Curried Chickpea Salad with Apple, Celery and Toasted Cashews
A curried chickpea salad with apple, celery, golden raisins and toasted cashews in a lime-bright coconut yogurt dressing, spooned into crisp romaine leaves.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 5 min
- Rest
- 10 min
- Serves
- 4
Curried Chickpea Salad with Apple, Celery and Toasted Cashews is a vegan lunch recipe made with golden raisins, hot water, raw cashews. It takes 20 minutes of hands-on time, plus 10 minutes resting, serves 4, and each serving has 410 calories, 16 g of protein and 15 g of fiber.
Toasting the curry powder in a dry pan for 30 seconds gets rid of its raw, dusty taste, so the coconut yogurt dressing tastes rounded instead of chalky. Smash only about half the chickpeas: the mashed ones bind with the dressing and the whole ones keep some bite. Tossing the diced apple in lime juice keeps it from browning, which means the salad still looks fresh on day four. Keep the cashews and romaine separate until you eat so both stay crunchy.
A flavor profile + seasonal produce (curry-spiced coconut-yogurt dressing with crisp raw apple and golden raisins instead of tahini-dijon, served as a meal-prep lettuce wrap) take on our Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwich with Tahini and Hemp Hearts.
Ingredients
Salad
- ⅓ cup48 ggolden raisins
- ½ cup119 ghot water, for soaking the raisins
- ½ cup69 graw cashews
- 2 cans480 gchickpeas, drained and rinsed (two 15-oz cans)
- 1 large237 gcrisp apple (Honeycrisp or Gala), cored and cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 1 tbsp15 gfresh lime juice, for the apple
- 2 80 gcelery stalks, finely diced
- 3 45 ggreen onions, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup4 gfresh cilantro, chopped
Dressing
- 1 tbsp6 gmild yellow curry powder
- ⅔ cup152 gplain unsweetened coconut yogurt
- 1 tbsp15 gfresh lime juice
- 1 tsp2 gfresh ginger, finely grated
- 1 tsp6.7 gmaple syrup
- ¾ tsp4.5 gfine sea salt, plus more to taste
- ¼ tsp0.6 gblack pepper
To serve
- 2 300 gromaine hearts, separated into sturdy leaves
- ¼ tsp0.5 gred pepper flakes, for serving (optional)
Kit: small skillet, large mixing bowl, potato masher or fork, small heatproof bowl
Tips
- Use unsweetened coconut yogurt. Vanilla or sweetened versions make the dressing taste like dessert.
- Curry powders vary a lot in heat, so start with 2 tsp if yours is hot and add more after tasting.
- Choose the inner romaine leaves; their cupped shape holds the filling best.
Swap ideas
- Chopped Medjool dates instead of golden raisins
- Deeper, caramel-like sweetness; no soaking needed.
- Firm pear instead of apple
- Softer and more floral. Eat it within 2 days, because pear weeps more.
- Toasted pumpkin seeds instead of cashews
- Nut-free, with an earthier crunch.
- Pinch of garam masala added with the curry powder
- Warmer, more aromatic spice without extra heat.
The numbers
Nutrition per serving
410kcal per serving
Everything else · 4 servings per recipe
- Saturated fat
- 2.9 g 14%
- Sugars
- 23.6 g
- Sodium
- 485 mg 21%
- Potassium
- 922 mg 20%
- Calcium
- 224 mg 17%
- Iron
- 6.2 mg 34%
- Vitamin C
- 13 mg 14%
- Vitamin B12
- 0.45 µg 19%
% Daily Value on a 2,000 calorie diet. Calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient; optional ingredients are excluded. Estimates vary with brands and portions.
Sources: Raisins, dark, seedless (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program), Beverages, water, tap, drinking, Nuts, cashew nuts, raw, Spices, curry powder, So Delicious Dairy Free Unsweetened Plain Coconutmilk Yogurt (manufacturer label; serving 3/4 cup = 170 g, converted to per 100 g), Lime juice, raw, Ginger root, raw, Syrups, maple, Salt, table, Spices, pepper, black, Chickpeas (garbanzo beans, bengal gram), mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt, Apples, raw, with skin (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program), Celery, raw, Onions, spring or scallions (includes tops and bulb), raw, Coriander (cilantro) leaves, raw, Lettuce, cos or romaine, raw
Method
Put the golden raisins in a small heatproof bowl, pour the hot water over them and let them soak for 10 minutes until plump. Drain well.
While the raisins soak, toast the cashews in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until golden in spots and fragrant, 3–4 minutes. Tip them onto a board to cool, then chop them roughly.
Return the empty skillet to low heat, add the curry powder and stir for 20–30 seconds, just until it smells toasty and darkens slightly. Scrape it straight into a large mixing bowl so it doesn't scorch.
Add the coconut yogurt, 1 tbsp lime juice, grated ginger, maple syrup, salt and pepper to the curry powder and whisk until smooth and evenly golden.
Pat the chickpeas dry, add them to the bowl and mash roughly half of them with a potato masher or fork. Leave the rest whole or just cracked, so the mixture holds together but still has texture.
Toss the diced apple with the remaining 1 tbsp lime juice, then fold it into the chickpeas along with the celery, green onions, drained raisins and cilantro.
Taste and adjust with more salt or lime. For meal prep, stop here and refrigerate the salad, cashews and romaine in separate containers.
To serve, spoon about 1/3 cup of salad into each romaine leaf, then top with chopped cashews and a pinch of red pepper flakes if you like.
Storage: Refrigerate the dressed salad in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Keep the toasted cashews at room temperature in a sealed jar, and store the washed, dried romaine leaves wrapped in a paper towel in the fridge. Put the wraps together just before eating. Stir the salad before serving because it thickens slightly as it sits.
Questions
- How much protein is in curried chickpea salad with apple, celery and toasted cashews?
- Each of the 4 servings has 16 g of protein, 15 g of fiber and 410 calories, calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for every ingredient.
- Is curried chickpea salad with apple, celery and toasted cashews vegan?
- Yes. It contains no dairy, eggs, honey or other animal products.
- How long does curried chickpea salad with apple, celery and toasted cashews take to make?
- 15 minutes of prep and 5 minutes of cooking, so 20 minutes of hands-on time, plus 10 minutes of unattended resting.
- Can you make curried chickpea salad with apple, celery and toasted cashews ahead?
- Refrigerate the dressed salad in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Keep the toasted cashews at room temperature in a sealed jar, and store the washed, dried romaine leaves wrapped in a paper towel in the fridge. Put the wraps together just before eating. Stir the salad before serving because it thickens slightly as it sits.
- What can I substitute in curried chickpea salad with apple, celery and toasted cashews?
- Chopped Medjool dates instead of golden raisins — deeper, caramel-like sweetness; no soaking needed.. Firm pear instead of apple — softer and more floral. eat it within 2 days, because pear weeps more.. Toasted pumpkin seeds instead of cashews — nut-free, with an earthier crunch.. Pinch of garam masala added with the curry powder — warmer, more aromatic spice without extra heat..
- Does curried chickpea salad with apple, celery and toasted cashews contain tree nuts?
- Yes — the ingredient list includes tree nuts, in some cases as an optional ingredient you can leave out. Check the labels on the products you buy if you're cooking for an allergy.
Nutrition is calculated from USDA data for every ingredient — how we work it out.
Published September 23, 2026 ·Indian-inspired
