad, dress greens with extra squeeze of lemon. For all ways of serving, top chickpea salad with the remaining olives and walnuts.