Vegan Waldorf Salad with Roasted Chickpeas Oil-Free

A festive recipe that reimagines this classic American dish with deliciously healthy newfangled plant-based twists while staying true to its original spirit. The satisfying contrast between tart apples, sweet juicy grapes and crunchy celery still takes centerstage. But walnuts are replaced by crispy roasted chickpeas, a cashew based tarragon dressing becomes a lighter alternative to mayo and pomegranate seeds sparkle with holiday flair.

WALDORF REIMAGINED

I’ve always been a fan of Waldorf salad. Apples are a lovely versatile fruit and Waldorf salad is a great way to turn them into a savory appetizer. And yet long before becoming vegan and whole food plant-based, I felt that the mayonnaise in traditional recipes needed a workaround. Mayo was just too gloppy and bland for what could potentially be a fascinating flavor experience. My early strategies for substituting mayonnaise usually involved some sort of sour cream concoction. As a whole food vegan, I have a similar approach except that now I make my own vegan sour cream-type dressing with cashews, pickle juice, aquafaba and a couple of other ingredients like dried tarragon, an easy and elegant alternative to the more commonly used dill. Having cashews as the base of the dressing means that this salad is already a bit nutty, so I thought using crispy chickpeas as an alternative to walnuts would be a delightfully healthy new twist. Finally I added pomegranate seeds because I think they make things fancy for the holidays, but they can easily be left out or substituted with dried cranberries.

APPLE TO APPLE CONTRAST

Using two different types of apples adds a depth of flavor to this recipe. I always use Granny Smith along with a sweeter apple like Honeycrisp. Leaving both apples unpeeled makes for a more colorful and interesting salad that stays crisp and fresh longer. Apples dominate the flavor and texture of this salad, so if you have a lot of choices, go with apples you know you enjoy.

VERY CRISPY OIL-FREE CHICKPEAS

The way I prepare crispy roasted chickpeas for this salad is how I make crispy chickpeas to put in all kinds of salads, and to snack on by themselves. Smoked paprika and a little bit of salt is my go to seasoning mix and that’s what I’m using here as well. You can use a conventional oven or an air fryer, both work equally well. The air fryer is just a little faster. Already a fan of very crispy roasted chickpeas, I think it’s especially important to get them extra crunchy for this salad. Just about every recipe I’ve seen for crispy chickpeas recommends rinsing and drying canned chickpeas first and then adding oil. Well, us whole food plant-based (WFPB) folks already know that the oil’s not actually necessary. Another thing we know is that aquafaba, the liquid that surrounds canned chickpeas, is an awesome, nearly magical, culinary substance. So what I started doing is NOT rinsing my chickpeas. I still dry them a bit with a large clean kitchen towel, but a little of the aquafaba stays on. The aquafaba works as an oil substitute helping seasonings attach to the chickpeas and creating a crunchy texture.

SOAKING CASHEWS FOR DRESSING

For best results, cashews need to be soaked. Soaking cashews will make the dressing creamier. When using a high speed blender you can technically get away with little to no soaking by adding a bit more liquid. But the result will not be quite as good, and you’ll probably need to process the dressing for a longer time.

The ideal soaking time for cashews is at least two hours when starting with cold water. But if you start by pouring boiling water over the cashews, you can get away with a shorter soaking time. Using cashew pieces also reduces the total necessary soaking time. Any amount of soaking is better than no soaking! When I know I’ll need soaked cashews the following day, I prefer an overnight soak.

TANGY CREAMY DRESSING

• Pickle Juice: The idea of using pickle juice in cashew cream came to me when I was creating my recipe for pickle soup. Making cashew cream with pickle juice resulted in a wonderful sour cream-like flavor and texture. A quick google search revealed that I wasn’t the first recipe blogger to use pickle juice in this way. Then, feeling validated by the internet, I decided I’d apply this concept again in a salad dressing. The type of pickle juice you use will affect the overall flavor of this recipe. If you use a sweet pickle juice, like from bread and butter pickles, the dressing will be a little sweeter, just something to keep in mind

• Aquafaba: Using aquafaba in creamy dressings is a game changer, especially if you’re an oil-free vegan, but really for anyone. In fact, I first heard of this practice from a non-vegan chef who was experimenting with healthier recipes for her own family. In salad dressings and creamy dips, aquafaba creates a mayonnaise-like emulsified texture, simultaneously acting like an egg and an oil substitute. It made perfect sense to use aquafaba in this particular recipe since I’d already be straining a can of chickpeas and I was creating a substitute for mayo.

• Dried Tarragon & Alternatives: I always associate tarragon with subtle refinement. When I set out to make this dressing, I was planning to use fresh tarragon, but they didn’t have it at the store on the day when I was shopping for ingredients. Using dried tarragon instead saved me money and worked out so well that I decided to specify dried in the recipe. If you’d like to use fresh tarragon, I have no doubt that it would be absolutely lovely in this salad. Just use 2 tablespoons of fresh tarragon to sub for the 2 teaspoons of dried. Many Waldorf salad recipes use fresh or dried dill which would also be delicious in this recipe. Other herbs like marjoram, parsley or thyme might also work well.

• Wine Vinegar & Alternatives: I’ve made this dressing with various types of wine vinegar, even with champagne vinegar, and they all worked equally well. You could also use apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar or white vinegar. Really almost any vinegar except balsamic would be fine.

• Dijon Mustard: A culinary staple that pairs particularly well with tarragon, Dijon mustard is the perfect choice for this dressing. But if you want to use a different type of mustard that’s fine too. You could also substitute the Dijon mustard with about a third of a teaspoon of mustard powder.

BLENDER NEEDED

You’ll need a blender for making this creamy dressing. As usual, a high speed blender is best in order to get smoother results and get them faster. So long as cashews have had enough time to soak, you can get away with a less powerful blender though you may need to be patient in order to achieve a creamy texture.

SUBSTITUTIONS & VARIATIONS

• Walnut or Pecan Pieces Instead of Roasted Chickpeas: If you’d rather lean into tradition, you can substitute the crispy chickpeas with 3/4 to 1 cup of walnut or pecan pieces, toasted or raw.

• Dried Cranberries Instead of Pomegranate Seeds: Dried cranberries are an easy and inexpensive alternative to pomegranate seeds that are also in line with the festive holiday vibe.

• Dill Instead of Tarragon: As I mentioned earlier, dill is often the herb of choice for Waldorf salads. Substituting dried tarragon with dried or fresh dill is fine and really just a matter of personal preference and what’s on hand.

• Add Onions: While onions are not a typical ingredient in Waldorf salad, onion flavor works well with this recipe. You could either add a quarter cup of finely chopped red onions to the salad or take a more subtle approach and add a little bit of onion powder to the dressing ingredients, about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon.

related recipes you’ll love