Vegan chickpea pasta salad with tahini dressing. A simple and nutritious salad made with pasta, tahini and fresh vegetables. All done in less than 30 minutes!

Chickpeas, pasta, arugula, red onion, tomatoes and tahini dressing. Key word here: Tahini. Have you ever tried tahini dressing with pasta? It’s life-changing (slight exaggeration here, but my love for tahini dressing is real). Rarely do I make a salad without it, no matter the kind of salad. Part of it is because it tastes so good, the other part of it is because I’m too lazy most days to make creamy dressings using avocadoes or cashews and a blender. I mean, more dishes? No thank you.

To make things even better, this salad is all done in one bowl (plus a small mason jar to make the sauce, but at least that can easily go in the dishwasher). Here’s how it goes:

1. Boil the pasta.
2. Make the tahini dressing by whisking together some tahini, apple cider vinegar, garlic and water.
3. Drain the pasta, return to the pot and add your chopped vegetables and tahini dressing.
4. Stir all the ingredients together and eat. Or store in the fridge and eat it cold later like a proper summer pasta salad.

That’s it. All done in under 30 minutes. Perfect for those busy summer days when you don’t want to spend hours in a warm kitchen (us right now… Seriously, I’m so over this heat wave).

Honestly, I’m not sure how it’s August already, but I intend to enjoy every minute that’s left of summer and that includes picnics and pasta salad!

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Vegan Chickpea Pasta Salad with Tahini Dressing

A simple and healthy vegan pasta salad made with chickpeas, vegetables and tahini dressing. All done in under 30 minutes! 

Course Main Course

Cuisine vegetarian

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 1 box (375g) whole wheat pasta
• 1 can (540ml) chickpeas, drained
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1/2 medium red onion, diced
• 2 handfuls arugula
• Nutritional yeast, for topping
• Sunflower seeds, for topping (optional)

Tahini Dressing

• 1/2 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup lemon
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 2 medium garlic cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 2-3 tablespoons water as needed

Instructions

• Boil the pasta according to package instructions.
• Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables.
• Make the dressing: In a small jar or bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the tahini dressing (except water) until smooth. The dressing should get a lot thicker as you stir. Add the water, one tablespoon at a time until the dressing thins out a bit. I usually use 2-3 tablespoons for a creamy dressing.
• When the pasta is done, drain and rinse with cold water (if serving cold, this stops the pasta from cooking farther. If serving warm, you can skip this step). Return to the same pot and add the prepared vegetables and tahini dressing. Mix all the ingredients together and sprinkle with nutritional yeast and sunflower seeds (if desired). Serve immediately or leave in the fridge to cool completely and eat cold. This salad is good warm or cold!

If you make this chickpea pasta salad, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I love to hear from you guys. And of course, if you try this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram!