Description
Love those briny green olives? Then this fun, tangy, and creamy Pimento Olive Chickpea Salad is for you, a healthy 20-minute meal! Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients, and gluten free.
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup celery, diced
- 1/3 cup red onion, fine dice
- 1/3 cup grated carrot *
- 1 – [ 15.5 oz. can ] chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ¼ – ½ cup pimento stuffed green olives, drained, fine dice (+/-) *
Pimento Sauce Ingredients:
- 5 Tablespoons Vegan Mayonnaise *
- 2 Tablespoons chopped pimento peppers (jar), drained *
- 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon sweet paprika
- ¾ teaspoon dried ground mustard powder
- Large pinch celery seeds (optional)
- Pinch black pepper (+/-)
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
Instructions
- Make the Pimento Sauce by placing all the sauce ingredients into a small bowl and whisking to combine, refrigerate until ready to use.
- Rinse and drain the chickpeas, shake off any excess water. Place the chickpeas into a large bowl, roughly mash, then add all the remaining Salad Ingredients, mix to evenly distribute the ingredients.
- Pour the Pimento Sauce over the mixture, gently toss. Taste test for flavor. Add more seasoning, if needed. Let stand for 10 minutes to allow the spices and herbs to activate. Served immediately at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers.
Notes
*Pimento Stuffed Green Olives: As this salad sits the brininess from the olives intensifies in the salad. You may want to start with a smaller amount of chopped pimento stuffed green olives and increase to fit your preference, especially if you plan to make ahead and have it sit in the fridge.
*Grated Carrots: We used a vegetable julienne peeler to cut the carrots into long thin strips, then cut those into small pieces. We used grated carrots in previous kitchen tests, and while grated carrots work perfectly in this recipe, we really enjoyed the texture of the julienne peeled carrots. We tried diced carrots as well, they were just a tad too crunchy. We suggest grated or julienned carrots. For those interested, we used a Kuhn Rikon Julienne Peeler.
*Vegan Mayonnaise: We used our Vegan Mayonnaise recipe. We think it works perfectly with this salad. You can use any vegan mayonnaise you wish, just know that the flavors may slightly change, and you may need to adjust seasonings accordingly.
*Pimentos: We used 2 Tablespoons of pimentos from a small 4 oz. jar of chopped pimentos, measure after draining off the liquid brine.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
*Serving: 2 to 4 (depending on serving method)
*Storage: Refrigerate, use within 5 days.