Summer is here and it’s the perfect time to be enjoying outdoor barbecues and picnics. Everyone wants to enjoy a freshly grilled hamburger or veggie burger. But making your own is quite easy and insanely tasty without using oils or refined soy products. My chickpea quinoa burgers are soy-free, nut-free and gluten-free so they will work for everyone no matter how they eat. If you’ve ever made homemade hamburgers or wanted to, you can make these.
A simple food processor is such a versatile tool for making your own chickpea quinoa burgers. Mine isn’t anything fancy, just a basic mid sized one and it’s perfect for pulsing various ingredients to use in veggie burgers.
I like to top my veggie burgers with some fresh hummus (see my chickpea hummus here or my yam/sweet potato hummus here), sautéed mushrooms and onions (I use a little soy sauce and maple syrup to flavor them), lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. Cucumbers also work well in place of tomatoes for this chickpea quinoa burger as well as spicy mustard.
Find a nice whole grain bun or roll, toast the insides and top your veggie burger with all your favorite toppings. I also highly recommend some of my Summer salad recipes to go along with it such as Avocado Dill Potato Salad, Strawberry Spinach Salad, Shaved Asparagus Salad, Costa Rican Cabbage Salad, Sweet and Savory Asian Salad, or Rock my Broccoli Salad. So now that your head is spinning with delicious Summer recipes let’s get grillin’! Mmm hmm.
Vegan Chickpea Quinoa Burgers with Lemon and Thyme
Makes 10-12 patties (depending on size)
Ingredients:
1 cup mashed yam/sweet potato, cooled (1 medium yam, cooked)
4 cloves garlic
3/4 cup chopped red onion
2 cans chickpeas, drained and patted dry
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves (stems removed)
2 tbsp lemon zest
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup cooked quinoa, cooled (I used 1/2 cup dry mix of white and red)
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp Herbamare or salt *or to taste
Directions:
1. Poke holes in your yam and bake at 400 F for an hour or until tender inside. Set aside until cool.
2. Cook quinoa with a 1:1 ratio of vegetable broth or water in a pressure cooker or on the stove. (See my directions here)
3. In a food processor, add the garlic and onion and pulse until chopped finely. Add the chickpeas, thyme, lemon zest and juice and pulse until chopped and well combined. Scoop out flesh from yam (discard peel) and to food processor along with quinoa, pepper and salt. Pulse until well combined.
4. Form into equal sized balls and place on a non stick sheet or plate lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate until needed.
5. Pre heat a pan or barbecue and press patties gently until slightly flatted and cook for 4-5 minutes per side, flipping once. Be careful to move gently so they don’t fall apart.
6. Serve on buns or lettuce wraps. (I find using a bun slightly bigger than the patty works best as they will squish a bit when eaten.
7. Store any patties in an air tight container and refrigerate or freeze until needed. (Leaving them uncooked is best).
Variations:
You can also use fresh dill instead of thyme if you wish for variety.
Also check out my Smoky Yam Black Bean Burger Recipe.
Have you ever made your own veggie burgers? What do you like to top your burgers with?
Well howdy Veronica, I found this recipe googling for a vegan burger recipes. I’m just rockin thru my first batch of these honeys on homegrown tender lettuce wraps! Super delicious and a pretty wholesome treat on a Friday night. Thanks so much! Like you (apparently), Dr. Fuhrman’s book, “Eat to Live” and the 80/10/10 diet and lifestyle are my two main guides and ideals that I mostly follow. I mostly eat raw vegan breakfast and lunch though especially in the winter I seem to gravitate to cooked dinners. When I feel the need to slow down and have a dietary reboot I appreciate eating fruit and salad in the evening. I bet that sounds familiar… And oh yes, I’d like to share my discovery while cooking up the burgers tonight. I used parchment paper to cook the burgers on, both in the oven and on a stove top griddle. I cut a piece of parchment paper twice the dimensions of the burger. On the griddle I just let the extra half of paper ‘wing out’ to the side to the burger while it cooked on one side. When nicely browned I folded it over the top (uncooked side) and flipped it–burger sandwiched between two layers of the paper. The burger came off the paper when done easily, and voila, no oil needed! In the oven I broiled the burgers. While cooking the first side on the parchment paper, fold the second half of the paper under the first half so it doesn’t turn black or burn in the high heat. Cheers, Jason!
Hello!
Thanks for the recipe!
My food processor aint fancy per se either, but it’s been in my house for years, still does its job great so I think it is kinda fancy actually hahah…
I was wondering, do you think I can halve the recipe, coming up with 5 or 6 patties, if I use
1/2 cup instead of 1 cup mashed yam
2 instead of 4 cloves garlic
maybe 6 tbsp to 3/4 cup chopped red onion
1 instead of 2 cans chickpeas
1/2 instead of 1 cup cooked quinoa
and adjust the lemon, thyme, lemon, white pepper, zest, salt to taste
Thankss
Hi Veronica. If I want to make the chickpeas from scratch, how much should I prepare?
I hope it is okay if I answer your question. Personally I would soak and cook up a large amount of chickpeas. Use what you need for this recipe and the rest can be frozen and/or used up is some of Veronica’s other amazing recipes.
What is the texture of the “burger”? I don’t like mushy/
Vegan veggie burgers can be hard to balance some people prefer moister burgers, some firmer. I find that firm burgers are very dry though due to breadcrumbs or oatmeal and leave a bad texture, so as this is gluten free it is a moister burger.
Hmmm… can also make smaller for 1) sliders, 2) “spaghetti” 3) add to salads…. the list goes on. 🙂
I ahve all the ingredients at home, so will be making tonight.
Thanks Veronica, I rally do enjoy your low fat vegan recipes.
Trying this stuff for the first time…
Anxious to try this recipe (love the smokey yam black bean burgers!) but can these be baked as well? If yes, how long.
Thanks!
Love these. So easy, so tasty, a delightful change from black bean burgers. Definitely one of my new favorites. Thank you!
Oh yay!
I have leftover pumpkin (boxed, similar to canned), do you think that will work in place of the mashed yam/sweet potato?
This looks really good – can’t wait to try it!
Thanks,
Leslie
Maybe, as long as it’s not too watery. I’ve never seen boxed pumpkin before!
We don’t get whole grain buns in India where I live. Is there any gluten free recipe for the burger bun which I can bake at home with? I would love to have it,because I miss burgers since I went gluten free and vegan. Thanks.
You can also serve it on lettuce leaves or corn tortillas.
Gluten free baking isn’t my specialty, it’s also really hard to make gluten free baked goods without oil (generally they use a lot of oil or eggs to stick together.)
Here’s a recipe I found online: http://glutenfreedoctor.com/burger-buns-gluten-free-vegan-recipe/
Kamna,
I use lettuce leaves, collards, in place of the wheat buns.
Looks delicious!
Now that is a healthy and tasty looking grilled burger!