This Vegan Chicken Salad with Pickles is the answer to your cooking woes on a hot day! Easy to make, no cooking required, and packed with protein—dinner is served!
Vegan Chicken Salad with Pickles
After a month of dessert after dessert after dessert after dessert—yep, 4 in a row!—I have a brand new no cook savory recipe for you today….and you are going to love it! Growing up, my mom made chicken salad on regular rotation in the summer. She usually put grapes in hers, and often included canteloupe too. Sometimes she even made a sweet curry dressing which I veganized in my Curried Chicken Salad. I really love it this way, but Irving has some pretty solid rules about not using fruit in entrees. It’s reeeeeally not his thing. So I set out to make a more savory version. This is how Vegan Chicken Salad with Pickles was born.
Pickles!
I am a true pickle lover. I love dill pickles, despite hating dill. And I grew up on sweet gherkins, known in more sophisticated circles as cornichons. Relish—big fan! Bread and butter pickles—well, you can keep those. Three out of four! And I’m very proud to say that I’ve passed on my love to pickles to the boys! I’ve actually been dying to try my friend Cadry’s fried pickles…..but I digress!
Go green!
This Vegan Chicken Salad has pickles two ways! I use pickle juice in the salad dressing AND I put diced pickles in the salad itself. Guys—it’s good!!! I’m a fan of keeping a tight color palette in a salad, so I incorporated other greens—celery, green onions, and parsley. You can of course mix and match—what’s most important is the taste!
Where do you get your protein?
You’ve also got options when it comes to the protein. You can stick with a more whole foods approach and use garbanzos—yum! It’s also the most economical way! Or you can go for more of a “chicken” texture with either Beyond Meat strips or soy curls. I used soy curls in the pictures and video, but have tried it all ways. It’s good no matter what!
Look how easy it is to make!
No cook dinner!
I hope you love this Vegan Chicken Salad with Pickles as much as we do! It’s such a great hearty meal and it doesn’t require heating up your kitchen. Perfect for the super hot heat wave we’ve been having in Seattle! So whip up a batch and put it in your favorite bun or on a fork and let me know what you think! Take a picture and tag me so that I can see. {@frieddandelions // #frieddandelions}
Vegan Chicken Salad with Pickles
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 3/4 cup vegan mayo I like Veganaise
- 1 Tablespoon mustard
- 1 Tablespoon pickle juice from jar of dill pickles
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or more to taste
- 1 clove garlic minced
For the salad:
- 1 8 ounce bag soy curls (1-2 bags frozen Beyond Meat strips, or 2 cans of garbanzo beans (drained), see prep notes below)
- 1/2 cup diced dill pickles (I like to slice the sandwich slices)
- 4 stalks celery diced
- 4 green onions sliced
- large handful of parsley
To serve:
- pretzel buns
- lettuce
- avocado
Instructions
For the dressing:
- Place all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together.
- Set aside.
For the salad:
- Place your prepared protein in a large bowl (see notes below).
- Add chopped green veggies—celery, onions, pickles, and parsley.
- Pour dressing over top of the ingredients and mix well.
- Serve! I like this in a big pretzel bun with lettuce and avocado, but it's also great in a wrap, or just on it's own!
Notes
Soy Curls: soak the dehydrated soy curls in a bowl of water until soft, about 15 minutes. Drain the soy curls and then squeeze all excess water out. Chop and use in salad.
Beyond Meat: These strips are frozen, so prepare according to package directions, placing them in a skillet and warming them until cooked through. Chop into bite size pieces and use in salad.
Garbanzo Beans: Drain 2 cans of garbanzo beans. You can use the beans as is, or use a fork to mash the beans a bit before mixing them with the rest of the salad ingredients.
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Great recipe Sarah. Thank you for sharing it with me.
The whole family loved it. I used the soy curls.
I would recommend chopping up the soy curls before soaking.
I’ve never had soy curls. I’ve never even seen them, but I’m probably just not looking in the right place. But I love chickpeas in salads like this and I REALLY love pickles. The more pickles, the better!! Love your pics too!
I order them from Amazon. I don’t think they are available in many stores.
It looks awesome! I have never had soy curls. I’ve never seen them here and just checked Amazon and they are over $80 for 3 packs! I’ll have to stick to chickpeas! It looks like it would be great in a baked potato too.
I love pickles and I love soy curls, so this salad has my mouth watering!
I love pickles! This is my kind of chicken salad. Love all the options for the protein!
Yes! Something for everyone! And something for every mood 🙂
This looks so good – I love a sauce with pickle juice in it! And your video is too adorable. I love how the proteins dance across the table – that must have taken a long time to shoot and cut together!
Ha! Yeah, it took me a minute, but it was fun! Thank you!
This looks really good. What size bag of soy curls did you use? I see them on Amazon in 8oz bags and 1 pound bags.
Ooh, thanks, I’ll update that! I used an 8 ounce bag!
This looks so good! I make my vegan chicken salad almost exactly the same way. It’s the kind of meal I love making when I’m in a rush. I’ve been eyeing the pretzel buns at the grocery store, but I haven’t gotten any yet. This is just the nudge I needed! Thanks for the shout out about the fried pickles! As a fellow pickle fan, I think you’ll love them whenever you get the chance to make them.