Cold meals are a godsend during summer heatwaves. I love the recipes that let you gather items from the pantry, ignore the oven, and help cool you down while saving the flavor. This vegan coronation chicken salad is a great way to use some basic pantry ingredients to make a bright, plant-based take on a British classic. While chickpeas do stand in place of chicken for this recipe, it still brings a delicious, protein-packed meal to the table.

As you might have guessed, this chickpea salad is based on coronation chicken salad, which was originally developed for the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It uses curry powder, turmeric, tomato paste, and apricot preserves in a way that highlights flavors of all corners of the globe.

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My recipe is heavily adapted from this one by The Accidental Chef. His recipe utilizes a few more fun ingredients – like jackfruit and vegan Greek yogurt – that, while delicious, I usually don’t keep on hand. By using jackfruit, his recipe definitely has a more chicken-like texture. If you like my recipe, try his out as well and see which one you like the best!

Vegan coronation chicken is a yellow salad made from mashed chickpeas . It rests inside a set of spinach leaves, folded within a green tortilla, which sits on a white surface.

Ingredients for vegan coronation chicken

A truly risk-averse recipe, I make this chickpea salad using ingredients we almost always keep in the cupboard. (It’s the kind of recipe I make when I’m not sure what else to eat for dinner and need more protein for the day…but still want a home-run meal for the family.)

Canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans). You can also use dried chickpeas that have been cooked.
Spices – turmeric and curry powder
Vegan mayonnaise. If you aren’t vegan, you can substitute with traditional mayonnaise.
Tomato paste
Apricot preserves. You could also use orange marmalade or, to be more authentic, mango chutney. You need a zesty tang from fruit preserves.
Green onion – chopped small.
Flaked almonds – this optional ingredient adds texture to the final dish.
Golden raisins. These are just a yellow version of traditional raisins. Normal raisins work fine if that’s all you have on hand; the golden raisins help keep the salad a consistent color.

Vegan coronation chicken is a yellow salad made from mashed chickpeas . It lays atop a a few spinach leaves and a green tortilla, which sits on a white surface.

How to make vegan coronation chicken

Pour the chickpeas into your food processor and top with vegan mayonnaise, curry powder, turmeric, tomato paste, and apricot preserves. Pulse 3-4 times, until the mixture has achieved your desired texture. (I prefer mine to be moderately mashed – with about half of the chickpeas still mostly intact.)

If you don’t have a food processor, it’s not a big deal. You an use a blender to chop your ingredients, though you will need to watch your chickpeas more closely to ensure they don’t blend into too much of a paste. You can also choose to mash the ingredients together by hand, using a fork or a pastry cutter.

The base ingredients for this vegan coronation salad - chickpeas, vegan mayonnaise, apricot preserves, tomato paste, curry, and turmeric - rest in a food processor, ready to be mashed together.

Transfer the chickpea mixture to a separate bowl and stir in the almonds, raisins, and chopped green onion. Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Voila! Your vegan coronation chicken salad is done. If stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, it should stay fresh for up to one week.

This recipe is pleasantly versatile. You could serve it on crackers as an appetizer, on a wrap for lunch, or as a sandwich for an easy, oven-free dinner. The possibilities are endless.

Even if you aren’t vegan or vegetarian, I hope you enjoyed this plant-based take on a coronation chicken salad. Did you make any changes to your own version? If you made this recipe at home, please tag @WhiskAverseBaking in any photos you post on social media, or leave a message in the comments below. You can also click the “Pin It” button to save this recipe for a rainy day.

Vegan Coronation “Chicken” Salad

This protein-packed chickpea salad offers bright flavors, with a nice balance of sweet and savory.

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Prep Time 15

Total Time 15

Course Main Course, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine British, vegan, Vegetarian

Servings 4 servings

Equipment

Food processor (see notes)

Ingredients

2 15-oz cans chickpeas drained
6 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise can substitute traditional mayo
2 teaspoons curry powder
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon tomato paste
3 tablespoons apricot preserves
1 green onion chopped
2 tablespoons flaked almonds optional
2 tablespoons golden raisins can substitute traditional raisins

Instructions

Pour chickpeas into food processor and top with vegan mayonnaise, curry powder, turmeric, tomato paste, and apricot preserves. Pulse 3-4 times, until the mixture has achieved your desired texture.
Transfer the chickpea mixture to a mixing bowl and stir in almonds, raisins, and green onion. Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
Serve cold, on a sandwich, in a wrap, or on its own.

Notes

If you don’t have access to a food processor, you can use a blender to combine the ingredients. You could also use a pastry cutter or fork and a bit of arm strength to mash the chickpeas by hand.

Keyword curry, gluten free, high protein, salad, vegan, vegetarian

Vegan Coronation Chicken Salad