We occasionally link to goods offered by vendors to help the reader find relevant products. Some of these may be affiliate based, meaning we earn small commissions (at no additional cost to you) if items are purchased. Here is more about what we do.
Blogging provides lots of gifts, but the opportunity to connect with souls you may have never met otherwise has got to be my favorite.
A perfect example of this would be the very lovely Erin Alderson from Naturally Ella. I can’t talk about Erin without gushing because she is at once an incredibly talented recipe developer and photographer, and a genuinely kind and thoughtful person.
The Easy Vegetarian Kitchen, available on Amazon
These burgers are an adaptation of Erin’s original recipe, taken from her book The Easy Vegetarian Kitchen.
I made the easy choice of making one of Erin’s own recipes for this article because, as you may remember, Erin’s first book, The Homemade Flour Cookbook, is the one that I raved about here awhile back, and this cookbook is my new favorite.
I just can’t think of a resource anywhere that I trust as readily as Erin when it comes to vegetarian recipe ideas. Everything she makes looks gorgeous, feels approachable, and 100% of the time turns out to be a great dish when I try it at home.
The Homemade Flour Cookbook, available on Amazon
The book is structured around such a brilliant concept – recipe formulas for kitchen staples like omelets, salads, flatbreads, and risotto, each spun four different ways to show how creativity in the kitchen can work.
The fact that it’s all vegetarian is even more impressive because it’s like someone has finally offered the perfect answer to the question, “What else can we do with fruit and vegetables?” In keeping with Erin’s style, this info is offered to the home cook in a super approachable way.
Erin says in her book’s headnote that she’s kind of picky about veggie burgers, which is something anyone who’s had a bad version of a veggie burger will understand.
They’re often flavorless, have a weird texture, or – a super common complaint – they easily fall apart.
I love trying homemade alternative patties, from winter squash to sweet potato. And Erin has her own tricks up her sleeve to make them extra tasty. To remedy the usual bland recipe, Erin uses a chickpea-based recipe that comes together quickly in the food processor, then forms that mixture into patties and bakes the mounds before grilling or frying on the stove until golden brown.
The preliminary bake time firms up the burgers, making them much more stable and able to hold their shape. The final grill or quick fry creates a deliciously crisp exterior for a satisfying bite.
We like to enjoy ours with lettuce, ketchup, and Dijon. But feel free to experiment with your choice of toppings – sliced ripe avocado, aquafaba mayonnaise, pickles, onion, cashew chipotle sauce, melted cheese… the options are nearly endless!
Don’t worry because you’re going to want to make this recipe over and over again. Maybe you’ll get to try them all.
Print
Chickpea Veggie Burger
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 burgers 1x
Description
No crumbly veggie burgers here! These spinach-filled chickpea burgers hold together like a dream, and are filled with healthy ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1/4 small yellow onion
- 1/2 cup chickpeas, cooked or canned
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup packed spinach
- 1 teaspoon canola oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place onion in a food processor and pulse until chopped into small pieces.
- Add chickpeas, breadcrumbs, flour, egg, sunflower seeds, olive oil, oregano, paprika, and salt to the food processor. Pulse until combined, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.
- Add spinach and pulse again until well combined.
- Form batter into four patties and place on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Place canola oil in a medium-sized frying pan and heat over medium-high. Place baked patties in pan and cook 2 minutes per side, or until lightly browned. Or, fire up the grill and crisp up your burgers over the coals instead.
- Enjoy immediately. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
Recipe adapted from The Easy Vegetarian Kitchen by Erin Alderson.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Burger
- Method: Stovetop, Grilling
- Cuisine: Vegetarian
Keywords: chickpea, burger, spinach, vegetarian
Cooking By the Numbers…
Step 1 – Preheat Oven and Measure Ingredients
Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Measure out all of your ingredients.
Step 2 – Chop Onion
Place the onion in your food processor and pulse until it’s chopped into small pieces. You don’t have to worry about the tears with this method!
Step 3 – Pulse Remaining Ingredients
Add the canned chickpeas, breadcrumbs, all-purpose flour, egg, sunflower seeds, olive oil, oregano, paprika, and salt to the food processor. Pulse until combined, stopping to scrape down the sides periodically.
Add the spinach and pulse again until well combined. The batter should hold together and be slightly sticky.
