VEGAN CHICK’N CAESAR PASTA SALAD
A new lunch favorite in our household. A great way to sneak chickpeas and kale into your day! Art said I could have fooled him into thinking it wasn’t vegan. But if you’d rather swap for non-vegan alternatives, be our guest. This is a batch recipe that would last you 2 servings a day for a week - perfect if you have a roommate or partner. Otherwise, just halve the recipe!
INGREDIENTS
Chopped kale mixed with a lettuce blend of your choice
1 box of penne, bowtie, or small shell pasta
2 packages of Abbot’s Plant Based Chopped Chick’n (which you can get at Target!)
2 cans of chickpeas
2 carrots
2 packages of kalamata olives
Vegan Caesar Salad dressing (we love Primal Kitchen’s)
Homemade or storebought croutons (for homemade, cut up old bread into cubes, drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning spices. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes. I make batches of these in the summer and keep them in a mason jar.)
Vegan parmesan shreds (the ones from Follow Your Heart are great)
Olive oil for drizzling
Salt and pepper for tasting
1 teaspoon granulated garlic for the chickpeas
PREPARATION
Start by heating the oven to 375 so you can roast the chickpeas
Then start boiling the water for the pasta
While it’s heating, drain the two cans and rinse the chickpeas. What I’ll ask you to do next is painstaking but a crucial part of the process. I promise the effort is worth it! Handfuls at a time, put the chickpeas on a towel, and with another one, make small circles, start loosening, and take off the outer skin of the chickpea. After you’ve done a few, move your towel to the side and remove the shell from the chickpeas. This will help them get crispy as they bake!
Once all the chickpeas have been de-shelled, drizzle them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and granulated garlic.
Roast the chickpeas for 15 minutes.
By now, hopefully, your water is boiling, and you can start cooking your entire box of pasta.
While your pasta is cooking, sauté your chicken so it too gets a nice little crisp.
Let all of your hot items cool once they’re done cooking.
Once cooled, put all of those items together into a bowl and add as much dressing as you see fit to get a nice pasta salad consistency. You can keep this mixture separate in the fridge and come back to it to make a fresh salad throughout the week.
Cut the carrots and olives and add them to your salad blend. You can also keep this blend together for easy salad accessibility.
To make a salad:
Put a large handful or two of your salad blend into a bowl.
Scoop roughly half a cup of the pasta salad onto the lettuce and toss it together.
Add as many croutons and parm shavings as you desire and enjoy!