This spiced chickpea burger is a year in the making – seriously. I first tried this recipe a year ago and have come back to it only a handful of times since then. I blame a broken hand, our across-the-Pacific Ocean move, and life for not sharing it before now. I perfected this recipe way back in January of this year and am just now sharing it.
I have three solid bean burger recipes that even my meat-eating husband enjoys, and this is one of them.
Before I give you the spiced chickpea burger recipe, I want to say that I use a mortar and pestle and an immersion blender for this recipe. If you don’t have either of those, a coffee grinder, blender, or food processor will work fine. Just make sure to wipe out your coffee grinder first! I don’t think coffee grounds would taste good in this particular recipe.
Spiced Chickpea Burger Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ medium white onion chopped small
- 1 medium carrot chopped small
- 2 ½ cups chickpeas cooked
- ½ cup rolled oats coarsely ground
- 1 medium egg beaten
- ½ tablespoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon garlic granulated
- 12 turns fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 dash salt
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil for frying
- ½ medium orange optional
- ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon dried tarragon
- ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
Instructions
- Grind up the last 4 spices, coriander, through fennel, using a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder and set aside.
- Taste your chickpeas. If thechickpeas are not salty enough for your liking, you will need to add more to the burger mix. If they are nice and salty, you know you will need to add less (or none) later on. This is important! Please taste your chickpeas before adding the raw egg.
- Add cooked chickpeas to a large bowl and mash with a potato masher. A few whole chickpeas remaining are fine.
- Add chopped onion, carrots, beaten egg, zest, and ground oats to chickpeas and stir until combined.
- Add garlic, black pepper, ground spices, and salt, and stir well.
- Heat a large skillet over medium to medium-low heat and add a bit of oil to the pan. Start with less; you can always add more later. You want enough so the burgers will be crispy on the outside, but not too much that they are greasy.
- Shape into patties and add them to the hot skillet. I usually can fit about 4 at a time.
- Cook about 3 minutes per side, adding more oil as necessary. Make sure to keep an eye on the heat so they don’t burn and your oil doesn’t smoke.
- I usually find 3 minutes on medium-low is an excellent time to flip. Lift a couple and see if they’re browned before flipping.
- After cooking for about 3 minutes on each side, remove to a paper towel-lined plate and let rest.
- When ready to serve, squeeze a bit of orange juice on top of each burger – this is optional. You’ll still have a nice orange flavour from the zest.