Step 4 – Form Patties and Bake
Form the batter into four patties and place on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Step 5 – Brown Patties and Serve
Place the canola oil in a medium-sized frying pan and heat over medium-high. Place the baked patties in the pan and cook for about 2 minutes per side, or until lightly browned.
Alternatively, you can brown the veggie burgers on the grill, heated to medium for 2-3 minutes per side.
Serve immediately! These burgers are great with a serving of sweet potato fries on the side. Barbecue sauce, green goddess dressing, or homemade tzatziki would also be divine, for slathering on those patties and dipping too!
Using Up Leftover Chickpeas
While having partially used cans is often my pet peeve – I’m looking at you, pumpkin recipes – chickpeas are thankfully easy to use up.
From dessert hummus and roasted chickpeas to grain bowls and vegetarian stuffed peppers, be sure to put these legumes to good use!
And don’t forget that you can save the liquid from the can as well. If you have a few extra minutes to whip up a batch of aquafaba meringues for dessert, I’m sure you won’t hear anyone complaining.
What are your favorite veggie burger toppings? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to give this recipe a rating after you’ve tried it!
Looking for more burger recipes? Whether you’re vegan, pescatarian, or an omnivore, we’ve got you covered! Here are a few of our favorites:
- Portobello Burgers with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
- Salmon Burgers with Green Goddess Dressing
- Rosemary-Garlic Hamburgers
Photos by Kelli McGrane, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details. Originally published on April 27, 2015. Last updated on July 6, 2020. With additional writing and editing by Kelli McGrane and Allison Sidhu.
Nutritional information derived from a database of known generic and branded foods and ingredients and was not compiled by a registered dietitian or submitted for lab testing. It should be viewed as an approximation.
About Shanna Mallon
Shanna Mallon is a freelance writer who holds an MA in writing from DePaul University. Her work has been featured in a variety of media outlets, including The Kitchn, Better Homes & Gardens, Taste of Home, Houzz.com, Foodista, Entrepreneur, and Ragan PR. In 2014, she co-authored The Einkorn Cookbook with her husband, Tim. Today, you can find her digging into food topics and celebrating the everyday grace of eating on her blog, Go Eat Your Bread with Joy. Shanna lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with Tim and their two small kids.
A good veggie burger is one of my favorite meals. I can’t wait to try Erin’s recipe!
Hope you enjoy!
Thank you so much, Shanna and I’m so glad the internet has brought us together! I hope it’s not too longer before our babes are able to meet in person (I’m still in a bit of shock that we’re only a month apart- so crazy!) I hope your remaining pregnancy goes as well as mine has been going ( just naps, lots of naps!)
And thank you SO much for the book love- I’m glad you’re enjoying it!
Erin! I’m the worst napper! But I will tell myself it’s good, haha. So excited to see your little guy SO SOON! Congratulations from both of us! : )
These look and sound perfect! Such a sweet post, too. I just love this community!
Me too and thanks to you and Melissa and Alex and Sonja for making this shower happen! Great idea!
This burger looks too good! And so perfect for celebrating Erin!
Aw, thanks, Stephanie!
How sweet! I love the friends that I have made through blogging, and the way they have opened up my world 🙂 This is such a gorgeous thing for a group of friends to be able to do for one another.
I can’t wait to make these veggie burgers sometime soon and share them with some friends 🙂
Right? I love the blog world and the sweet community it creates!
I’m deeply in love with the color of these burgers Shanna! Erin is a real gem, isn’t she? All the love to you, xo!
I thought the same thing! So pretty! And yes she absolutely is!
It’s so hard to find a good veggie burger but if anyone knows how to make one, I’m pretty sure it’s Erin!
haha that’s exactly what I figured — and it’s true!
I love the idea of a virtual baby shower! This is great! And Shanna, I’m so excited that your little one is on his way too…! So happy for you & Tim 🙂 Life as a kid will be pretty amazing with you both as parents!
xoxo,
F.
Thanks, F! I hope we can take good care of him and I’m already so thankful for the kind cloud of people out there who are encouraging us in the prep days, including you here. Thank you!
Can this be made with a flax egg?
Good question, Samantha, and while I don’t know because I haven’t tried it, I’d say give it a go! Or you could reach out to Erin at naturally ella and see what she thinks. : )
This looks fantastic and, thankfully a solution for the oh so common fall apart veggie burger patties! A lovely green patty for a super healthy veggie meal. Thanks for sharing!