I haven’t made veggie burgers in what seems like forever. That doesn’t mean we don’t eat them. Funk (my husband) and I go through a box of Dr. Praegers veggie burgers about every 10 days. But it was time to change up our usual veggie burger for something more creative and filling, which is why I turned to chickpeas.
So many veggie burger recipes I come across have long lists of ingredients, spices and herbs, and usually that deters me right away. I decided to keep my veggie burger simple since I slather it in ketchup no matter what for flavoring.
You may notice a new ingredient in the list below: egg. Funk and I recently started eating eggs at home. It was a pretty tough food to avoid when eating out — if we enjoyed birthday cake with friends, or Challah bread at a holiday, we were most likely eating eggs and we were OK with that. But for years we haven’t eaten them at home or on their own. Eggs started to appeal to me when I learned more about their lower cholesterol content, high levels of vitamin D and choline, and omega 3 content (for certain eggs). We make it a point to only choose high-quality organic, cage-free, omega 3 eggs, and buy local eggs as much as possible. It will be interesting to see how eggs could potentially change my cooking. For example, these veggie burgers held together way better than any egg-free ones I’ve made! But I really do love the challenge of baking without eggs.
We enjoyed these with some sauerkraut on the side and our first homegrown green pepper. We’ve been nurturing this pepper plant since early June and it FINALLY grew two bell peppers, with a few more to come.
Chickpea Eggplant Burgers
Recipe by By Janel Funk, MS, RD, LDN
Makes about 8 burgers
Ingredients
2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 eggplant, diced
1 white onion, diced
Oil
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. In a large pan, sauté the onion and eggplant until soft, about 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine chickpeas, eggplant and onion. Season with salt and pepper.
- Using a food processor, blend the chickpea mixture to your desired consistency, about 1 cup at a time. I like my veggie burgers a little chunky with bits of whole beans and veggies, so I only blended the mixture for a few quick pulses.
- Once you have the chickpea mixture to the consistency you like, mix in one egg. If you didn’t use an egg, I actually think these would still hold together well from the consistency of mashed chickpeas. Using your hands, form the mixture into patties. You should get about 8 patties.
- Bake for about 10-20 minutes, depending on how crispy you like them on the outside, flipping once halfway.
