Smashed Chickpea (Garbanzo Bean) Salad

When I first got an InstantPot I went on a pressure cooking bender of frightful proportions. Among my favorite things to try out (since they’re cheap and absolutely delicious not to mention forgiving) were beans. Staring at batches and batches of beans in the fridge, I took to the Google machine to see if I was missing out on any leguminous TikTok fads. And I was! Oddly. If you, too, are none-the-wiser, may I now introduce you to my new favorite sandwich filling, smashed chickpea (garbanzo bean) salad.

And if you’re in the hmmm, I really don’t know about this camp … please know that three of four of my household now prefer this to tuna sandwiches. If you’re unswayed and remain firmly in the tuna camp, this is the exact recipe I use for tuna salad as well. And as I’m typing I am wondering if leftover roast chicken be good… apologies for the digression but please do let me know if you go there.

Back to the leguminous version… Think tuna salad minus the fish but with the most fantastic texture combo (which I think is the appeal of canned tuna sandwiches anyway). Mostly mashed chickpeas with crunchy vegetables and crisp pickle bits. It’s all made nicey-nice with a bright squirt of lemon juice and just enough mayo (kewpie if you’ve got it) to hold it together.

I love a smashed chickpea sandwich on fresh homemade bread but it’s also good with crackers or vegetable slices as scoops. My favorite sandwich bread recipe, if you’re in a baking mood and looking … King Arthur Flour’s Classic Sandwich Bread (I use 1/3 KA whole wheat and 2/3 KA white flour).

Onto the recipe bits…

Minutae aka Learn From My Experiments

Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)

I prefer to cook dried chickpeas because I have a difficult time with the thick juice in the canned variety. Apologies to aquafaba fans.

If you do use canned, please rinse them. This recipe uses the equivalent of two cans, drained and rinsed. Canned versus home-cooked will also affect the amount of salt necessary. Hence the phrase “to taste” in the recipe … there’s just no universal right amount.

For smashing, you can use a potato masher, a large fork or, do as I (oddly) do… use a pastry cutter. It gets a perfect smash size.

One final bean note … While I did (and do still occasionally) enjoy my InstantPot for bean cookery, there is no substitute for an overnight soak (add 1 tsp of baking soda), and next day rinse well, cover with fresh salted water and cook until your preferred texture. I can never get that perfect center creaminess with a pressure cooker. Open to all suggestions, of course. Anyway, after about an hour I just pick one out every fifteen minutes or so until I get that just right texture. Age of the beans, soaking time, cooking temp all affect how long this will take but it’s really hands off.

Pickles

This is where you can accessorize to your heart’s content. My favorite pickle for this recipe is the original Wickles which is sweet and hot, an amazing combo that brings some pizzazz to an otherwise low-key sandwich filling.

If you prefer all sweet, bread and butter pickles are great. If you are a fan of a salty garlic dill pickle, go for it. There’s really no bad choice.

Mayonnaise

I will admit there are times there’s no substitute for mayonnaise and this recipe is one of them. You need it to hold the filling together (same with tuna salad in my book) but not so much that the taste shines through. Unless you like that. This smashed chickpea salad is made for customizing. If you are a fan, glob it in there. If not, go with as little as possible just to hold the filling together. As a non-fan, I can assure you that if constraint is used, the flavor isn’t really there.

I happened to have Kewpie mayo left over from a poke bowl fest (HIGHLY recommend Half Baked Harvest’s recipe and do NOT skip the crispy shallot crumbs … TDF). Well that just went down the wrong street … anyway… Kewpie mayonnaise worked nicely here and to me was less “there” than regular mayo.

Veganization of Smashed Chickpea Salad

While I am not vegan (or vegetarian for that matter), this smashed chickpea salad could easily go that direction by using a vegan mayonnaise substitute. You do need something to hold it all together which lemon juice (or even additional pickle juice … yes that’s a delicious thing) won’t help with. CAVEAT: I have never used a mayo substitute but am assuming if you’re vegan you’ll know which is best …and please share with the class if you’re so inclined.

As always, I’d love to know if you make this smashed chickpea (garbanzo bean) salad. If you’ve got questions, comments, or suggestions, please share below or find me on Instagram @piecrustandpasta #piecrustandpasta

Thanks for reading! Beth