Vegan Tuna Pasta Salad

5 from 11 votes

If you love pasta and vegan tuna, you will fall in love with this vegan tuna pasta salad. Made with chickpeas and hearts of palm, this vegan tuna pasta salad recipe is the perfect lunch or dinner on a hot summer night.

Prep Time12

Cook Time8

Course: Entrees, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories: 9kcal

Author: Kathy Carmichael

Ingredients

1 14.4 ounce jar of hearts of palm in water or brine, drained
1 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained
8 ounces dry whole grain elbow macaroni noodles (4 cups cooked) or choose any size or type of noodle, including gluten-free noodles for a gluten-free option
½ cup green onions, chopped
½ cup celery, chopped
6 baby bell peppers, diced, or 1 red bell pepper, diced
½ cup green peas (fresh, canned or frozen) cooke frozen peas first and allow to cool
½ cup sliced grape tomatoes
½ lemon, squeezed
1 cup cashew mayo, divided reserve ½ cup
2 Tablespoons chopped seaweed, dulse or sea kelp granuals
2 teaspoons black salt
2 Tablespoons dijon mustard
¼ cup chopped parsley

Instructions

Drainand rinse the hearts pf palm and chickpeas.
Place hearts of palm and chickpeas in a large food processor bowl with a large chopping blade.
Pulse ingredients, resulting in a chuncky texture.
Transfer hearts of plam/chickpea mixture to a large bowl.
In the meantime, cook the elbow macaroni follwing the package instructions
While the noodles cook, add all the igredients except ½ cup of the cashew mayo and parlsey.
Stir together.
Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse with cold water until all teh noodles are cool.
Add the noodles to the vegan tuna mixture and gently fold the vegan tuna into the cold noodles.
Add the remaining ½ cup of cashew mayo and parsley, Stir gently to combine.
Add salt and pepepr to taste.
Refrigerate for about an hour to chill through.
Stir before serving and add additonal parsley if desired.

Notes

As soon as the noodles are cooked, transfer them to a colander and run cold water through them to cool completely. Make sure you move the noodles around in the water to get the warm noodles underneath.
Do not over pulse or blend the chickpeas and hearts of pal. If you don't have a food processor, use a fork to mash the chickpeas.
For the hearts of palm, however, use two forks in a pulling motion to shred rather than mash the hearts of palm by hand.
For a nut-free option for the mayo, choose the nut-free options to make the vegan mayo recipe.
For a gluten-free, vegan tuna pasta salad recipe, choose gluten-free noodles.
The vegan tuna pasta salad recipe stays fresh for 5 days refrigerated.

Nutrition