The Best Vegan Egg Salad Sandwich With Chickpeas

This is the best vegan “egg” salad sandwich you will ever eat! The recipe mixes up super fast and is made with mashed up canned chickpeas (garbanzos), vegan mayo, and the typical egg salad seasonings. Serve this chickpea “egg” salad sandwich on a crusty bread of choice. You will have all the texture, color, and flavor of a traditional egg salad sandwich; and you didn’t even use eggs! What makes this vegan egg salad sandwich unique though, other than the fact that we don’t use eggs,  is that we use garbanzo beans, panko bread crumbs, and kala  namak – or black salt.

Can you make egg salad vegan?

Growing up, egg salad was seriously one of my favorite sandwiches! I loved the soft “mushy” flavorful filling, nestled between the slices of crusty bread. When I first started eating vegan, I was happy to find recipes using chickpeas instead of eggs.

Chickpeas make a great sandwich filler! Vegan pimento cheese spread uses chickpeas as the base ingredient. And this crunchy bbq chickpea sandwich and classic "chicken" curried chickpea salad sandwich are only made possible with the use of our favorite legume: chickpeas!

The problem was, that when I added in enough vegan mayo for flavor, the filling was too mushy. I remembered that I used panko bread crumbs in my Italian Stuffed  Zucchini Boats in order to give the mashed chickpeas used in that recipe a little substance. Why not use bread crumbs in this recipe as well? Problem solved! Read on to learn how to make this recipe so you can have the best vegan egg salad sandwich too!

To Make this Vegan Egg Salad Sandwich with Chickpeas You Will Need:

• one can (or two cups) of chickpeas, drained
• vegan mayonnaise
• celery
• green onion
• dill and sweet pickle relish
• panko bread crumbs
• various seasoning such as: turmeric, lemon pepper, mustard powder, garlic powder, and onion powder
• Optional – but highly recommended for a real eggy taste, (affiliate link)  kala namak – or black salt
• you might also want to add in a little sriracha or hot sauce of choice (optional)
• I also use a hand-held immersion mixer   (affiliate link), but you can also use a regular hand mixer.

Tips and Tricks for Making the Vegan Egg Salad Sandwich with Chickpeas Recipe:

• Chickpeas and garbanzo beans are different names for the same thing. The terms are used interchangeably in this recipe.
• Drain the liquid from your can of chickpeas. The liquid is called aquafaba. Save the liquid if you might want to do a little vegan baking. In fact, it works great in this vegan brownie mix hack recipe. You can save the aquafaba in the fridge in a sealed container for about 3-5 days.
• No need to rinse the chickpeas or pre-mash. You will be mashing together with the other ingredients.
• You can find a vegan mayonnaise in most grocery stores. I have found it in the salad dressing section, in the health food section, or if you are lucky, in the vegan section. If your grocer does not carry vegan mayo, please fill out a request card. We need to encourage and normalize grocery stores carrying vegan-friendly grocery staples.
• Turmeric is an important seasoning used mainly for its yellow color. The recipe calls for 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon. I like my vegan egg salad quite yellow. you can always start with the smaller amount and add in more.
• This recipe calls for all the standard fixings of the original egg salad sandwich: celery, onion, sweet and dill pickles, paprika, as well as a few others. If you did not like them in the original (made with eggs) sandwich, then you probably won’t like them in this one either. I suggest you leave them out. But then, it won’t be the best vegan egg salad sandwich ever…just saying.
• For extra flavor you could top with dill pickle slices, pickled onions, or creamy dijonnaise.
• I do not chop and mince the dill and sweet pickle, but rather, I use prepared pickle relish – both dill and sweet.
• I use mustard powder rather than prepared mustard. Feel free to use the prepared mustard instead. You will be using 1/2 Tablespoon of prepared mustard instead of the 1/2 teaspoon dried. You might also need to add in a few more breadcrumbs because that substitute will add more liquid to the mixture.
• I dice the celery very small. It’s easy if you first cut the stalk into three pieces. Next, you cut each piece lengthwise into six long strips. Then it’s easy to line the pieces up and just chop down the length to get the small dices.

With the immersion blender or food processor, mix and mash all ingredients together except for the breadcrumbs. I like to leave a few chunks though.

If you would like your chickpea “egg” salad sandwich to taste authentically eggy, you will need to use kala namak – or black salt (affiliate link). Black salt tastes and smells of sulfur and just a pinch will add the eggy taste to your chickpea salad. Start with just a pinch and taste. You can always add in another tiny pinch. With black salt, a little really does go a long way and while you can always add in more, you really can’t take it out.

After the other ingredients are mixed and mashed, stir in the bread crumbs. Start with 1/3 cup and add in a little more by small spoonful until your chickpea salad is the best consistency for you.

Let sit in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before serving. This will allow the bread crumbs to soften and the flavors to meld.

Serve on a slice of crusty bread, or to be extra healthy, in a lettuce roll.

Isn’t this vegan egg salad sandwich beautiful?

The printable recipe card