Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwich with Sardines
Elevate your usual chickpea avocado salad with sardines! This smashed chickpea salad sandwich with sardines still contains avocado for that buttery texture and is served on hearty multi-grain bread for a tasty lunch or light dinner.
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Ingredient-Stretching Tip: Use any extra avocados to make this blue cheese salad or salad with smoked turkey.
Sardines aren’t the most popular fish around, but what is popular are chickpea and avocado salad sandwiches. With that said, I think sardines deserve a little more love in this world, and incorporating them into smashed chickpeas and avocado is one way to do it.
And that’s what we’re doing here with this smashed chickpea salad sandwich with sardines.
If you’ve never had sardines, they taste similar to tuna but are a bit more pungent. That’s why this sandwich mixes them into other key ingredients, so they don’t overwhelm the palate but still offer that tuna-like quality (assuming you’re into tuna and up for something different).
Sardines are also packed with nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, so this sandwich is a great way to enjoy a healthy and tasty lunch. It’s also easily customizable: Top with sliced tomato or different lettuce greens, add diced celery or sliced scallions, etc., to tweak this sandwich to your liking.
Check out the suggestions below for more ideas!
Why You’ll Love This Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwich with Sardines
- Nutrient-dense: Sardines? Chickpeas? Avocados? Yes, please!
- Easy prep: This recipe comes together in minutes.
- Economical: Canned fish is relatively inexpensive as are the other ingredients here.
Key Ingredients
- Canned Sardines: Make sure they’re packed in olive oil for more flavor.
- Canned Chickpeas: They provide added protein, fiber, and creaminess to this sandwich.
- Avocado: Similar to chickpeas, an avocado’s creaminess elevates the texture of this sandwich.
See the recipe card below for more information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make This Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwich with Sardines
- Prepare the chickpeas: In a small bowl, smash the drained and rinsed chickpeas, leaving some chunks for texture.
- Combine the base ingredients: Add sardines, mayo, mustard, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Mix well.
- Incorporate the avocado: Gently mix in avocado, keeping some chunks for texture. Adjust seasoning to taste.
- Assemble the sandwich: Spread the salad on multi-grain bread and top with mixed greens.
Pro Tips
- Go easy on the smash: Don’t smash the chickpeas too much, so they retain some texture. Also, add the avocado in large chunks so that it also retains some texture as you toss it with the other ingredients.
Variations & Substitutions
-Top the sandwich with any lettuce greens you like, such as Bibb lettuce, Romaine, shredded iceberg, etc.
-Top with sliced tomato.
-Replace the Dijon mustard with yellow mustard.
-Replace the red onion with sliced scallions or add both.
-Add celery for crunch.
-Substitute the grain bread with a bread roll (e.g., Ciabatta, Portuguese, etc.)
-Enjoy this as an open-faced sandwich instead of a closed sandwich.
Recipe FAQs
Sardines taste similar to tuna, but are a little more pungent. If you like tuna, it’s probably safe to say you’ll like sardines. However, if you’re new to this tasty, nutrient-dense fish, taste a piece from the can first. If you find it too strong, simply use less than the entire can for this recipe. You can also compensate by adding more chickpeas and avocado; just note that you may need to adjust the amount of supporting ingredients (add more salt, mayo, etc.).
You can make the salad ahead of time, but I would hold off on assembling the sandwich until you’re ready to serve it. Also, leave out the avocado from the salad until you’re ready to serve it because it may turn brown. Cover the partially made salad and store it in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Storage
Refrigerator: Store the leftover sardine salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
More Salad Recipes
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Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwich with Sardines
Ingredients
- 1 cup canned chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 1 3.75-ounce can sardines in olive oil, drained (Note 1)
- ¼ cup red onion minced
- 1 tablespoon full-fat mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Dash ground black pepper
- ½ juiced lemon
- 1 ripe avocado peeled and cut into large chunks
- 4 to 6 slices multi-grain bread
- Handful of mixed greens or arugula
Instructions
- In a small bowl, smash the chickpeas with a potato masher or the back of a fork. Don't smash them completely; leave some chunks/whole ones.1 cup canned chickpeas
- Add the sardines, red onion, mayo, mustard, salt, pepper, and lemon juice to the bowl of smashed chickpeas and mix well.1 can sardines¼ cup minced red onion1 tablespoon mayo1 teaspoon Dijon mustard½ teaspoon kosher saltDash ground black pepperJuice of ½ lemon
- Add the avocado to the bowl and mix just until the avocado is incorporated, allowing some chunks to remain for texture. Taste the salad and adjust the seasoning according to personal taste.1 whole cut avocado
- Spread the salad on the multi-grain bread and top with mixed greens.4 to 6 slices multi-grain breadHandful mixed greens
What a delicious and hearty sandwich this makes!