Vegan Edamame Chickpea Salad with Avocado Lime Dressing (Gluten Free)

If your salad routine has been lackluster, this might be just the thing to change it up.

Not only is this edamame chickpea salad with avocado lime dressing full of flavor, but it’s packed with protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

The recipe yields four side servings, but you could double up on two servings for a power lunch that won’t leave you hungry.

Virtual Vegan Potluck: Vegan Edamame-Chickpea Power Salad with Avocado-Lime Dressing Gluten-free

When I wrote the recipe, I used canned chickpeas (a.k.a. garbanzo beans) to keep it quick. However, if you have the time to prepare dried chickpeas instead, you’ll get roughly twice the nutrients and half the sodium–they are far more nutritious than the canned variety.

Virtual Vegan Potluck: Vegan Edamame-Chickpea Power Salad with Avocado-Lime Dressing Gluten-free

If you’re not familiar with edamame (immature green soybeans), you can usually find it in the freezer section with the frozen vegetables. Buy the shelled kind if you can find it. Otherwise, you’ll have a longer boiling time and an extra step to remove the beans from their pods.

As with all ingredients (especially the apples in this recipe), I always buy organic when possible. Your local health food store is more likely to carry an organic brand. If you don’t eat soy or are trying to avoid it, you can substitute green peas or fava beans.

Virtual Vegan Potluck: Vegan Edamame-Chickpea Power Salad with Avocado-Lime Dressing Gluten-free

The combination of toasted chickpeas, chewy edamame, crunchy apples and cashews paired with the creamy avocado-lime dressing is deeee-licious. If you need/want to make other substitutions, pears would be a great sub for the apples.

And of course, there are many subs for the cashews–walnuts, macadamia nuts or hazelnuts, to name a few. You can sub onion for the shallot, or omit it altogether. The ginger root adds a really interesting flavor, but don’t stress if you don’t have it–the salad will still be great without it.

If you try this salad, I would LOVE it if you returned and left feedback below.

Vegan Edamame Chickpea Power Salad with Avocado-Lime Dressing (Gluten-free)

Author: Livvy @ 86 Lemons
Recipe type: Salad, Side
Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten-Free, American
Serves: 4

Ingredients

Dressing Ingredients:

  • 1 large avocado, flesh removed
  • 1 nub of ginger root (1/2″ – 1″ piece)
  • 1 shallot
  • 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
  • 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • ½ Tbsp pure maple syrup
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 3 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

Salad Ingredients:

  • 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry
  • ½ Tbsp olive oil
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp ground cumin
  • ⅛ tsp ground cayenne pepper
  • ⅛ tsp ground ginger
  • ½ cup cashews
  • 10 oz. shelled edamame, cooked
  • 1½ cup chopped apples (about 2 small apples)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (optional garnish)

Instructions

  1. Prepare dressing by placing ingredients in a high-speed blender and blending until smooth and creamy. (This will make more than you need, but it can be difficult for some blenders to blend smaller quantities.)
  2. If you haven’t cooked the edamame yet, start that now.
  3. Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat. Add chickpeas and allow them to toast for about 5-8 minutes, or until they start to brown. Drizzle olive oil over chickpeas. Add salt, cumin, cayenne pepper and ginger. Stir to coat. Add cashews and stir together; continue to cook mixture over medium-high heat until cashews begin to lightly brown.
  4. Add chickpea/cashew mixture, edamame, and apples to a medium bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add 3 tablespoons of avocado-lime dressing. Toss to coat. For a creamier salad, add more dressing. Garnish with chopped basil and serve warm.

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58 thoughts on “Vegan Edamame Chickpea Salad with Avocado Lime Dressing (Gluten Free)”

  1. Goodness Livvy this is one gorgeous salad! So many yummy ingredients. I bet all the flavours and different textures make for a real mouth-party.
    I missed your May entry but it looks amazing too.

    Reply
  2. Wow, this looks delicious, and so satisfying & filling! I love that you used both edamame and chickpeas, which are both lovely in salads but of course it’s never occurred to me to use them both in a salad at the same time… :) The avocado-lime dressing sounds amazing, too! So many of my favorite things, in a bowl!

    Reply
  3. What a gorgeous, vibrant looking salad. I’m completely salivating over it (why did I decide to look through these recipes during my lunch break?!). I think this would be a great recipe to bring to a physical potluck too, I can’t imagine anyone not liking the look of it!

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  4. Omigosh. These textures are amazing!! I am totally with you on home cooking the garbanzo beans. I usually saute the beans instead of baking. I’m going to try that for this salad. I am so excited to make this recipe. I have a child who is going to love this dish. Thank you!

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  5. This is my new favourite salad. Made this yesterday, love the fresh ginger flavour (I added fresh minced ginger to edamame chick pea mixture). The dressing is the best! Will make it again and again. Thanks!

