Vegetarian Chickpea Patties Recipe

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This vegetarian chickpea patties recipe is a perfect light lunch, starter, or healthy snack. You can pair them with almost anything to give the garbanzo patties a Middle Eastern or Mediterranean feel.

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What Is A Chickpea Patty

I am married to a meat-a-holic husband. And, I still like meat. But, I am doing my best to find meatless meals, to reduce our meat consumption, or to find ways to create healthy snacks that don’t involve potato chips. 

We love Middle Eastern food, and I love falafel. These vegetarian patties with chickpeas probably fall more into the category of a falafel than a vegan chickpea burger. I still don’t think I could sell that to the husband. But, these chickpea patties make a perfect snack, with a Middle Eastern or Mediterranean flavor. 

If you make them a bit more bite-sized, they become more like chickpea nuggets. These are a great snack for kids. If you make the patties bigger, they can be chickpea burger patties. In this case, it will take longer to cook them. I think the patty is the perfect size to cook them without the mixture drying out. If wanting to serve these as burgers, I would recommend keeping them smaller and turning them into sliders. 

Looking for more chickpea snacks? Check out our round-up of 20+ of the best chickpea snacks. Or, our recipe for Vegan Chickpea Chips.

Ingredients For This Chickpea Patty Recipe

Many of these ingredients are pantry staples. The base includes canned chickpeas, which are drained and rinsed in cool water. I prefer to use canned chickpeas rather than dried chickpeas because they are more soft, and frankly easy. 

The chickpeas are seasoned with ground cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and sweet paprika. I prefer using garlic powder and onion powder rather than fresh garlic and onion to keep the patties smooth with the right consistency. Cumin is my secret ingredient in almost every chickpea recipe because it adds an earthy almost nutty flavor to the dish. 

I also am a little more liberal with salt and pepper for a recipe like this. Adding a good amount of salt will not make the chickpea patties salty. Instead, it helps to bring all of the ingredients together and make the dish a lot more flavorful. 

What holds the chickpea patties together are fresh parsley, which adds a fresh flavor, and eggs and panko breadcrumbs. Together, the eggs and panko bind the patties and keep them from falling apart when cooking. 

Looking for more chickpea recipes? Check out our recommendations for the Best Instant Pot Chickpea Recipes.

Using Panko Breadcrumbs

Panko is a Japanese style bread crumb made from white bread. It is easy to find panko at most supermarkets or on Amazon. You can use regular white bread crumbs if you don’t have panko, but I feel the panko is the perfect consistency, which is really important when making chickpea patties or any type of chickpea fritter.

If using regular white bread, start with about a half cup and add the crumbs a little at a time to prevent the patties from becoming too dry. 

Looking for more healthy snacks? Check out our Vegetarian Zucchini And Lentil Fritters recipe.

How To Make Chickpea Patties

Use a food processor with a metal blade to make the chickpea patty mixture. Start by adding the eggs, parsley, all of the spices, and the salt and pepper. Blend these ingredients well by pulsing them in the food processor. Taking this step before adding the chickpeas ensures all of the ingredients are well-blended. Then, add the chickpeas about a cup at a time, pulsing a bit after each addition. 

In the food processor, you want the consistency to be like a chickpea mash more than a smooth hummus. Use the pulse function a few times, scraping the sides of the bowl to get the consistency right without over-pureeing the chickpea mixture. It’s okay to see pieces of chickpeas in the mix. 

Remove the chickpea mix and place it into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the panko, using a spatula to blend the panko until it is moist and coated in the chickpea mix. 

Turning The Mix Into Chickpea Patties

Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop out the patties so that they are all the same size. Fill the measuring cup with the mix, turn it over in the palm of your hand to release and shape them into chickpea balls.

You want to be firm so that they stay together but not so firm that they become too dense. This is probably the hardest part of this chickpea patty recipe. 

Place each chickpea patty on a plate or cutting board. When all the patties are formed, use the measuring cup to press the patties down just a bit so that they are more burger-shaped than meatball shaped. 

Making Fried Chickpea Patties

Place the olive oil or vegetable oil into a deep pot, like a dutch oven. The oil should be as deep as one half the height of the patties. Allow the oil to heat over medium-high heat for at least 3-5 minutes.

When placing the patties in the oil, do not place them by hand. Slide them in using a rubber spatula or a slotted spoon.

In my dutch oven, I can easily cook 5-6 patties at one time, giving room to flip them. If you use a smaller pot, cook them in smaller batches. They should cook for at least 3 minutes on each side, maybe longer depending on the heat of the oil and the type of oil you are using.

When they start to brown, they are ready. Remove them carefully from the pot and place them on a paper towel-lined plate to soak up the oil.

How To Serve Vegetarian Chickpea Patties

Really, the sky’s the limit. Yes, they can be served as chickpea sliders, but we more often serve them as a snack or lunch. For lunch, add a little side salad.

For a snack, we usually serve the patties with some form of sauce. If you are not vegan, try a tzatziki or greek yogurt. Sometimes we mix a bit of hot sauce or buffalo sauce into the Greek yogurt. Any sort of creamy vegan dressing or even coconut yogurt would work great. 

Modifications And Variations

The easiest way to modify this recipe is to adjust the seasoning with what you like and what you have around the house. Add crushed chili pepper and ground chili powder if you like things spicy. Ground turmeric also works, adding an earthiness, and more color to the patties. To make it more Mediterranean, add cilantro (coriander) instead of the parsley.

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