While I LOVE the flavours in these burgers, they are quite fragile, even with the egg to bind them. I’ve found it’s important not to over-process the chickpeas to help avoid your burgers falling apart in the pan. Just pulse until chopped. The good news is they still taste delicious if they do happen to fall apart.
Chickpea Burgers with Yoghurt Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 can chickpeas 400g / 14oz, drained
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup roasted red capsicum (bell pepper) diced
- 6-8 tablespoons Greek yoghurt
- 2 small cucumbers
Instructions
- Pulse chickpeas and cumin in a food processor for a few seconds or until roughly chopped. You don’t want a smooth puree here.
- Crack egg into a small bowl and whisk lightly. Add egg and pulse again for a few seconds.
- Fold capsicum into the chickpeas by hand so it keeps its shape. Season and using your hands, form into 2 burgers. Pop in the fridge for a few minutes.
- Heat a small fry pan on a medium high heat. Add a little oil and cook burgers for around 3 minutes on each side or until golden. Being careful when turning so they don’t fall apart.
- Meanwhile, stir yoghurt in a small bowl until smooth and season generously. For the salad shave cucumber into ribbons using a vegetable peeler. Season with salt.
- Serve burgers with yoghurt on top and cucumber salad on the side.
Variations
pantry-friendly – yoghurt = almond hummus. Cucumber = steamed frozen greens.
carb lovers / more substantial – serve with burger buns.
carnivore – make chicken burgers instead (use ground chicken instead of making the chickpea patties). Or serve these beef burgers with quick tomato sauce. Or just add bacon.
low carb – roast cashews. Double the recipe. Try beef or chicken burgers.
paleo (grain, legume & dairy-free) – chicken burgers with tahini sauce. Use almond hummus instead of yoghurt.
keto / ultra low carb – chicken burgers.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
chickpeas / ground cumin – keep in the pantry.
egg – will keep in the fridge for a month or so. Or use for another meal.
roasted red peppers – in an unopened jar will last in the pantry for months.
yoghurt – usually has a shelf life of a month or so. Otherwise, have it for another meal like breakfast! Don’t freeze.
Prep Ahead Possibilities
Absolutely! Make burgers as per recipe but don’t add the yoghurt or cucumber. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks or freeze. To serve, warm burgers in the pan with a little oil. Or cook from frozen in the oven (200C / 400F) for 20-30 minutes.
______________________________
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
HI Jules,
Have you or anyone tried to use an air-fryer to cook the chickpea burgers? Thanks,
I haven’t Susanne – but can imagine they would work well.
I made these last week instead of Burgers with Quick Tomato Sauce. Rather than try to manipulate these in a frying pan, I baked them at 200C. Unfortunately I made the mistake of not putting any oil on them at all, which meant that they not only turned out dry, but even stuck to my silicone mat. I had them with tahini sauce because I had no yoghurt, and the combination was oddly astringent. Leftovers wetted down with EVOO and accompanied by avocado were much better.
Oh I hate when things stick Mark – surprised the tahini sauce was too astringent here
I really like the idea of these, as a way of cutting back on the amount of meat we eat. There is plenty of protein in them (I didn’t know chickpeas were so good in the protein department) to meet my needs. I would, however, need to find a different spice than cumin, because that is my least favorite spice flavor. I’m thinking about maybe a combination of coriander and marjoram or sage.
Susan!
Yes chickpeas do have protein BUT the quality (ie types of amino acids) and bio availability is no where near as good as animal protein sources.
As we age we actually need more protein to sustain our muscle mass. And the research linking meat consumption with increased death only applies to people less than 65. For older people meat consumption is linked with decreased mortality. Just something to think about.
But all that being said – yes ground coriander would work or a good curry powder too.
Hope that helps!
Made these for lunch today, using a combo of half coriander, half sage to season. Also followed the reader’s suggestion to add some almond flour, but they still fell apart – they were very difficult to turn. May have added too much almond flour. But they were tasty and filling. Also, I added a bit of rice vinegar to thte yogurt, and splt the yogurt between the cucumbers and the burgers. I’m not sure I’ll make these again. It doesn’t help that I burned my fingers at least twice while trying to turn the burgers… Vegetarian dishes always intrigue me, but I think that interest is starting to wane.
I should retest these baking them in the oven Susan – will take slightly longer BUT will solve the crumbliness problem and save the burnt fingers!
And glad to hear your vegetarian interest is starting to wane – meat is so nutritious!
If I have leftover canned chickpeas, I freeze them in a container with just enough canning liquid to cover – works a treat! Recently I’ve been soaking and boiling dried chickpeas and found I was able to do the same, i.e. put the cooked chickpeas into a container, cover with the cooking liquid and pop in the freezer.
Thanks for sharing Lisa!
Home cooked chickpeas are so lovely to have on hand.
JX
I also added in some flour (chick pea) and fresh herbs (mint, parsley, thyme and chives) to the yoghurt. This recipe was a huge hit for our family 🙂
Yum Susan!
I made a version of these last night and added a bit of flour to help keep them together. You could probably use almond meal or chick pea meal for the same purpose.
Thanks for sharing Laurie 🙂
We’ve got a bell pepper allergy at our house – any ideas for replacements for this? Roasted eggplant maybe?