Cheap Vegetarian Tuna Salad

Submitted by Chef #289357

"Many other vegetarian tuna salad uses tofu or other relatively expensive ingredients, but not this one! Just a can of chickpeas and a couple other ingredients you probably already have in the fridge. It has a pretty realistic texture - add whatever you like, and would normally put in tuna salad. The ingredient measurements are approximate - I have never actually measured how much to put in, just eyeballed it. Please put in as much or little as you want, or whatever you want."

 

• Ready In: 10mins
• Ingredients: 7
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) can chickpeas or (16 ounce) can great northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 teaspoons fat-free Miracle Whip
• 4 teaspoons mustard
• 4 teaspoons onions
• pickle relish (optional)
• shredded celery (optional)
• shredded carrot (optional)

directions

1. Mash the chickpeas or great northern beans with a potato masher or fork. NOTE: It does take some time to mash the beans. Please post suggestions if you have a good way to speed this up.
2. Combine other ingredients and mix.
3. Chill if desired.

Reviews

[Jamie6024]

I just tried this with Great Northern beans and loved it! I used my Braun handmixer stick mixer, being sure to pulse so the beans did not get mushy. It took less time to make than than I would have thought and no fishy odor, which is a major plus in my book. I will be making this again and again. Thanks for the recipe.

 

[Lindseyjo22]

I made this last night. I used chick peas and put them in a food processor with the onion to chop it up and that worked perfectly. I added hot peppers (because I have to make everything spicy for some reason) and left out the carrots, celery and mustard. I only left them out because I didn't have them on hand. I then added Miracle Whip and pickle relish, which is how I would make a tuna sandwich anyway. I decided to throw this all in a tortilla with some lettuce and it was awesome! I am a vegetarian, and miss tuna sandwiches, but this satisfied my craving for sure. Even my meat-eating boyfriend liked it. Thanks for the recipe!

 

[LieslDoggy]

Oh. My. Goodness. I loved this stuff! I followed the recipe exactly and then added a little bell pepper to the mix. This stuff is so great, It would please the staunchest tuna fan.

 

[OceanLuvinGranny]

I used the great northern beans because the chickpeas are always too dense and they have a stronger flavor. I added 3 hard boiled eggs, chopped in little chunks. To mash the beans, I used my food processor and did it carefully so as not to get the beans too mushy. I also chopped the celery and onion that way. Its much quicker as long as you are careful not to get them too small and mushed up. I also added some sliced green olives (the stuffed kind). Yum! This is a great base for the sandwich filling and tastes great. Thank you for sharing it. I gave it to my sister who is a vegan and she used soy mayonnaise and left out the eggs, of course. She liked it too.

 

[Aunt Cookie]

I really liked this, and found that it actually does resemble the taste of tuna salad a bit. I used low-fat mayo rather than fat-free Miracle Whip, used chickpeas (not great northern beans), and added the optional relish. I'll probably make it the exact same way next time. It took less than 5 minutes to put together -- definitely a big plus. Thanks for sharing this! PS I actually eat tuna salad on occasion (the real stuff), but really appreciate a similar sandwich filling that doesn't make my office smell bad. :) I'll eat this instead of tuna salad most of the time, I think!