These Mediterranean Chickpea Tuna Pittas are easy to make, packed full of plant-based goodness, and so delicious!
I've previously used chickpea 'tuna mayo' to make this salad and these little onigiri, and love its taste and texture.
Obviously it doesn't taste exactly like tuna mayo, but it's a great substitute as it serves a similar purpose - it's rich and creamy, protein-packed, and makes a great sandwich filling!
So, once I had my chickpea tuna sorted, I just got a pitta and threw in all sorts of Mediterranean vegetables, and the result was a delicious and nutritious sandwich packed full of varied flavours and textures: crunchy, sweet red peppers, fragrant basil, deeply flavourful Kalamata olives, juicy tomatoes, and crisp, peppery rocket perfectly compliment the tangy and slightly nutty chickpea tuna.
These Mediterranean Chickpea Tuna Pittas make a perfect quick lunch, or even a great packed lunch too.
Although the ingredients list may look a little long, the vegetables I used are just a suggestion, and you can use whatever you can easily get hold of.
And if you make a big batch or the chickpea "tuna mayo", you can keep it in the fridge and use it for lunches throughout the week.
Looking for more easy, healthy and delicious lunch ideas? You might like my:
- Lazy Falafel
- Chickpea Mayonnaise Salad Sandwich
- Lazy Samosa Lettuce Cups
- Hummus Toasted Sandwich
- Vegan Stretchy Melty Grilled Cheese
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Mediterranean Chickpea Tuna Pittas (Vegan + GF)
Ingredients
For the chickpea "tuna mayo":
- 400 g (14oz) tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- ¼ teaspoon (Dijon) mustard
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- Salt + pepper, to taste
- Optional: 1 spring onion or few chives, finely sliced
- Optional: 1 teaspoon capers, roughly chopped
To put the pittas together:
- 2 pittas, halved and toasted (gluten-free if necessary)
- Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 red pepper, finely sliced
- Few handfuls of salad leaves lettuce, rocket etc
- Handful of fresh basil
- Few black Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
Instructions
For the chickpea "tuna mayo":
- Use a fork to gently smash the chickpeas in a bowl, then add all other ingredients and mix well
To assemble:
- Stuff chickpea tuna into pittas along with cherry tomatoes, pepper, salad leaves, basil and olives
- Either enjoy immediately or eat as a packed lunch as it keeps for a few hours
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jjmpine
How much tuna do I add? Great recipe!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much! A few tablespoons to each pitta probably - depends how big your pittas are ? leftover tuna is great with salad! Thank you so much!
Tash
Made this for lunch today and it was awesome!
Rhian Williams
Thank you!!
Elle
I was pretty skeptical of this, but it tasted really good. I added vegan mayo and relish (as that is how we make tuna salad when I was growing up). Something about the combination of the ingedients that were added to the chick peas really did make me feel like i was eating tuna and then the mayo and relish made it taste like tuna salad. My meat eating husband liked it too. Thank you!!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so glad you liked it!
Elle
Love. Love. Love. I did not have tahini and used honey mustard instead of Dijon and added smoked paprika and turmeric (spices that are in yellow mustard but not my honey mustard). I added vegan mayo and relish like one of the other reviewers. That is how we had it growing up too. I did not use red pepper. I also added some seaweed powder. I would definitely recommend mashing all of the chickpeas (some other chickpea tuna recipes don't recommend mashing all of them and it takes away from the mouth feel and taste when you crunch into a round chickpea.) I have been so missing tuna salad. I ate it a lot before I found out how allergic I am to... well pretty much everything and went WFPB, gluten free and soy free. This recipe so takes me back. I am so excited to eat it. I am still so close to having been a meat/ seafood eater that it is so nice to eat something that really tastes like the real thing. Thank you!!!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that and thank you for sharing your substitutions etc, that's so helpful to know!! Sounds delicious!