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So you’ve resolved to expand your healthy menu choices this year. Wonderful! This burger recipe offers a healthier ‘fast food’ lunch option, along with indulgent vegan deliciousness. Fair warning, though: you may not be able to stop after eating just one!
Ingredients
1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
3 cups soaked raw chickpeas
1/2 teaspoon each: garlic powder, onion powder
2 teaspoons each: salt, dried basil, dried oregano, dried parsley
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons veggie broth (such as pre-mixed Better than Bouillon no-chicken broth)
Directions
Soak chickpeas overnight, or quick-soak according to package directions.
Combine oats, chickpeas, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, basil, oregano, parsley, and cayenne in a blender or food processor, and process until you’ve got a pretty fine mealy mixture (though a few visible chickpeas are ok).
Transfer to a large mixing bowl, and stir in the vital wheat gluten, olive oil, and veggie broth. Mix well to combine all ingredients, then use your hands to shape mixture into 8 patties about 3-1/2″ to 4-1/2″ diameter. In a large well-oiled skillet, cook the patties about 5-7 minutes on each side over medium heat, until lightly browned.
Serve on burger buns with hummus, spinach, olives, vegan tzatziki, and avocado slices — or eat plain, straight from the pan!
Production Notes
This recipe works well as a make-ahead dish. After forming the chickpea mixture into patties, place them in a single layer on a large serving dish (or a double layer on a dinner plate, with wax paper or aluminum foil between layers), cover with foil, and refrigerate until ready to cook. They also hold together well enough to grill, if weather conditions where you live are hospitable towards outdoor cooking.
These burgers freeze well, if you want to make a double-batch and save some for later.
Enjoy!
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Image credit: Creative Commons photo by HealthHomeHappy.
Tanya, this looks like a great recipe and I’d like to give it a try. I’m not sure about the “soaked raw chickpeas”. I imagine that chickpeas in a can are cooked, not raw… but when I picture a raw (dried, in my mind – that is the only kind I’ve ever seen) chickpea, even soaked overnight, it is a hard little bugger that would be mighty crunchy.
Can you give me some guidance on this ingredient? Thanks much!
Once you soak, process, and cook them, I promise they’re not crunchy! :) The outside of the burgers do develop a nice crispness, during cooking, but the processed chickpeas aren’t hard after cooking the burger patties — they just make for a nice cohesive, firm texture. If you only have cooked/ canned chickpeas, though, I bet you could use them instead — just drain them well and then omit or reduce the oil and broth, to avoid having a batter that’s too moist… It’d probably make a slightly softer, less ‘meaty’ burger, but the flavor would still be excellent — if you try it that way, please let me know how it turns out!
But if you haven’t tried making falafel or chickpea burgers with ground raw/ soaked chickpeas, I definitely encourage you to give it a whirl. The flavor and texture are a bit different than from pre-cooked peas, and in a way that I find quite happy-making!
If you try this recipe (either with canned or raw chickpeas), please to let me know how it turns out! :)
Thanks, Tanya. I’ll give it a try (eventually – seems like I’ve got a LOT of new recipes!) and will report back. I love both falafel and hummus, but always cook my garbanzos before I use them, so this is new to me (always fun to learn/try something new).
I know what you mean — so many recipes, so little time! ;-)
What recipes do you like, for falafel? There are some really good ones out there starting with raw chickpeas — if you try this recipe and like it, definitely explore making falafel from raw/ soaked chickpeas too: YUMMY!
Very succulent looking burgers!!
Thanks Linda! I was happy with how they turned out. :)