Chickpea Veggie Burgers with quinoa are a great, fresh alternative to a store-bought frozen pattie.
Chickpea Veggie Burgers are great for summertime barbeques or poolside eats. Pile some sweet potato fries, salad, or fresh fruit next to this delicious burger and enjoy the perfect weather with family and friends. They are just as filling as any hamburger. Healthier for you too.
Chickpea Veggie Burgers are my go to burger lately. Crunchy-on-the-outside patties, spicy and soft on the inside. I always have to make extra as these disappear quickly. I have been trying different veggie burger recipes and I have had some pretty spectacular fails. Some of them crumbled if I even looked at them sideways. A few came out firmer but too bland for my taste. Trying to find that perfect combo of texture and flavor is tricksy.
Some of the ways you can get the patties to bind together better:
- You can make a “flax egg” by combining 1 Tbs. ground flax seed and 3 Tbs. warm water and letting it sit until it gels. Add this to the mix last and it does a good job of decreasing the mush factor
- Arrowroot powder is a starch used as a thickener, much like cornstarch. Add to the veggie burger mix to thicken and bind. Arrowroot is my new fave thing, I use it in place of cornstarch in pretty much all recipes.
- Add rolled oats if the mixture is too wet, or if it sticks to your hands excessively. It is hella hard to shape patties when it’s stuck to your hands. Ideally. rolling the mixture into a ball, then flattening it into rounds should be fairly easy.
- Mash two-thirds of the beans, only lightly mash the rest. This may help the pattie hold its shape.
I got a brand new rice cooker that actually has a setting for quinoa. If you don’t have a rice cooker you can go the stove top route.
Quinoa: This is how I usually cook quinoa: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, add the quinoa and cook for 10 minutes. Drain. For these burgers, I have been cooking a cup at a time, which produces over 2 cups of cooked quinoa, and I use 1 cup here and save the rest. If you want to be exacting, use about 1/3 cup dry quinoa to get 1 cup cooked.
Suggestions for toppings on the Chickpea Veggie Burgers:
- Grilled vegetables like red bell pepper, green chilies, onions, or mushrooms
- Coleslaw with shallots, fennel, cider vinegar, and red pepper flakes
- Tempeh bacon & fresh spinach
- Avocado & sprouts or microgreens with chipotle mayo
- Tzatziki, hummus, sweet/hot mustard or sriracha aioli
- Pickled red onions & Sweet Baby Ray’s bbq sauce
- Chao cheese & sun-dried tomatoes
This list is endless, whatever food you like can be piled on. French fries? sure, why not? Fried green tomatoes? Go for it!
- 1 cup chickpeas rinsed & drained
- 1 cup cooked quinoa (I used tri-color)
- ½ cup red onion roughly chopped
- ⅓ cup carrot chopped small
- 3 scallions, ends trimmed and roughly chopped
- 1 small zucchini, grated
- ⅓ cup flour
- 1 egg replacer
- 2 Tsp.basil
- 2 Tsp. cilantro
- 2 Tsp. kosher salt
- 1 Tsp cracked black pepper
- 1½ Tsp. smoked paprika
- crushed red pepper flakes to taste
- 2 to 4 Tbsp. oil. One for each set of two patties to fry in
- Place the drained chickpeas (on a paper towel to dry them as best you can} ,
- Add chickpeas, quinoa, onion, scallions, spices & herbs in a food processor & blend 10 seconds
- Add egg replacer and flour, blend a few more seconds.
- (or use a masher until blended).
- Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Blend in the grated zucchini
- Use a ½-cup measuring cup to portion the mixture into 6 patties.
- The patties can be wrapped and stored in the fridge for a half hour or so, to set
- Or they can be saved in the refrigerator 3 to 4 days until ready cook
- Heat a pan over medium high heat.
- For two patties, add 1 tablespoon oil.
- Cook for 4 minutes adjusting the heat as necessary. Flip & cook for 4 minutes more
- Or bake them at 375 on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet for 30 mins. flip after 15
