The easiest vegan chickpea burgers! Deliciously savory, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and packed with flavor.
We totally loved these vegan chickpea burgers and I really hope you do too.
They’re wonderfully savory, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, packed with flavor and veggie burger goodness.
And if you love delicious things made with chickpeas then also check out our divine vegan falafels and our chickpea meatballs.
So, you know, I called these the easiest vegan chickpea burgers because they are.
Well at least they will hopefully be for you because I am going to do my absolute BEST to explain this so well that they will be flop proof!
Because here’s the thing. The first time I made these it was a smashing success. So of course I approached the second attempt with all the overconfident self assuredness you might expect and proceeded to totally flop them!
My chickpea veggie burger mix was too wet, who knows why, maybe my onion and cilantro had higher water content than the first time, and I failed to compensate with adding extra flour. The result? Very squishy burgers!
What you’re going for here is nice and firm of course. So you need a bit of flexibility. Follow the recipe but if you end up with something that doesn’t easily want to form a ball, then your mix is too wet, you’ll need more flour.
I adapted this recipe from a Jamie Oliver recipe. His recipe adds sweetcorn and lemon and doesn’t use onion or garlic.
I knew I wanted to use onion and garlic, but adding raw onion to the food processor with the chickpeas and other ingredients would have added too much moisture. So the solution was to cook them first!
How To Make Vegan Chickpea Burgers
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Lightly fry up the onion and garlic in some avocado oil (or other oil of your choice, I got a bit fancy with the avocado oil, I even bought some sesame oil, who knows what I’ll get next!) until just before they start to brown.
- Then add them to the food processor with drained chickpeas, cilantro, a little flour and some spices and process them until well mixed.
- Dust a baking tray with flour, dust your hands with flour too and form the chickpea burger batter into 4 balls.
- If the batter is sticking to your hands too much, add more flour.
- Then you do a neat little trick where you take a piece of parchment paper, place it on top of each chickpea burger ball, and then press down on it with the bottom of a glass. This flattens your chickpea ball into a perfect burger shape!
- Then place the baking tray with the burgers into the fridge to set for 30 minutes.
- Then you fry them up in a little more avocado oil (or other oil – you know the drill!) until perfectly browned!
- And your burgers are ready to serve!
Bake In The Oven For Extra Firm Burgers
There’s a further step that is completely optional, and that is to place the burgers into the oven and bake for a further 30 mins at 350°F.
The only time you would do this is if you really want the firmest of firm burgers.
We tried it both ways and liked them a lot both ways. So it’s really an optional step if you have the time to do it or feel so inclined. It also works as a ‘fix’ if your burgers ended up too squishy.
But if they look good as is, then serve them right away. The chickpea burgers pictured here did NOT have any extra oven time. Just pointing that out. And they look good right?
Serving Suggestions
And then of course you know how to serve them! Some avocado, lettuce, tomato, ketchup and mustard in a deliciously soft bun for the win.
Adding some vegan cheese or maybe some vegan mayo would also be awesome here.
Have them for lunch or dinner, with a side salad or fries, or just on their own.
Gluten-Free
If you’re gluten-free, then switch out the flour for a gluten-free all purpose flour and serve them on gluten-free buns or between two gigantic lettuce leaves.
Storing and Freezing
Keep leftover chickpea burgers stored in the fridge for 3-4 days. They can be reheated in the frying pan or in the oven at 350°F until heated through.
You can freeze the burgers before or after cooking. You can reheat them or cook them up from frozen, just allow a couple of minutes longer to make sure they’re heated through.
More Delicious Vegan Burgers & Sandwiches
- Tofu Burgers
- Vegan Burgers
- Vegan Black Bean Burgers
- Portobello Burgers
- BBQ Jackfruit Pulled Pork
- Vegan Sloppy Joes
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Easiest Vegan Chickpea Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 Medium Onion White, Yellow or Brown, Chopped
- 3 Cloves Garlic
- 1 tsp Avocado Oil
- 15 ounce (425g) Can Chickpeas Drained
- ½ tsp Paprika
- ½ tsp Coriander Powder
- ½ tsp Cumin
- ½ cup Fresh Chopped Cilantro loosely packed
- 3 Tbsp All Purpose Flour use gluten-free for gluten-free version – plus more for rolling**
- 2 Tbsp Avocado Oil or other oil
Instructions
- Finely chop the onion and crush the garlic and add to a frying pan with 1 tsp avocado oil and fry until just before they start to brown.
- Drain the can of chickpeas and add the chickpeas to a food processor with the cooked onions/garlic, paprika, coriander powder, cumin, freshly chopped cilantro and flour and process it into a thick burger batter.
- Sprinkle flour over a baking tray and cover your hands with it as well. Scoop the batter out onto the tray in 4 even sections, roll in the flour and form into 4 balls.
- If the batter is very sticky or too wet, add more flour so that it easily forms a ball.
- Take a square of parchment paper, place on top of each ball and press down on it with the bottom of a glass to flatten it into a burger shape.
- Place the baking tray with the 4 burgers into the freezer to firm up for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes add 2 Tbsp avocado oil to a frying pan and heat up until hot.
- Add all 4 burgers to the frying pan and fry on each side turning regularly until browned and crispy, roughly 5 minutes on each side.
- If you want your burgers extra firm and crispy you can place on a parchment lined baking tray and bake in the oven at 400°F (200°C) for a further 20-30 minutes.
- Serve on hamburger buns with sliced avocado, crispy lettuce, sliced tomato, ketchup and mustard.
Video
Notes
- If your canned chickpeas don’t contain salt, you might need to add some salt.
- If you’re making this gluten-free then use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend.
