Chickpeas tossed in sweet spicy firecracker sauce and cooked to thicken the sauce. Firecracker Chickpeas Served with a crunchy lettuce, carrot, red bell pepper salad, a light drizzle of peanut sauce and garnished with cilantro/scallions. Jump to Recipe
Make this! Oh yes, did I mention the Firecracker sauce. It is divine, and spicy… that name has “fire” in it.
You can also use the firecracker sauce as the dressing. For variation, use kale, greens, other veggies. Use lentils to make firecracker lentils. Serve over rice instead of salad. Add some blanched veggies to the thinned out sauce. Many variations! Depending on your salad and appetite, this serves 2 or 1. the recipe is easily doubled!
Firecracker Chickpeas! Yes! Crunchy Veggies, yes, and creamy PB Sauce. Use sunbutter to make a nut-free dressing.
More fun recipes from the blog
- Moroccan Chickpea Cauliflower Bowl with Herb sauce.
- Teriyaki Chickpea Bao Steamed buns
- Kung Pao Lentils
- Vegan Tinga bowl with Hearts of Palm, Chickpeas, Spanish
Steps:
Arrange the Salad ingredients to preference in a serving bowl. Top with firecracker chickpeas. Those chickpeas are spicyyy and addictive! And the bowl is totally not practical 🙂 I love the salad to a larger bowl to eat.
Dress with peanut sauce or firecracker sauce, cilantro and scallions. Serve
Crunchy Salad with firecracker Chickpeas and Peanut sauce
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- Chopped lettuce or other crunchy greens
- Grated or thinly sliced carrots
- thinly sliced red bell pepper
- thinly slices zucchini or cucumber
- chopped cilantro or scallions for garnish
- peanuts for garnish optional
- 1 recipe Peanut sauce
- Or this Peanut Sauce
For the firecracker chickpeas:
- 15 oz (425.24 g) can chickpeas drained (save the aquafaba for meringue) or 1.5 cups cooked
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) oil
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt or to taste depends on if chickpeas were salted
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) cayenne
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) garlic powder
- 1 tsp cornstarch or other starch
- 1 tbsp hot sauce such as frank's hot sauce
- 1.5 tsp sriracha or other asian chile garlic sauce
- 1.5 to 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 to 3 tbsp raw sugar or brown sugar or other
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
- Chop up the veggies, toss and place in serving bowl.
- In a skillet, add the chickpeas, oil, salt, cayenne, garlic and mix well. Cook over medium heat for a minute. Add cornstarch and mix to coat.
- Add the sauces, vinegar, water, sugar and mix well. Cook until the sauce thickens, stir occasionally. 4 to 5 minutes. Taste carefully and adjust heat and sweet if needed.
- Cool slightly, add to the salad bowl.
- Make the peanut sauce. Adjust consistency to preference for the dressing by adding more or less water. or add some coconut milk
- Drizzle the salad with peanut sauce, cilantro or scallions and serve.
- Alternatively, add a few tbsp more water to the firecracker chickpeas during cooking and use the firecracker sauce to dress the salad.
- For variation, use kale, greens, other veggies. Use lentils to make firecracker lentils.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Lynsi says
June 28, 2015 at 2:44 pmHoly crap this is a dinner this week. Thanks for doing some planning for me, Richa!
Danielle says
June 28, 2015 at 2:54 pmOh my god looks so good. Cant wait to try this… anything with peanut butter, I’m there!
Cassie Tran says
June 28, 2015 at 3:37 pmOMG! This sounds amazing! Chickpeas and peanut sauce sound like the best combo!
Farha - faskitchen says
June 28, 2015 at 10:54 pmfrankly, I have never heard of the chana in peanut sauce.. but sounds really interesting and delicious, can’t wait to try
Ceara @ Ceara's Kitchen says
June 29, 2015 at 12:33 amThis looks like the perfect salad and packed with SO much flavor! Love it!
Caitlin says
June 29, 2015 at 10:16 amlooks incredible, lady. i bet the flavor is out of this world.
Sarah | Well and Full says
June 30, 2015 at 5:39 amYou had me at “firecracker chickpeas” 😉
Meg @ Noming thru Life says
June 30, 2015 at 7:00 pmUh YUM! I love firecracker sauce. But then to make it into a salad… BRILLIANT! Bravo Richa 🙂
Neeta says
July 2, 2015 at 7:10 pmI am allergic to peanuts but really want to make this…thoughts, Richa? 🙂
Richa says
July 2, 2015 at 7:16 pmuse almond butter 🙂 i usually make the sauce with almond butter.
Vicky Esperanza says
May 8, 2018 at 4:51 pmI think I will try to sub the PB with powder cause I am cutting all the oil out.
