Are you scratching your head wondering how it’s July like I am? I say this every single year and I never seem to figure it out. If you do, let me know.
My Canada Day long weekend was a nice mix of work and play! I spent much of the weekend recipe testing, as I tend to do these days. I nailed down 3 more recipes for the book, which I think puts me just shy of the half way mark – as far as recipes go at least. Other weekend activities included celebrating a friend’s 30th birthday, hiking, running, cleaning/laundry, groceries, and enjoying Canada Day fireworks.
Here are some fav pictures from hiking this weekend.
(Hiking with Ange!)
And a friend in the water…
We also saw 3 snakes in the span of 2 days of hiking. They were just tiny gardener garter snakes, but in my mind they might as well have been boa constrictors! Not surprisingly, I didn’t get any pics because I was too busy pushing Eric into the snakes so I could save myself from imminent death. I’m not proud.
Something I am proud of? These recipes I whipped up for dinner this weekend.
Click the link below for the step-by-step photos and the recipes!
While it’s been a long time since I’ve featured a new veggie burger on the blog (see: our perfect veggie burger from July 13, 2011), I’ve been testing them behind-the-scenes over the past year and I’ve picked up some tricks along the way. These burgers pack in 6 colourful vegetables, whole grain brown rice, protein-filled chickpeas, ground flax, seeds, and some spices to round it all out. The ingredient list is impressive and the taste is even better.
I added my favourite BBQ sauce- Stubb’s – to give the burgers a lil somethin’-somethin’. The “batter” is downright delicious before it’s even cooked. If you don’t want to make patties out of this I’m sure you could just sauté it and stuff it in a burrito. Or scramble it with potato for a breakfast hash…now that would be great.
When making veggie burgers in the past, I’ve often used my food processor. While it’s quick, I tend to over-process the ingredients leaving the burgers without much texture (aka: mushy). This time, I decided to chop & mash everything by hand (and give my arms a good workout while I was at it!). They turned out exactly as I hoped.
I also cooked the chickpeas from scratch because I digest them much better when soaked overnight in water and cooked with a piece of kombu. If you are short on time you can also use the quick-soak method or simply use canned chickpeas. I’ll explain the options more in the directions below.
The trick when making everything by hand is to chop the veggies very small and mash the beans and brown rice until it’s nice and sticky. If you leave the veggies and beans too large the patties won’t stick together, so make sure you mash it up while leaving some chunks for texture.
Brown rice is my preferred grain of choice in veggie burgers because of its magical binding powers. It does a great job holding it all together; I’ve found it can work even better than flax eggs.
It should look similar to this batter below. It’s sticky, but still has a chunky texture. I think I ate a whole patty’s worth straight from the bowl…!
When you shape the patties, really pack the dough in tightly to help it stick. If the patties aren’t holding together you probably need to mash it up more. You could also try adding more breadcrumbs as it will help bind things.
These veggie burgers held together great on the skillet. No cracking at all. I haven’t tried them on the BBQ, but I assume they would hold up if handled carefully.
Spicy BBQ Chickpea Burgers
Yield
7 to 8 patties
Soak time
8 hours
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Vegan veggie burgers are a sensitive bunch, so take caution if adapting this recipe. If you enjoy Our Perfect Veggie Burger recipe, you should also love of this one. This burger is less dry than the former with more moisture overall. As I mentioned above, you can probably use a food processor to speed things up, just be careful not to over-process the ingredients as the vegetables can release a lot of water when processed.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry/uncooked chickpeas (or 2 & 1/4 cups cooked chickpeas) + kombu (optional)
- 1/2 cup dry brown rice (or 1 & 1/4 cup cooked rice)
- 3 tbsp sunflower seeds, toasted
- 1 tbsp pepita seeds, toasted
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup diced red pepper
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 1 small carrot, grated
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
- 3 tbsp BBQ sauce
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, or more as needed (use GF breadcrumbs if necessary)
- 2-3 tbsp ground flax
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- Fine grain sea salt, to taste (I used 1 tsp + Herbamare)
Directions
- Methods to prepare chickpeas: 1) Soak dry chickpeas overnight, or for at least 8 hours, in a large bowl filled with water. When ready, drain and rinse the chickpeas. Place in a medium-sized pot with 3 cups of fresh water. Cover with lid and bring to a boil. Remove lid and place a small piece (~1” x 2”) of kombu (optional) into the pot with 1/8th tsp salt. Cover again and simmer on low-medium for about 50 minutes, watching carefully after about 35-40. When cooked, chickpeas will be tender and some may have split open. Drain and rinse. Discard kombu. 2) Alternatively, you can use canned chickpeas or 3) the quick-soak method: Add 3 cups water and 1 cup dry chickpeas into a pot. Cover, bring to a boil, and immediately turn heat off. Keep covered and let sit for 1 hour. After 1 hour, drain and rinse chickpeas. Add into rinsed pot with 3 cups fresh water. Cook the same as method 1) above.