- Nutritional information is for the chickpea burger patties only, without the burger buns and additions.
- Prep time is only for the actual hands on prep, it doesn’t include time spent chilling in the fridge.
- Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver.
Easy to make and delicious! Will be making these often!
Yay! Thanks so much! 🙂
Made these and they were delicious! I was wondering if you’ve frozen the cooked burgers and also, how long you think they keep in the fridge. Thanks!
Hi Ariella, so glad you enjoyed them! Leftover burgers will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days. They are also freezer friendly! You can freeze them either before or after frying them up.
Made these two days ago, they turned out awesome! It’s been only two days and I already want to make them again, haha. Delicious and easy to make.
Awesome! Thanks so much Alycia!
We’ve been looking for a good chickpea burger since our trip to Ljubljana last summer. We found an organic restaurant that had yummy chickpea burgers. My husband and I loved your recipe. He liked them better than the black bean burgers that he loves. I used homemade organic gluten-free oat flour instead of wheat flour. I also baked them on a pizza stone with no oil at 400 degrees F for about 14 minutes on each side. They were a bit soft but delicious. We served them on gluten-free pesto flatbread that I made. We will definitely make these part of our regular meal plan.
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing Karen. 🙂
Fantastic burgers! I’m new to vegan eating so these are the first burgers I’ve made. I’ve tried shop bought burgers and ‘meat alternative’ burgers, but these beat them all hands down! I served mine with chestnut mushrooms and vegan mayo. I’ll be making these weekly from now on! Thank you
Fantastic! Thanks so much Dan! 🙂
Thank you for a wonderful recipe!! These burgers are so delicious. We added some corn back in, and followed another reviewer in adding in some crushed almonds. I didn’t fry them but only oven-baked for 40 minutes, turning halfway, and they were perfect, with no need to refrigerate beforehand.
Served them on brioche buns with some beetroot. Yum!
Thank you again!
Sounds awesome! Thanks for the great review Tayla! 🙂
I’m working my way into the vegetarian world, slowly but surely, and I really wanted a meat sauce for my spaghetti squash. This worked perfectly! Nibbles on it before the sauce was added and it tasted so good alone that I’ll be making burgers this week.
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
So, I couldn’t get the batter to move in my blender without a little water. Maybe 1/2 a cup? After I transferred it to a bowl, I had to add quite a bit pink salt. Then, I had to add about a mason jar full of oat flour. This cut down the taste of the salt and meshed well with the spices. The consistency (if it doesn’t gross you out) came out to be like a regular ground beef patty…like back in the day. This way made seven rather large patties, just a little sticky to where you rinse your hands after each one you form by hand. I tried one on the pan and six in the oven at 425 for 30 minutes, flipping them half way. They’re perfect! Thank you so much for the inspiration. Going to try it with the hempseed ranch recipe I found!
Thanks for sharing your adjustments Shauna, so glad they were tasty! 🙂
This recipe came out absolutely perfect!!! I’m one week in to the vegan lifestyle and this is definitely a keeper!
So happy to hear it worked out so well Bri, thanks for the wonderful review! 🙂
Can I substitute spelt flour for all purpose flour ?
Hi Denise, I haven’t tried it but I think it could work!
Just made some and so excited to try them but it’s late now so they’ll have to remain frozen until I’m ready to cook them. Can I avoid frying all together? Would they still turn out crispy on the outside if I baked them at 400? How long do you think I should bake them from frozen?
Hi Natalia, if you read the other comments, you’ll see others have baked them for 40 minutes and said they were great that way! 🙂
This was delicious. Works with tsatziki (instead of mustard or ketchup) and also adding a tiny bit of sriracha to vegan mayo (that was the best(, Thank you, Alison
Oh that sounds great! Thanks for sharing and the awesome review Kate! 🙂
These were great. Didn’t have cilantro, added a little turmeric. Next time I’d add a little something for more of a zing… curry, hot pepper flakes, not sure. We put salsa on top this time to get the zing. Maybe put a small amount of salsa in the batter next time.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Rich, thanks so much for sharing and the awesome rating. 🙂
Just wanted to say that I used this recipe as a base and added extra spices. I didn’t refrigerate them,since I was going to bake the patties. These were so delicious, even my teenager enjoyed them. Thank you for sharing your masterpiece.
So glad you enjoyed them! Thanks so much for the awesome rating. 🙂
These were so delicious! I used parsley instead of cilantro because that was what I had on hand and chickpea flour instead of all purpose. My husband and children also loved them, especially my 10 month old. I didn’t blend it too much so it was chunky which made the texture wonderful. I also added an egg as I’m not a vegan because I’ve had some issues with vegan burgers falling apart in the past. But in terms of flavour, this recipe was just spot on and so simple. I added about 1 1/2 tsp of salt to a doubled recipe.
Highly recommend. Thank-you!
Hi Mary-Kate! I’m so happy to hear they came out so well! Thanks so much for sharing and the wonderful rating. 🙂
Another big hit thank you!
I usually use dried pulses (100g dried usually yields the same amount as a tin once soaked overnight and cooked in a pressure cooker). I tend to cook my pulses in a big batch and freeze “tin sized portions” in the cooking water and defrost overnight in the fridge when needed for a recipe.
Please would you consider trying out jackfruit burger recipes? I don’t trust anyone but you guys to get it right!!
Hi Satin! So glad it was a hit! And thanks for the tips for using dried, very helpful. I have added the jackfruit burgers to our ‘to-do’ list, that would be a great one to do. Jackfruit isn’t easily available in my part of the world, but as soon as I get hold of some, that will be the first thing to try! 🙂