10-Minute Avocado Panzanella with Chickpeas (vegan)
This avocado panzanella with chickpeas is crunchy, creamy, briney, filling, and packed with flavor. A hearty, vegan salad that’s perfect for lunch or a quick weeknight dinner.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Salad:
- 3 slices of sourdough or dark whole grain bread* (frozen works, too, since we’re going to toast anyway)
- 2 large avocados
- 1 small red onion (you can susbstitute it with two chopped green onions)
- 100 g black and green olives, pitted
- 250 g cooked chickpeas, drained weight (1 jar)
Dressing:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons flaxseed oil**
- Lemon juice from half of a large lemon, maybe even a little more
- 3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (aceto balsamico bianco)***
- 1 handful parsley leaves (or 1 teaspoon chopped frozen parsley)
- Salt and pepper to taste (careful with the salt, the olives are already salty)
Optional:
- A couple of fresh basil leaves torn and sprinkled over the salad
Instructions
- Prep the bread. Toast your bread slices until they’re golden and crunchy. We’re going for toasty, not burnt! Then, cut them into cubes. This is the secret to a great avocado panzanella.
- Prep the vegetables: Peel and cube the avocados. Peel and dice the onion. Half the green olives.
- Make the dressing. In a big bowl, mix all the ingredients for the dressing.
- Mix with the dressing: Add all salad ingredients to the bowl with the dressing—except the avocado. Give it a good mix. This lets all those delicious flavors get to know each other.
- Add the avocado cubes. Add the cubes last and toss very gently. This is key to keeping the avocado from turning into mush. We want beautiful, creamy chunks!
- Taste and serve. Give it a taste. Need more salt? A little extra splash of lemon? Go for it! Serve it up and enjoy.Best enjoyed fresh, but it will keep in the fridge until next day – just a heads-up that the bread might get a little soggy.
Notes
*Choose a gluten-free bread to make this avocado panzanella gluten-free.
**Sub for olive oil or a neutral oil if you don't have flax oil.
***Don’t substitute dark balsamic vinegar for this recipe. The white variety is milder in both sweetness and acidity. If you don’t have Balsamico Bianco, a good substitute is 1 tablespoon dark balsamic vinegar mixed with 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar to make up the 3 tablespoons called for.