- To cook rice: In a strainer, rinse the rice. Add 1/2 cup dry rice into a pot with 1 cup water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover with lid, and simmer for about 25-30 minutes, watching closely and giving it a stir after 20. Add a touch more water if necessary.
- Toast seeds: Preheat oven to 300°F. Toast sunflower and pepita seeds for about 12 minutes, or until lightly golden in colour. Set aside.
- Chop vegetables. Finely chop the garlic, peppers, onion, and parsley. Grate carrot. Stir in half the salt. Set aside.
- Mash chickpeas and rice: When chickpeas are ready, drain and rinse. Add the cooked chickpeas and rice into a large bowl. Make sure your rice is HOT as it helps it stick together and bind. Do not use cold rice. With a potato masher, mash very well, leaving some chunks for texture. You will need to use a lot of elbow grease to mash this up, but you want it really sticky so it’s worth it! You can also pulse in a food processor.
- Mix it all up: Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. With a wooden spoon, stir in the chopped vegetables into the mashed chickpea/rice mixture. Now stir in the seeds, BBQ sauce, breadcrumbs, and ground flax. Add the salt and red pepper flakes to taste.
- Shape patties & cook: Form 6-8 patties and pack dough together tightly. Spray the preheated skillet with oil. Cook the patties for about 4-5 minutes per side over medium-high heat (time will vary based on your temp). Burgers should be browned and firm when ready. You can also try grilling the patties (try pre-baking patties for 15 mins in the oven at 350°F before grilling).
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
To go with the burgers I also made these amaaaaazing crispy baked fries! I tested a few different methods and this one was by far the best.
Lightened Up Crispy Baked Fries
Yield: ~2 servings
Ingredients:
- 2 large Yukon Gold potatoes (0.5 kg/1.1 lb), sliced into wedges
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/2-3/4 tsp fine grain kosher salt (I used 3/4 tsp), to taste
- 1 tbsp cooking oil (use oil safe for high heat such as canola, sunflower, safflower, and sesame)
- Herbamare, for seasoning
1. Preheat oven to 425F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly spray with oil.
2. Wash potatoes and pat dry. Slice potatoes lengthwise into quarters. Slice each quarter in half (or thirds if really large).
3. Grab a small kitchen garbage bag. Add cornstarch and salt inside the bag. Add potato wedges, twist top of bag to secure, and then shake the bag vigorously until the potatoes are coated with the cornstarch and salt mixture.
4. Leave potato wedges in the bag. Now drizzle in 1 tbsp oil, secure bag again, and shake until coated.
5. Place wedges on the baking sheet, with at least 3/4-inch between each one. Spacing them too close together may result in less crispy fries.
6. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven and flip each one. Bake for another 10-20 minutes more. We like ours quite brown and crispy so we baked them for about 32 minutes total. Fries will get soft with time so serve immediately.
aaaaand last but not least, a pretty Canada Day dessert. I figured it was better to give you a burger & fries recipe today than a Canada Day dessert recipe two days late.
Have a wonderful Fourth of July to my American readers! Anyone have any fun plans?
I whipped up a batch of these this morning to serve at a BBQ later today. I made a few changes: used the food processor to chop everything, increased the bread crumbs to 1/2 a cup (by accident, but it seemed to work), used no-salt seasoning instead of the salt, and used 1/2 can of chopped green chilies instead of the jalapeno (it’s what I had on hand). I can’t wait to serve them to my friends tonight!
Those were the BEST veggie burgers I have ever had…. and I can’t believe I made them! Thanks for the recipe and giving me confidence that I can conquer this ever nagging issue of making a veggie burger that doesn’t fall apart. Your food and blog is truly amazing. We are not vegan but I love cooking your recipes so maybe we will work our way towards it!
Thanks for this! made the burger and the fries tonight and both were divine!
This was one of the first posts of yours that I’d read, and I finally tried the recipe a week or two ago. I was a little curious how they would turn out because I’d never tried to make my own veggie burgers before – they are so amazingly good! I love them! Super tasty. I put most of them in the freezer and just pop one in a to-go container for work for a really quick lunch that leaves me hugely satisfied. Thank you!
made the chickpea burgers for supper. we LOVED them. thanks for recipe.
