Best Chickpea Burgers

February 05, 2020

These chickpea burgers are a hugely satisfying plant-based dinner! Here they’re painted with BBQ and served topped with vegan bacon and spicy mayo.

Eating plant based food doesn’t mean giving up the burger! Veggie burgers can be seriously satisfying, and that doesn’t mean processed meat substitutes. These vegan chickpea burgers full of whole foods can be your new go-to! They’re crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a hint of nuance from smoked paprika. Painted them with BBQ sauce and served with shiitake bacon and spicy mayo, they’re pretty darn tasty (if we do say so ourselves). Ready to get cooking?

What’s in these chickpea burgers?

True story: Alex and I tried a vegan burger from one of those popular plant-based meat companies that’s in the news these days. It tasted good, but we both ended up with a stomach ache afterwards. Something about them did a number on us (maybe because we don’t yet understand the effects of this processed food). So it’s back to homemade veggie burgers over here! Not only are these burgers tasty, they’re filled with healthy whole foods.

Here’s what’s in these vegan chickpea burgers (nothing weird, promise!):

Mashed chickpeas: you’ll use a potato masher or fork to mash them by hand
Onion, carrot and red onion: grate these down so they integrate well; you can use a hand grater, food processor or high-speed blender
A little flour: It’s needed to hold these babies together (trust us!). You can use gluten-free flour if you need to, or all-purpose or whole wheat.
Tahini: this sesame paste holds it all together! (What’s tahini?)
Cumin and smoked paprika. Big flavor comes from cumin, and a back-end smoky nuance from smoked paprika.
BBQ sauce, for painting (optional). Use your favorite store-bought version, or our homemade BBQ sauce. (Check the label to find an organic version without high fructose corn syrup.)

They’re pan fried, then baked.

These chickpea burgers are lightly pan-fried to get a crispy crust, then baked to cook them through. Why the two steps? When we tried them baked only, the texture wasn’t quite what we wanted. Pan frying adds a nice crispness to the outside of the burger without it getting too dried out in the oven.

When you make your chickpea burgers, shape them so they’re about 3-inches in diameter and about 3/4-inch thick. This will help them to stay together when pan frying and get an even golden brown. We had a 3-inch round biscuit cutter that we used to shape them this size.

Serve with shiitake bacon for extra wow.

It’s totally optional, but you’ve got some time while the chickpea burgers are on the oven. Why not whip up a unique topping? This shiitake bacon is just that: vegan bacon made out of shiitake mushrooms. It sounds a little odd, but once you taste the salty, smoky flavor, you’ll understand! Since Alex and I first made it as a loaded potato soup topping, I’d been dying to try it on a burger. It’s absolutely worth it! It’s only 5 ingredients, and it’s not hard to do while the burger bake.

Creamy sauce makes chickpea burgers shine! (Or really, any veggie burger.)

These chickpea burgers are made perfect with a creamy sauce. Because veggie burgers don’t have the same natural fat like beef burgers, they can taste dry. You really need to add a creamy sauce to get the right textures on a bun. Here we’ve used Spicy Mayo, which also adds richness making for an overall enhanced experience! Here are a few more creamy sauce toppings you could try:

Yum Yum Sauce This savory sweet drizzle is incredibly tasty, made with mayo, ketchup and spices. (Yum!)
Easy Russian Dressing Basically = Big Mac Sauce. This tangy mayo-based sauce is out of this world good.
Guacamole We love using guac as a creamy, savory sauce to top a vegan burger! (Like in our Grillable Veggie Burger.)

Make ahead and reheating instructions

These vegan chickpea burgers save well, making them great for making ahead! You could meal prep them on a weekend and then refrigerate them for eating throughout the week. Here’s what we’d recommend:

Store in the refrigerator 3 to 4 days. When you reheat them, place them in a 375 oven and reheat until heated through (about 10 minutes or so).
Freeze for 1 to 2 months. These burgers freeze well, so pack them in a sealed container and store for a few months. You can also make a double recipe if you know you’d like leftovers and do the freezing option. Let them thaw in the refrigerator and then reheat as per above.

Ways to serve chickpea burgers

You don’t have to serve these burgers with BBQ sauce, of course! There are lots of great topping suggestions: here are a few ways we thought of:

Mediterranean style. If you eat some dairy, top with Tzatziki, red onion and feta.
Mexican style. Top with Guacamole and Spicy Chipotle Sauce. Oh and Pickled Jalapenos for more heat.
Ranch style. Add Pickled Radishes, lettuce, and slather the bun with Healthy Ranch or Vegan Ranch.

This recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free. For gluten-free, use gluten-free flour.