This vegetarian and vegan smashed chickpea and avocado salad sandwich has a delicious Thanksgiving flare thanks to the addition of cranberry sauce!
Everyone has a few favorite Thanksgiving foods. Those special foods we look forward to enjoying once a year. What are yours? For me, it's fresh cranberry sauce and Thanksgiving sandwiches. I remember loving day-after-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches with cranberry as a kid. The slightly tart, slightly sweet sauce makes the most mouthwatering sandwiches. When Yummy Hubby got home from work around lunchtime over the weekend I asked if he'd like a Thanksgiving sandwich. I really love making him special sandwiches because he really enjoys them. His reply was that I couldn't make a Thanksgiving sandwich with cranberry sauce because one needed turkey for that. Au contraire! Out came a can of chickpeas, avocado, and a few other natural ingredients. I fist saw Smashed Chickpea and Avocado Salad on the lovely Two Peas and Their Pod blog and have been hooked ever since. Smashed chickpea salad is used by many vegetarians, vegans, and plant-based lovers just like a tuna salad. It has a satisfying meaty texture and is loaded with protein and fiber. Add pickle relish, capers, and celery and it really tastes so much like tuna salad but without any worry of mercury levels, dolphins, or suffering. For this vegetarian Thanksgiving sandwich I kept things simple and flavored the avocado chickpea salad with savoy, creamy tahini and mustard. I added a few slices of cucumber for extra crunch and fresh basil leaves from the pot on my kitchen counter for freshness.
Yummy Hubby's response? "This is amazing. I wish I could get this sandwich in a restaurant."
Please, leave the canned gelatinous cranberry sauce on the shelf. Fresh is so much tastier. The best of course, is always homemade, since you can control the quality of ingredients and amount of sugar. That being said, this busy lady used the fresh cranberry sauce from Trader Joe's. If you have leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving dinner you're good to go! I think one of the reasons I love cranberry so much is that it's only available around the holidays. Unless, of course, you stock up on frozen cranberries. Then you could enjoy this vegetarian Thanksgiving sandwich all year long!
Smashed Chickpea and Avocado Salad Thanksgiving Sandwich
Published 11/21/2011
This vegetarian and vegan smashed chickpea and avocado sandwich has a delicious Thanksgiving flare thanks to the addition of cranberry sauce! Make just one sandwich and store the chickpea salad in the refrigerator, or make up to 3.
Ingredients
- 1 (15 oz.) can garbanzo beans/chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup finely diced or sliced red onion
- 1 large avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced
- freshly ground pepper to taste
- sourdough bread, lightly toasted (gf if needed)
- 1 Persian cucumber, thinly sliced
- mixed baby lettuces (or any lettuce you have)
- 1/2 cup leftover cranberry sauce
Instructions
- Place chickpeas, tahini, mustard, and vinegar in a medium bowl. Mash with a fork so that some chickpeas remain whole. Stir in onion and avocado. Season to taste with pepper and a pinch of salt if desired. I like this salad best left chunky.
- Spread chickpea avocado mash over one piece of bread. Top with cucumber and a big handful of lettuce. Spread a thin layer of cranberry sauce over the second piece of bread and place on top of the greens. Cut in half and enjoy!
Prep Time: 10 mins.
Total time: 10 mins.
Tags: vegan, Thanksgiving, Christmas, holiday, lunch, sandwich, Thanksgiving leftovers