Vegan chicken salad sandwiches come together quickly in the food processor. Store-bought seitan makes this easy lunch both convenient and protein-packed.
The filling is rounded out with celery, onions, pickles, seasonings, and eggless mayonnaise. Serve it on bread, buns, tortillas, in a lettuce leaf, or on top of a salad.
Lunch is ready in 15 minutes!
While I love cooking, there are times when I need a break.
In those moments, I want something fast, convenient, and delicious. And if it can lend itself well to easy leftovers later, all the better.
That’s when I turn to vegan chicken salad sandwiches. The whole thing is ready to go in only 15 minutes.
And leftovers keep well for several days, which means I can have nearly instant meals in the days that follow. Perfect for meal prep!
Since I turn to salad sandwiches when time is a premium, I like to use store-bought seitan to simplify things. But you can also use homemade seitan chicken if you have the time!
Vegan chicken salad sandwiches have wonderful texture, bite, and cozy flavor. Plus, they’re packed with protein, which makes them extra satiating.
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you will need to make this recipe.
Chicken-style seitan: Upton’s Naturals traditional seitan comes in an 8-ounce box. That’s exactly the amount you’ll need for the recipe.
Or you can make a batch of seitan chicken with vital wheat gluten, vegan chicken broth, and seasonings.
If you’re using homemade, about a cup of diced seitan will work here.
Vegan mayo: Vegenaise is my favorite eggless mayonnaise. But feel free to use any kind you enjoy.
Pantry & refrigerator staples: Dill pickles, celery, onions, stoneground mustard, and green leaf lettuce.
Seasonings: Dried thyme, dried dill, granulated onion, and pepper.
Buns: Vegan buns can be a little tricky to find, because of added animal ingredients like honey or dairy.
Just read the ingredient label. Trader Joe’s, Dave’s Killer Bread, Rudi’s, and Ezekiel all have vegan options. Or you can visit your local bakery.
Step by step instructions
Here’s how to make this recipe at a glance. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.
Put the following into a food processor:
- Chicken-style seitan chunks
- Diced dill pickles
- Sliced celery
- Diced onion
- Vegan mayonnaise
- Stoneground mustard
- Seasonings: Dried thyme, dill, granulated onion, pepper
Process on low until it’s in small, even pieces.
Make it your own
You can easily make this vegan chicken salad your own by varying the ingredients.
- Add salt & crunch with chopped pistachios, pecans, almonds, or pumpkin seeds
- For a sweeter take, omit the diced dill pickles and add sliced red grapes, raisins, dried cranberries, or dried cherries
- If you prefer a creamier sandwich, add more mayo
- For more tang, use Dijon mustard instead of stoneground
- For more color, add a couple Tablespoons of shredded carrot
- For bolder herbaceousness, use a handful of fresh herbs instead of dried
- For a milder onion flavor, use green onions or chives instead of yellow or red onion
How to use it
Obviously, mock chicken salad is great on a sandwich.
Here are some other uses:
- Roll it into a tortilla wrap along with a couple lettuce leaves
- Serve it in a hollowed tomato or romaine leaf
- Add a dollop to a green salad
- Stuff it in a pita with spinach, cucumber slices, and tomatoes
- Scoop it onto crackers as a snack
- Enjoy it right out of a bowl with a fork
Serving suggestions
I usually serve vegan chicken salad sandwiches with a simple bag of potato chips. But here are some other tasty side dishes that work well:
FAQ
Seitan is also called wheat meat or gluten. It dates back to the sixth century when Buddhist monks were making mock duck in China.
These days, seitan is available in most grocery stores. You can find seitan in the form of sausages, deli slices, ribs, steaks, and more.
For this recipe, you’ll want chicken or turkey style seitan in cutlets or chunks.
No. Seitan is wheat-based. So if you can’t eat gluten, you’ll want to avoid that.
However, I have several other salad sandwich recipes you could make instead that are gluten-free. Two of them use tofu as the base, and one uses chickpeas.
* Vegan tuna salad
* Vegan egg salad
* Curried tofu salad
Absolutely! Instead of breaking everything up in a food processor, get out your handy kitchen knife.
Chop the seitan, pickles, celery, and onion into small pieces. Then put them in a bowl along with vegan mayo, stoneground mustard, dried thyme, dill, granulated onion, and pepper. Stir until everything is evenly incorporated.
If you try this recipe and love it, let me know! Leave a comment and ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the comment section below. It truly makes my day and is such a help!
📖 Recipe
Vegan chicken salad sandwich
Ingredients
- 8 ounces seitan chicken in chunks
- 2 Tablespoons diced dill pickles
- 3 Tablespoons sliced celery
- 1 Tablespoon diced onion
- 2 Tablespoons vegan mayonnaise Plus extra for slathering on sandwiches
- ¼ teaspoon stoneground mustard
- Pinch of dried thyme
- Pinch of dried dill
- Pinch of granulated onion
- Dash of pepper
- 4 buns
- 4 leaves green leaf lettuce
Instructions
- Put the seitan, diced dill pickles, sliced celery, diced onion, vegan mayonnaise, stoneground mustard, pinch of thyme, dill, granulated onion, and dash of pepper into food processor. Process on low, until everything is in small, equal-sized pieces. Stop once to scrape down the sides, so that everything is equally incorporated.
- Put a thin slathering of vegan mayonnaise onto the cut side of each sandwich bun. Scoop the seitan mixture into the buns, along with green leaf lettuce.
Shell
Cad, this looks delicious! I’m glad to see you are eating well while staying home! I’ve seen similar sandwiches at restaurants before made from chickpeas. Yum!
Cadry
Thanks, Shell! Yes, I love making chickpea salad sandwiches too. Lots of great easy options for lunch! Here’s my chickpea salad recipe, if you’re interested!
Michelle Schwegmann
oh my goodness! i saw this on instagram this morning and said to my husband…. “do you want a chiken salad sandwich for breakfast?” and of course he said HELL YES because i married well. ha!
SUCH a simple and delicious recipe. i never would have thought dill & thyme go together BUT ALL HAS BEEN REVEALED. plus anything with pickles and Vegenaise…. i loved this!!
totally bookmarked b/c it’s now my new tofu/chiken/chickpea salad recipe!! THANKS!!!!!!!!