Dear Angela,
I will make the burgers tomorrow, prep and freeze them for later this month. I plan however to put the kombu, diced, in the mixture instead of onions. Would you perhaps know whether the mixture will stick together though?
I’m not sure Maria. Im sure if it was really diced small it would be fine!
Also, I wouldnt suggest freezing the chickpea burgers raw…as I mentioned in the post I had trouble with them breaking after thawing. I think next time I will cook them all on a baking sheet, cool, and then freeze. I hope to do a post on it soon!
Thank you Angela for reminding that they break after thawing! Missed that part… I prepared them almost the same way as you did, using the food processor to blend the chickpeas and rice – it became a VERY sticky dough. Had no trouble assembling the patties, though lost some dough due to sticky fingers! Let them bake in the oven a wee bit too long, I gues (45 minutes, turning a couple of times) but I wasn’t sure what the end result should be. Putting them in the freezer as we speak; will be cooking them later just to give them a crusty touch!
Thanks!
I made these burgers today and they were delicious! I didn’t have BBQ sauce so I used sweet chilli and omitted the jalapeno for a less spicy version. It is just starting to get warm here and I will definitely be eating these all summer!
Does long grain rice work? I rarely have short grain, but I know it’s stickier than long grain and I hate when veggie burgers fall apart!
ok, well maybe b/c I used canned chickpeas and leftover (cold) rice…. my burgers did not stay together AT ALL. It was pretty much a stir fry in the pan after one flip. Disappointing. And I did use the food processor to break it down smaller since it was way too hard with the masher. They tasted amazing, but it was sad all that hard work and then to not be a burger at all. Any tips?
Hey Anne, I’m so sorry to hear that! My guess is that it was the cold rice. I think the hot rice really helps it stick together. I will have to note this in my recipe as a tip. I hope the next one goes better for you!
Just made these and they are by FAR the best tasting veggie burgers EVER! I have made alot of veggie burgers and these are the BEST ones ever! Thanks so much for the recipe!
THANK YOU for this recipe! I made these burgers tonight and my husband and I both loved them. It was my first time making homemade veggie burgers, and I was surprised at how easy they were to make and how perfectly they turned out. Love your recipes, love your blog ~ Thanks for everything!
I just made these burgers for supper and they are soo good! Thank you for the recipe!
Oh cool, I bookmarked this, going to shop for some vegetables and try making these veggie burgers soon, they look good
Hi! These look SO GOOD. I was wondering though if you think they’d turn out okay using the following substitutions (to align with my pantry):
Use 1 cup dried great northern or pinto beans instead of chickpeas.
Use 4 tbsp sunflower seeds and no pepita seeds.
Omit the jalapeno.
Use dried parsley.
And if I do all that, are there any suggestions you have for me to make them turn out okay?
I live in an area where it is VERY hard to get many fresh ingredients or ingredients outside the widely used ones.
Thanks!
I made this recently in lieu of my standard black been veggie burgers. I was impressed by the binding power of the hot rice – these really held together better than any veggie burger I’ve made before. The flavor itself was a little on the mild side for my taste, despite the name. Next time I might try to throw in the seeds from the jalapeno. This recipe seems well suited to chipotle and adobe as well. Sriracha would probably do fine in a pinch.
The downside to this recipe is that it’s a lot of work, but since it yielded 6 burgers, most of which are in my freezer, at least I’m set for a while.
Angela, I just made these for my husband and I and they were excellent. While more labor-intensive than I’m used to, I have learned that the chopping is well worth it! lol. Great, balanced burgers. We wrapped them in warm Rudi’s tortillas with greens, vegan mayo, ketchup, dijon mustard, a little sliced red onion, and pickle. YUM! Thank you for the excellent recipe. :)
Hi Angela. Can you please share me with me what type of bread/buns you use when you make your sandwiches and burgers? Being that you are a vegan, I was wondering if you have any specific kinds.
TIA.
Hi April, I don’t have a go-to brand yet, but we normally buy bakery buns and just check they don’t have animal products in them.
I tried this veggie burger recipe last night… The aroma as well as the flavor were amazing but I did have trouble keeping them together. Needless to say I was a little sad but those fries made up for it. I did use sweet potatoes for the fries and they were fantastic. I wanted to make my own burger buns but have failed to find a good recipe, any suggestions?
I made these burgers tonight, they turned out perfectly! so pleased with them, taste great and held together so well. The only thing that was different was the cooking time, for some reason mine took about 30 mins to cook!