Sam ~ it doesn't taste like chicken says
July 16, 2015 at 6:22 pmPeanut butter sauce is ALWAYS a good idea.
Scratch that, peanut butter anything is ALWAYS a good idea!!
Amanda (AmethystJean) says
July 19, 2015 at 2:27 pmThis is amazing. I made it for a pot luck last week. I used paprika instead of cayenne because that’s what I had at the moment and it rounded out the flavour nicely. I also added beets that were hanging around my fridge. Not only were they begging to be used, I thought they would compliment the richness of the peanut sauce and the spiciness of the chickpeas. It was perfect. I will make the chickpeas a day ahead next time because the flavour was even better the next day. Thanks for another great recipe.
Richa says
September 10, 2015 at 12:36 pmAwesome!!
Erika says
September 11, 2015 at 11:29 amThis bowl is amazing! I make it at least once a week!! Love the flavors and textures.
Ana @ Ana's Rocket Ship says
October 3, 2015 at 2:03 pmWow – this looks so delicious!!!!
Shannon says
May 30, 2016 at 6:50 pmWow – that is very, very firecracker-y!
A little too hot for my blood, but I loved the peanut sauce (the one with the coconut milk) as a dressing for the salad. I could always make the chickpeas again with less heat, and this would be perfect.
Thanks for sharing. Your site is becoming my go-to!
Richa says
May 30, 2016 at 9:09 pm🙂 It has to live up to its name. Yes, definitely adjust the heat, no cayenne and less hot sauce. you can thin it out by adding more water, or just wash off some of the sauce off the chickpeas to make it edible.
Vasudha says
April 23, 2017 at 2:07 pmI made this for my house of 56 people and multiplied all of the ingredients by 10. Usually, salad is the only thing that isn’t finished after dinner, but when I made your recipe people helped themselves to seconds and there wasn’t a single piece of baby spinach remaining in the bowl! I love how the heat is offset by the sugar. This is a masterpiece.
On a side note, I have been cooking for the past 4 months using your recipes to feed my housemates. Everyone loves them and no one complains that dinner is vegan since it’s so damn tasty!
I have never tried my hand at cooking before this year but your recipes have inspired me. <3
Richa says
April 23, 2017 at 4:37 pmThats so Amazing!!! That firecracker sauce is awesome in many things. Happy Cooking!
Marie says
July 17, 2017 at 7:45 amThis is fantastic!!!!!!!! I made this last night for hubby and I while the kids were gone b/c I thought they might not like- Oh I think they will. Definitely going into my regular rotation of recipes. Great Summer night dinner. I didn’t change anything and just the right amount of heat and sweet. Brought leftovers today for lunch and my mouth is watering thinking about it. Thanks for a great recipe.
Richa says
July 17, 2017 at 10:03 pmyay!
Jo says
August 26, 2017 at 5:39 amFirst time I made it people were licking their plates.
Second time I tried a Chipotle cashew dressing that was drizzled over everything.
WOW….what a great recipe to work with.
Thank you for all your wonderful creations.
Five stars is not enough.
Richa says
August 26, 2017 at 11:56 pmGreat idea with chipotle cashew dressing!
Richa says
August 26, 2017 at 11:55 pmGreat idea with chipotle cashew dressing!
Nina says
December 24, 2017 at 6:34 pmHi Richa,
This was super delish. My daughter loved it. And asked me to make her more chickpeas. Thanks again!
Richa says
December 24, 2017 at 11:15 pmThats awesome! long time.
Maneesha says
March 30, 2018 at 12:25 pmHi Richa! I made this last night as an appetizer, and my family loved it! I love the combo of the firecracker chickpeas and the peanut butter dressing! Bring on the spicy! Thanks for a great recipe again!
Geri Garrett says
October 7, 2018 at 12:37 pmI’m confused. The recipe for peanut sauce doesn’t contain coconut milk. So do you make that sauce and add coconut milk? Or is it a different peanut sauce?
Richa says
October 7, 2018 at 6:44 pmThe sauce is thick, so thin it out with coconut milk, i think some words got mushed there in the widget, i’ll update it
Jane says
January 29, 2019 at 3:44 pmLiterally just finished eating this salad, SO good! I used almond butter and kept everything else the same. Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!
Richa says
January 29, 2019 at 4:41 pmawesome!
Ali says
July 25, 2020 at 9:56 pmOoh this was yummy and so pretty! I made it with no cayenne, and it was still at the top end of my chilliability. So thanks for including the tip about not adding the cayenne 🌶. And that peanut sauce is divine!
I have your cookbook and love it.
Vegan Richa Support says
July 26, 2020 at 9:56 am🌶.chilliabilty – my new favourite word! 🌶.🌶.🌶. i”m glad that you’re enjoying my cookbook – Thank you so much for your support 🌶.