These Buffalo Chickpea Collard Green Wraps with Blue Cheese Sauce are the perfect low-carb, vegetarian lunch to meal prep at work this week. I know, because that is exactly what I meal prepped for lunch this week. This dish combines colorful vegetables (eat the rainbow!!), spicy chickpeas, and creamy and tangy blue cheese sauce. Yum!
You pretty much eat these babies like you would with a burrito. But you know how easy burritos are to fall apart? Well these are like 10 times as easy to fall apart compared to burritos. But it’s okay, it’s still delicious and low-carb…so no complaining here! Just make sure to bring a napkin with you when indulging in these.
To prepare collard greens for wrapping, the first thing you need to do is use a knife and shave off the part of the stem that sticks out. This will create a flatter, softer collard green perfect for wrapping. This may take some skill as to not also slice into the leaf. Make sure to drag the knife through the stem but over the leaf as to not catch the leaf on the edge of the knife and rip it. Once you have shaved off part of the stem, it is ready for blanching.
Blanching means soaking something in boiling hot water for a short period of time. This allows the collard greens to cook ever so slightly to become more flexible for wrapping without breaking. I have a hot water heater and just plugged that in to heat some boiling water and poured it over the collard green leaves in a large frying pan. I let them sit for about 30 seconds and then took them out and patted them dry.
While they’re drying, I heated up a skillet and sauteed the chickpeas with the Buffalo Wing Sauce and garlic powder until soft. For the buffalo sauce, I like to use Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce because I mean…what else would you use?? It’s the best wing sauce out there! I then scooped some of the chickpeas onto the middle of the collard green leaf.
Then, I topped the chickpeas with some carrot sticks, celery sticks, and cucumber sticks. I love how the veggie sticks not only give extra flavor but also give a desirable crunch to otherwise soft wrap.
After you add all the fillings onto the green, you roll them up like you would a burrito. But warning, they do fall apart easily. So as I stated above, do eat with napkins or you’ll be sorry!
And the last step before eating these babies is to make the blue cheese sauce. This is a super simple and healthier version of a blue cheese dressing and only requires three ingredients- blue cheese, greek yogurt, and almond milk (or any other non-dairy milk). Pulse in a food processor and voila, a delicious and simple blue cheese sauce!
I am trying hard to not only eat healthier low-carb meals at work but also spend less money. The way to do that is to bring my lunch to work because it saves money and I can make it as healthy as I want. And these are a great example of a meal prep lunch. You can make these on Sunday and bring them into work every day for lunch for the rest of the week- they won’t get soggy in the fridge.
Check out the recipe below! If you try the recipe, I’d love to know your thoughts!
Buffalo Chickpea Collard Green Wraps
Ingredients
Collard Green Wraps
- 2-3 Carrots
- 3-4 Celery Stalks
- 1 Medium Cucumber
- 6 Collard Greens
- Buffalo Chickpeas
- Blue Cheese Sauce to taste
Buffalo Chickpeas
- 2 15- Ounce Cans Chickpeas
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1/2 cup Franks Red Hot Buffalo Sauce
- 2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Blue Cheese Sauce
- 1/2 cup Blue Cheese
- 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
- 3-4 Tablespoons Almond Milk or any other non-dairy milk
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
Collard Green Wraps
- Slice the carrots, celery, and cucumbers into long, skinny sticks and set aside
- Shave off the part of the collard green stem that sticks up so that the whole leaf is even and flat
- Chop off any remaining stem that is longer than the leaf itself
- Heat some water to boil in a pot big enough for the collard green leaves to fit
- Place collard greens in the boiling water and leave for 30 seconds
- Take out and pat dry with paper towels
- Set aside to dry completely
- Once dry, scoop the buffalo chickpeas, vegetable sticks in the middle of the leaf
- Fold the long sides in towards the middle and roll the leaf from the top to the bottom like you would a burrito
- Using a knife, cut collard green wrap in half
- Top with desired amount of blue cheese sauce
- Serve and enjoy!
Buffalo Chickpeas
- Heat a medium sized frying pan on medium heat
- Rinse an drain the chickpeas
- In a bowl, combine the chickpeas, 1/4 cup and 2 Tablespoons of the buffalo sauce (but save around 2 Tablespoons and set aside), garlic powder, and salt and pepper
- Mix the ingredients and place in the frying pan
- Sautee the chickpeas on medium heat until the buffalo sauce is cooked down and the chickpeas are almost dry, soft and tender-about 5 minutes
- Take the chickpeas off of the heat and throw back into the bowl
- Pour the remaining 2 Tablespoons of Buffalo Sauce over the chickpeas and toss until chickpeas are thoroughly coated
- Evenly distribute chickpeas into each collard green wrap
- Serve and Enjoy
Blue Cheese Sauce
- Combine the blue cheese, Greek yogurt, and almond milk into a food processor
- Pulse until smooth
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Spoon into a small serving bowl
- Top desired amount on to the collard green wrap
- Serve and enjoy
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