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      • Hi Livvy, Wondering how long the dressing and salad would last? Can I make it on a Sunday night and portion in out into 3 lunches over the week and nothing would get soggy/brown if I kept the dressing separate until I go to eat it??

        Reply
  6. I just made this for our work potluck and I had to taste it, of course. I am not vegan but like to make something that everyone can eat. This is so good….and I will definitely make again. Thanks.

    Reply
  7. Love the way you set up your website! Whenever I want to copy a recipe from another site it takes forever to find all the info and then copy it into a word doc. You made it so easy with a CLICK HERE and all I had to do was download it!
    Can’t wait to try this recipe. Have had some edamame in refrig and wanted to use it up today…going to make your recipe! THANKS

    Reply
  8. Thank you so much! I made this for lunch this morning as part of my all vegetable and fruit diet and it tastes wonderful. I replaced the edamame with green peas but it still looks great. Oh and I added a kaffir lime leaf to the dressing just because I felt like it and that tastes great too. Thanks!

    Reply
  9. This is Amazing!! I’ve been eating somewhat clean/vegan and love to try new bean recipes! This is sooooo good. I didn’t use a lot of oil, maybe a tsp. love the heat of the cayenne. It’s good hot or cold. I’ll be making the dressing again too, it’s delish!
    Thanks!! & have a great day!

    Reply
  10. This is a really great salad! I just made it this afternoon and really enjoy it :) Thanks for posting this. I had a quick question, where it’s just me it’s quite a big salad! I just wanted to know if it will keep for a day or two? I’ll probably finish it tomorrow, but I just wanted to know if it would still be good then.

    Reply
  11. I know you saw my tweet last night but I just wanted to stop by and say I had it for lunch again today and it is so good still! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  12. Just came across this recipe and made it tonight. Unfortunately, I was out of shallot and basil but replace with minced garlic and fresh cilantro, respectively. It was delicious! I can’t wait to try it out as written, too. Thank you!

    Reply
  13. I randomly google searched for Edamame salad and came across this website. I made it lastnight.. The dressing was a little thick so I added a couple tablespoons of water it then blended it in my magic bullet again. It’s so good! I don’t put onions in it because I’m not an onion person. Lastnight I put chicken in it and made it a meal. Today I have it in the fridge at work and will be eating it cold. It doesn’t look as good as in your picture.. mine looks like a mess- but so good!

    Reply
  14. Hi there, do you think if I double the recipe it will be a decent amount for a potluck dinner. About twenty people attending. However, there will be a lot of other dishes so it doesn’t need to be an overwhelming amount. Thanks much!

    Reply
  15. This looks delicious! My family and I love salads but have become tired of the same-old-thing. This sounds wonderful! I will probably add the superfood radicchio to my salad as it is full of antioxidants, dietary fiber as well as vitamins and minerals, but will leave everything else in the recipe the same.

    Thanks again for the recipe!

    Reply
  16. Made this yeatersay and it was delish! I even ate it for breakfast this morning. I am putting it is regular rotation.
    Thanks a Bunch!

    Reply
  17. Not a vegan and this is one of my favourite recipes for a side or salad. I always make a double batch of the dressing because it’s sooooo good (Even with just plain lettuce or mâché)! Thanks so much!!

    Reply
  18. Actually tried this today, it is cooling in the fridge as my chick peas were added warm. Love this absolutely amazing combination of flavors. Did make some changes as I did not have shallots, so I used some red onion. Do not have the greatest blender so my avocado mix dressing is quite a bit thicker but still delicious! Thank you for sharing!!!!

    Reply
  19. My extreme carnivore significant other actually requested this for dinner this week. As a veggie, myself, it’s tough to find things that we both love. This was a definite hit when I made it before. Looking forward to enjoying it this evening too.

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  20. Love this salad! Made it for the first time today and I am so excited to have my leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I did have one question regarding the dressing. How long will it keep in the fridge. I’m hoping I can make up dressing on Monday and enjoy it till Friday but know that sometimes things done keep that well. Any advice on how long I can keep it before mixing up anothe batch would be appreciated.

    Reply
  21. I just made this tonight for my salad in a jar lunches for this week. I put dressing on the bottom (extra for the lettuce too). Apples that had an acid bath next, followed by the beans and topped with lettuce. I taste tested the dressing and beans as I went and now I can’t wait for tomorrow’s lunch.

    I divided this into four portions. Two lunches for me and one for each of my grown kids.

    Reply
  22. This is my second time making the salad. Must be a good one! I don’t have fresh ginger this time – will likely sub in ground ginger. I found the recipe via Pinterest on a post something like 20 heart healthy recipes. Chose it for the high protein content as my hubs is into power lifting. We both really liked it!

    Reply
  23. Made it for dinner tonight, what a surprising treat. Perfect meal for summer or winter. Thank you for sharing. I just used fresh ginger when browning the garbanzo beans.

    Reply

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