Crispy Buffalo Chickpea Salad With Hot Ranch

Bored of salad? Believe me, this crispy buffalo chickpea salad with hot ranch is FAR from a flavorless salad. It’s one of my top 3 favorite vegetarian salad recipes, and you see why too! Imagine the crispiest air-fried chickpeas smothered with a quick homemade buffalo sauce on a bed of salad with traditional buffalo wings sides (blue cheese, carrots, celery, etc). In the words of Mia Thermopolis Renaldi (Princess Diaries), “Shut Up!”

How To Make Buffalo Chickpea Salad

I’m not kidding, when I say that writing this blog post, I am convincing myself that I SHOULD definitely make this salad again (even though I have already had this 3 times this week). Ready to make the BEST vegetarian salad!?!

Let’s GOOOO!

Follow the steps below to make this killer salad:

• Chop any of the salad ingredients that need a chop (lettuce, celery, carrots, red onion) and add all of the chopped toppings and crumbled cheese to a large bowl.
• Preheat your air fryer to 375℉. Rinse and drain the can of chickpeas. Add the chickpeas into a bowl and toss the chickpeas with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. When the air fryer is preheated, add all the chickpeas to the air fryer and cook for 10-12 minutes (until they are golden brown and crispy).
• Meanwhile, add the hot sauce and butter to a small saucepan on the stovetop. Heat the pan to low and stir the butter into the hot sauce. When both combine into each other turn off the heat and set aside.
• Remove the chickpeas from the air fryer and toss the chickpeas in the hot sauce mixture. Add on top of the salad.
• In a bowl, mix ranch dressing and hot sauce to make hot ranch. (In the ingredient list above I suggest 1/2-1 tbsp of hot sauce– this depends on how spicy you want to make your hot ranch). Add ranch on top of your salad.

Meal Prepping Advice

If you are meal-prepping this recipe, please note that crispy chickpeas do not stay “crispy” for extended periods. To enjoy crispy chickpeas, you will want to eat them right away. The more time they sit, the less crispy they become (but they will still taste great!).

If you want to eat the salad over a few days, I suggest keeping the salad, chickpeas, and buffalo sauce separate. When you want to enjoy the salad reheat your crispy desired amount of chickpeas in the air fryer at 400℉ for 2 minutes. Toss the reheated chickpeas with the buffalo sauce and top on your salad. 

Crispy Buffalo Chickpea Salad Ingredients

Buffalo chickpea salad has all the best parts of a buffalo chicken wing piled up in a delicious vegetarian salad recipe! Check out the ingredients below!

Romaine Lettuce

• You can use other types of lettuce, but I do think there is something about crunchy romaine lettuce that just works with this salad.

Carrots & Celery

• Typically when you order buffalo wings, you’ll get pieces of carrot and celery on the side. You can’t have a true Buffalo chickpea salad without carrots and celery.

Red Onion

• Feel free to use your favorite type of onion (or leave it out if you prefer). We always have red onion on hand, and I just LOVE the taste of it. Onion adds a nice crunch and flavor that just boosts this salad’s flavor!

Crumbled Blue Cheese or Crumbled Goat Cheese

• Blue cheese and buffalo wings are the ultimate combo! This is a great combo to use, but we also like crumbled goat cheese. You can find the container of tangy crumbled goat cheese at ALDI. If you aren’t a blue cheese fan but ARE a goat cheese fan, I would recommend trying it out! If you aren’t a big fan of either, then swap the crumbled cheese out for 1/2 a cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Chedder also pairs well with this buffalo chickpea salad! 🙂

Hot Ranch

• No need to buy a dressing you’ll only use once here! The hot ranch is a simple “recipe.” Basically, we will take some pantry staples you already ranch and cayenne pepper hot sauce (the red stuff) and you’ll mix the two together to create a new dressing.

Chickpeas

• I love chickpeas! They are such an inexpensive protein! AND have you tried them air-fried?! They get this lovely, almost pork-like taste! I don’t suggest swapping out the chickpeas for another legume/bean.

Homemade Buffalo Sauce

• Buffalo sauce is SO easy to make. Simply put, it is just cayenne pepper hot sauce (the cheap red stuff you can get at any store) and butter. You heat both the ingredients up and stir them together and voila! You have buffalo sauce.

How to Roast Chickpeas in the Air Fryer and in the Oven

In the summer, I prefer to use the air fryer and avoid turning on the oven. The air fryer is also much faster, but if you don’t have one — no worries. Roasted chickpeas get just as crispy in the oven as they do in the air fryer. The only real difference between the two is time.

Air Fryer Method

In a preheated air fryer, roast the seasoned chickpeas for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Oven Method

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes (shake the pan once in between).

Tips for the Best Crispy Chickpeas in the Air Fryer

Here are some of my best tips for making and eating the best crunchy chickpeas.

• Dry your rinsed chickpeas as much as possible
  • The drier the chickpeas start out the more likely they will be crispier in the end.
• Eat them ASAP
  • Unfortunately, there is not a really good way to keep roasted chickpeas crispy, as they will lose some of that crispy texture the longer they sit. For the best texture, they are best to eat immediately.

3 More Unique Salad Recipes For Dinner

We love salad around here! Especially unique salad recipes that are absolute FLAVOR BOMBS. At Fancy Frugal Fixes we have a whole collection of vegetarian salad recipes and non-vegetarian salad recipes that are easy, inexpensive, and most importantly–delicious! I want you to join my campaign against flavorless, sad, boring salad because BOOOO! Check out our salad recipe below for salads that are anything but sad!

• Roasted BBQ Chickpea Salad with BBQ Ranch
• Bacon Cheeseburger Salad with Sesame Bun Croutons
• Chick-fil-A Kale Crunch Salad Copycat Recipe