I am in charge of the weekly cooking projects for my son’s Kindergarten class, and I am committed to keeping each week’s projects in tune with our curriculum and/or what our class garden is producing, as well as keeping it allergy free and vegan, so I do not make anything with gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts, peanuts, or soy. Everything is also non-GMO and organic. This week we contniued discussing America as Our Country, so I wanted to make an all-American meal of hamburgers. I used this recipe as a guide to instead make healthy vegan burgers, and they were a hit with the 5- and 6-year olds! One little girly shyly asked me if she could have a copy of the recipe. We served it with buns, lettuce and organic ketchup. I replaced the BBQ sauce you called for with organic ketchup in the recipe, and didn’t add the jalapeno or red pepper flakes. We cooked them in a frying pan in the classroom, and they were perfect! We also shared one with the principal and other parents because we had so many left over. We doubled this recipe and served the burgers in mini size as sliders, so we had at least 45 burgers to share. I also processed all the veggies in my cuisinart and drained them because so much water content came out. I used raw sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and they were so good. This was my first venture with veggie burgers, and these were perfect! My husband co-teaches with me, and he now has one more fabulous recipe under his belt. Thank you!! I would try your perfect veggie burger, but it has nuts, so it scared me away. If you have a good substitute for nuts, we’ll try that one too. My son can eat almonds, but that’s it. Thank you again! Your recipes are always tried and true.
These burgers were soooo good. I had mine in a collard leaf with some turnip fries on the side…mmmmmm. :)
I used a cup of dry oats with a touch of almond milk instead of rice and breadcrumbs, and it worked beautifully. And I baked ’em, too. This recipe is so adaptable it’s crazy. Thanks, Angela!
This recipe ROCKS!! These are my favorite bean burgers– very flavorful and delicious.
I made this tonight and loved it! It was totally labor intensive, and I am famous for using every dish in the kitchen…husband is still cleaning up in a happy way which is testimony to his appreciation of the dish! Luckily I made double and freezing the rest for Ron (Australian for “later on”)
Hi Angela!
Do you have the nutritional information for this? It helps when adding it to a food diary, such as My fitness pal!
Thanks so much :)
Ashley
I made these for my boyfriend and I this weekend and they were amazing! So glad to have leftovers.
Additionally, I did the hand chopping and I am so glad. The texture was superb. Thanks for such a great recipe!
http://instagram.com/p/Wb9K5mpjhn/
http://instagram.com/p/Wb_ePNJjjK/
What is that dessert? Is the recipe on your webpage? You need to make a cookbook! All of your recipes are delicious…compliments coming from a seasoned cook!
OMG these burgers are THE BEST!!!! I LOVE THEM SOOOO MUCH!! I have made them 3 times and every time, I take a bite and cannot stop saying “OH MY GOSH THESE ARE SO GOOD” LOL….omg….I honestly don’t know what else to say but if you are not eating these you are MISSING OUT BIG TIME!!!!!!!!!!! Added some avo and spinach on some Dave’s Killer Bread… OHHHHH MY GOSHHHHHH THE BEST EVERRRR!! Thank you so much for sharing!!!!
I made these burgers last night and warmed one up for lunch today. Yum yum! I did struggle with flipping them and may try baking them next time, but I am definitely a fan. I skipped the jalapeno and red pepper flakes due to a co-worker’s delicate palate, but I will spice them up next tim.
Hi! Thanks for the recipe!! But I need an answer ASAP!
I’m going for the canned chickpea cuz I’m on a time crunch and the directions are confusing me… Do I need to boil them…? I know there’s option 1, 2 and 3 but it read to me that 2 and 3 were the same…? Please get back to me ASAP!
Thanks so much:-)
Hi Heather, Nope, no need to boil the canned chickpeas – enjoy!
HI, I made your burgers two nights ago. They are delicious! Tonight we had them again as leftovers. Ummm..yeah, I did manage to eat a fair bit of the raw mix before cooking also :-) Will definitely make these again. Thankyou so much for the recipe.
Do you know if these freeze well?
I made the fries tonight for dinner, they were great! I used regular ol’ russet white potatoes, and they still came out very good.
Just about to whip these up today, and was wondering if brown jasmine rice would work okay? I’m really enjoying all the great recipes on your site; the chickpea salad wraps I prepared yesterday were fabulous, and your photographs are spectacular…great job!
Hi Linda, I’ve only tried it with the regular brown rice, so I’m not sure. But let me know if you do try it!
Hi! I too have had great difficulty in finding a decent veggie burger recipe, especially one that you can BBQ! In the summer it is especially nice, and store bought ones are just never good enough. So today I gave this recipe a try, and did so with baking the patties for 18 min @ 350 before putting them on the BBQ and they turned out AMAZING! (I probably could have added a little more spice to taste) but the texture was perfect and they did not fall apart! Great recipe!! :)
Angela,
I just have to say, wow. These burgers were fantastic. My husband and I have been experimenting with veggie burgers, and these were the best to date.
