This Chickpea Tuna Pasta Salad features tender flaky tuna, creamy chickpeas and a color mix of fresh veggies tossed in a tangy dressing. It’s the perfect high protein salad to serve at potlucks and parties that’s sure to be a hit.

Jump to:

• ❤️ Why You'll Love This Chickpea Tuna Salad Recipe
• 🛒 Ingredients for Tuna Pasta Salad
• 🔪 How to Make Chickpea and Tuna Pasta Salad
• ☑️ Storage Instructions
• 💡 Tips
• 🔄 Substitutions and Additions
• What are some common mistakes to avoid when making chickpea salad?
• What is a good dressing for chickpea pasta salad?
• Do chickpeas and canned tuna go together?
• Is tuna and chickpea salad healthy?
• 🍽️ More Healthy Pasta Salad Recipes

❤️ Why You'll Love This Chickpea Tuna Salad Recipe

• Tender chunks of tuna
• Creamy chickpeas and pasta
• Colorful mix of fresh veggies
• Tossed in a tangy dressing
• Perfect for potlucks, BBQ’s and parties
• High protein and Mediterranean Diet friendly

The great thing about pasta salads is they are not only quick and easy to make, but they also travel well. If you have a party, potluck or other get together that you need a dish for, this is the perfect salad to take.

Made with all fresh and healthy ingredients, the colors are beautiful and inviting. This pasta salad has a great contrast of flavors and textures. From the flaky tender tuna, creamy chickpeas and feta cheese, juicy tomatoes and the crisp cucumbers and sweet red onion, they all go so well together.

Once it's assembled, the salad is tossed in an easy homemade tangy dressing that just brings it all together. If you enjoy pasta salads, I've listed some of my favorites down below for you to check out.

🛒 Ingredients for Tuna Pasta Salad

• Chickpeas
• Tuna
• Fusili pasta
• Tomatoes
• Cucumber
• Feta cheese
• Red onion
• Capers
• Fresh dill
• Fresh mint
• Lemon juice
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• White wine vinegar
• Dijon mustard
• Dried oregano
• Salt
• Ground black pepper

*Exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below.

🥣 Recommended Tools

• Mixing bowl
• Large pot
• Bullet blender, immersion blender or bowl and whisk

🔪 How to Make Chickpea and Tuna Pasta Salad

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add in a healthy pinch of salt and boil your pasta until it’s al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, add all the dressing ingredients to a bullet blender cup.

Blend until well combined and emulsified.  If you don’t have a bullet blender, you can use an immersion blender or whisk the ingredients together in a bowl. Then set the dressing aside to allow the flavors to meld while you prepare the salad ingredients.

After the pasta is cooked and is still warm, quickly rinse, drain and add it to a mixing bowl.

Add in the chickpeas, tuna, cucumber, tomatoes, capers, feta cheese, red onions, chopped dill and mint.

Pour the dressing over the top.

Toss to combine and chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

☑️ Storage Instructions

Store leftover salad in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.

💡 Tips

• When preparing the vegetables, make sure to chop them around the same size.  This will make it easier to eat and ensure you get a little of each ingredients in every bite.
• Choose a good quality tuna, preferably a wild caught variety.  I personally prefer it packed in olive oil, but you can use tuna that’s packed in water if you’d like.  When you add it to the salad, don’t flake it apart too much, as it will continue to break up as you are tossing the salad with the dressing. You still want to have decent size chunks as you are enjoying it.
• Make sure your chickpeas are well rinsed and drained.  One extra step that I like to add is rubbing the chickpeas together under running cold water to gently remove the skins. This step is optional, but I prefer the skins removed and not floating around the salad as I’m tossing it.
• Use a good quality olive oil for the dressing, since it’s not being cooked the flavor is front and center in this salad.
• Don’t rinse the pasta for too long, as you don’t want to completely cool it down.  Warm pasta will absorb the dressing better than if it’s cold.

🔄 Substitutions and Additions

• I used a whole wheat rotini to make this dish Mediterranean Diet friendly.  You can use any pasta that you like or have on hand. If you're gluten-free, you can use any GF pasta that you like.
• If you can’t find Persian cucumbers, you can use English cucumbers instead. I prefer using either of these two as the skins are thin and can be eaten easily.  If you’d rather use regular cucumbers, I recommend peeling the waxy skins first.
• I use cherry tomatoes in this recipe, but you can use any tomatoes that you like. Just be sure they are cut around the same size as the other ingredients.
• If you don’t have white wine vinegar, you can use either red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
• The dill and mint bring a nice freshness to the pasta salad, if you don’t have either you can use either parsley or just omit them.  I highly recommend using them though, as they really add nice flavor.
• Sun-dried tomatoes are a nice addition to this salad. If you decide to use them and they are packed in oil, you can use some of the oil in the dressing to add even more flavor.  I do this all the time when I use sun-dried tomatoes, it’s free flavor!
• If you like bell peppers, you can add in some red, yellow or orange, or even a combination of them would work.  The colors are beautiful and they will add a nice crisp and refreshing bite.  I wouldn’t recommend green bell peppers though, the flavor would be too overpowering.

What are some common mistakes to avoid when making chickpea salad?

Leaving the skins on the chickpeas, as I mentioned earlier is an important step that's often skipped. Omitting the fresh herbs is another mistake that some make. They really add a freshness and flavor that you can't really get anywhere else.

What is a good dressing for chickpea pasta salad?

The dressing is a perfect dressing for this pasta salad. It's made with fresh, simple ingredients that really compliments all the flavors in this salad.

Do chickpeas and canned tuna go together?

They actually go really well together. They contrasting textures and flavors, in addition to the other ingredients, really work so well together.

Is tuna and chickpea salad healthy?

Yes! This salad is loaded with fresh veggies that are healthy, but the chickpeas and tuna add plenty of protein to make this salad a complete meal. There are also 8 grams of fiber in each serving!

🍽️ More Healthy Pasta Salad Recipes

• Greek Pasta Salad
• Mediterranean Pasta Salad
• Easy Italian Pasta Salad
• Cowboy Caviar Pasta Salad
• Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad