Crispy Buffalo Chickpea Salad with Spicy Cashew Dressing (1 Grocery Shop, 5 Healthy Meals Series)

Welcome to recipe #3 in my new series, where we take 1 grocery shop and turn it into 5 healthy meals for your week! Today’s recipe is a hearty salad featuring crispy buffalo chickpeas, romaine tossed in a slightly spicy cashew dressing, roasted sweet potato chunks + avocado. It’s crunchy, creamy, filling perfection that makes a divine weeknight dinner.

The Spicy Cashew Dressing here is obv inspired by the beloved sweetgreen dressing (which I get every time bc it’s so good I could drink it). This component of the series requires the most ingredients, BUT we use it in 2 (or even 3, if you use it as a dipping sauce for this one) recipes and it’s just so flavourful n good. The rest of the salad comes together easily - I do the buffalo chickpeas in my air fryer so they get extra crispy, and you can actually do the sweet potatoes at the same time depending on how big your fryer tray is! Once the romaine in tossed in your spicy cashew dressing, add it all to a bowl or platter and top with the buffalo chickpeas, sweet potato chunks and tons of avocado slices. It’s sooo delish and I know you’re gonna love it.

& in case you need a little recap of the first two recipes:

Sticky Sesame Cashew Salmon Bowls

Salmon Avocado Rice Paper Rolls

One last thing - don’t forget to signup for my newsletter HERE so you get the full printable grocery list and a recap of all 5 recipes at the end of this week! Okay love ya bye.

Crispy Buffalo Chickpea Salad with Spicy Cashew Dressing

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Ingredients

• 1 large or 2 small cans of chickpeas, drained, rinsed + thoroughly dried (I use a clean tea towel)

• 2 sweet potatoes, chopped into small cubes

• 2 tbsp olive oil, divided

• 1 tsp garlic powder, divided

• 3 tbsp buffalo sauce (I used Frank’s)

• Salt + pepper

• 1 head romaine lettuce, washed + chopped

• 1 avocado, sliced

For the Spicy Cashew Dressing:

• 3/4 cup raw cashews, soaked in hot water for at least 60 minutes or overnight

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 2 tbsp tamari

• 1 tbsp honey

• Small handful of fresh cilantro

• 1 clove garlic

• 1/2 inch piece fresh ginger

• 2 tsp chili garlic sauce or chili flakes

• Juice of 1/2 lime

• Water to thin

Method

Preheat your oven or air fryer to 400 degrees. In a bowl, toss your chickpeas with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp sea salt and 3 tbsp buffalo sauce. Once evenly coated, place them on your air fryer tray or a large lined baking sheet (if doing in the oven).

In the same bowl, toss your sweet potato cubes with the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tsp garlic powder, plus a generous amount of salt and pepper. Place the cubes on the other half of your tray/sheet if there’s room (otherwise, roast them separately once chickpeas are done).

Roast the chickpeas and sweet potatoes for 15-20 minutes in the air fryer or 25-30 minutes in the oven, tossing halfway through, until the chickpeas are golden and crispy and the sweet potatoes are lightly browned and cooked through. Set aside.

Place all of your Spicy Cashew Dressing ingredients in a blender with about 2 tbsp of water to start. Blend until smooth, adding a bit more water as needed to get a thick but pourable consistency. Taste and add more salt/lime if desired and pour into a glass jar or container.

Add your chopped romaine lettuce to a large bowl with a few large spoonfuls of the Spicy Cashew Dressing and toss to evenly coat the lettuce leaves. Top with half of the crispy chickpeas and save the other half in a container for tomorrow’s recipe! Finally add the sweet potato chunks and sliced avocado and serve.

Serves 2