He and a friend had gone for a 300km bike ride on Saturday. I made the veggie burgers, some zuchini fries (with bbq saude mixed with dutch mayo as a dip) and a salad with watermelon and feta for dinner. It was all amazing, and these burgers were top. The boys each had 2 and I had one.
My husband and I on Sunday had signed up for an Olympic triathlon, so the leftover burgers were a perfect dinner following the race! Thank you. These were amazing. The tip with the brown rice was top. I had leftover brown rice so just heated it in the microwave and it worked like a charm. Thanks again!
Angela, I have been a regular reader of your blog for about 4 years now, but I only just now made a homemade vegan burger! It was absolutely delicious, and I added more of a kick by using serrano peppers instead of jalepenos and creating a sriracha ketchup to go on top. Loved it!!!
Hi Lauren, so glad you enjoyed the burgers! They are a staple in our house. I love the idea of sriracha ketchup too.
THESE BURGERS ARE AMAZING! I’m a new vegetarian and was looking for an awesome veggie burger recipe. I’m picky with veggie burgers and was skeptical about these because I’ve had a lot of bad ones, so I only made a half recipe. I tasted the ‘dough’ before I formed the patties and could not stop eating it! Then I I fried it up all crisp and delicious, and devoured it like I hadn’t eaten in days. I froze the 3 remaining patties and I can’t wait to eat those guys up. Thank you so much for this recipe, you’ve made me a veggie burger believer!
Hi!
I am new to your blog and absolutely love it. Once my summer schedule slows down a bit I have a ton of recipes I want to try. I am looking forward to your cookbook. For these veggie burgers do you think black beans or cannelini beans would work instead of chick peas? Also, what about quinoa instead of brown rice?
Yes I think those beans would work fine. I wouldn’t sub the rice for quinoa though as the rice is used as a binder in this recipe. enjoy!
Eating one right now- YUM!
I made the baked fries tonight and they were AMAZING! also helpful that they are gluten free with using corn starch :) thank you for sharing!!
These look great. I have never had a recipe that worked. One question. I did not understand step six. Do I heat it all up in a skillet and then form patties?
These were DELICIOUS! I shared them with my omni parents, who were amazed by how good they were (and each begged to have a second burger). I couldn’t get the burgers to be mush-free, but they certainly were cooked throughout. I did end up cooking them on the skillet for a at least 5 minutes on both sides, if not more, in order to get them firmer and crispier.
They were also really (pleasantly) surprisingly quick! The only things that slowed me down were grating the carrot and realizing my mini food processor blades were too dull to mince the red bell pepper. It all turned out well in the end! :)
My son loved the chickpea burgers Thank you so much for your recipes. I love Almond tuna so does my daughter.
We made the burgers tonight. They held up so well. You are a genius! We followed your advice about chopping b/c I usually cuisinart everything. This is really head and shoulders above many other homemade and very mushy (though flavorful) recipes for bean burgers I’ve tried in the past from other sites. You’ve got some vegan mojo:) Didn’t add the jalapeno or pepper flakes b/c my daughter doesn’t like spicy so just went with paprika, cumin, and coriander in keeping with the whole garbanzo flavor. We can’t do the regular store bought BBQ so just put tomato paste with lemon, honey, oregano, and salt. Thanks again Angela!!
I used some ground rolled oats in place of the brown rice, and didn’t have red pepper or parsley, but these were still totally delicious. Thanks for the fantastic recipe!
Made this for a vegan dinner with a bunch of skeptics. It turned out AWESOME! The skeptics all had seconds and even took left over patties home.
The recipe works great. I didn’t have/couldn’t find pepita seeds but it didn’t matter. I also did a side of sweet potato fries. I’m definitely keeping this one and going to make it again. Thank you!!!!
Is there a recipe for the Canada Day desert? Looks as though its ice cream in a cup of some sort… Possibly a cupcake with no innards? I’m no novice baker – but there clearly is no instructions here…..
Yum! I made the burgers for lunch today! I replaced the rice with lentils! Delicious! And my husband approved too!
Hi! I recently discovered your website and have made 3 of your recipes this week. I made the tex mex spaghetti squash and it was so yummy(my first time having spaghetti squash too)! And yesterday I made these amazing veggie burgers. They took a lot of time to make(i’m not very efficient with a knife) but they were seriously the best veggie burgers I have ever had! I’m so excited that I have more in the freezer to have another time :) Oh and I made the french fries to go with them. Also yummy!! Thank you for these delicious recipes :)