Once again, I feel like I’m apologizing for being a little MIA on the blog! I’ve been posting a lot on Instagram, but we have had so many busy weekends lately that it’s been hard to find time to create recipes, photograph them, and sit down to write up a post. We have also had a TON of rainy weather here in southeastern PA, which is the worst for taking pictures of food—no one wants to look at a picture of a salad when it’s taken in a dark, un-naturally lit kitchen. But now I finally had a change to get this recipe photographed and I’m so happy I did because I’m obsessed with it!
I have been eating this Buffalo Chickpea Salad pretty much non-stop for the last few weeks. It’s a perfect pack-able lunch because so many of the elements can be made ahead of time and easily assembled in the morning before work. The buffalo chickpeas are an easy way to pack a ton of flavor and protein into your salad. Whenever I make a salad, I always make sure to include some type of protein source (usually beans) in order to make the meal more filling. If I don’t, I’m paying for it later because I’m hungry again in a matter of minutes. Chickpeas are perfect because they are inexpensive and easy to season in a variety of ways to make your salad more interesting. For this Buffalo Chickpea Salad, I used the same method of cooking the chickpeas as in my BBQ Chickpea Salad: cook the chickpeas with sauce on the stove for 5-10 minutes until most of the sauce is absorbed and the chickpeas are bursting with flavor!
I used Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce (because it’s the best!), but any wing sauce will do. To assemble the salad, I put the chickpeas on a bed of romaine and added crisp, crunchy carrots, cucumbers, and celery. I topped the salad with my creamy dill dressing (made with vegan mayo instead of plain Greek yogurt this time—because, tummy probs), but avocado ranch would also be amazing! I also drizzled on a tiny bit of extra Frank’s to really make it spicy. If you make this Buffalo Chickpea Salad, let me know in the comments below!
Active Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 3
Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed ¼ cup Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce (or your favorite wing sauce) 6 cups romaine lettuce ½ cup shredded carrots ½ cup diced celery
½ cup chopped cucumber
Try my Creamy Dill Dressing or Avocado Ranch Dressing with this salad-either one is great!
Directions:
Place the chickpeas and wing sauce in a small pot and cook over medium heat, stirring very frequently. Continue cooking for about 5-7 minutes, or until most of the wing sauce is thickly coating the chickpeas. Off the heat and allow to cool while you assemble the salad.
Chop the lettuce, celery, and cucumber. Divide all ingredients between three large salad bowls and top with 1/3 of the buffalo chickpeas and your dressing of choice. You can also divide the veggies into three containers and store the chickpeas separately for meal prep—just combine them the morning you plan on eating the salad!
Nutrition Information per serving (WITHOUT dressing):
Calories: 155 Fat: 1g Carbs: 31g Protein: 8g Sodium: 814mg Sugar: 5g
*Nutrition information is based on the products I used personally in this recipe. Different products may yield slightly different information.
