With the advent of May (where the heck did April go?!), I wanted to start a new series of recipe posts featuring some of my favorite summer recipes. I have to admit, though I didn’t have this in my summer repertoire last year, I’ve already made it twice since adding it last month. We love burgers of ALL shapes and sizes in our home – turkey, beef, vegetarian… We actually only eat meat two to three times per week. It’s a choice we’ve made to help us maintain a healthy lifestyle, and so far we’ve been really happy. It helps us keep our grocery budget reasonable for a family of four, pushes us to eat a broader variety of veggies and legumes, and helps us maintain a healthy weight. Total win/win. Most of the vegetarian dinners that I maker are packed with protein, and lots of flavor. I’ve posted one other vegetarian dish here, and hope to post more over this upcoming year.
This recipe is inspired and adjusted from this recipe for falafel burgers on food network. Basically, I went to make the recipe, and was missing a few things and had to make substitutions. Oops. It worked out ok in the end, though!
Chick Pea Burgers
3 – 11.5 oz. boxes of cooked, organic chickpeas
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/4 c. pickled jalepeno or cherry peppers, chopped
1 packet (31) Ritz crackers, slightly crushed (or other butter crackers like the 365 brand at Whole Foods)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 sea salt/to taste (only because these chickpeas are sodium free – be careful with adding salt if you’re using canned chickpeas)
2 Tblsp. low fat greek yogurt
olive oil for cooking
For serving:
whole wheat sandwich thins
fresh summer cuke salad (a staple in our fridge in the summer!)
pickled peppers (I use the same pickling recipe as the fresh summer cuke salad, and sub in jalepenos or cherry peppers)
low fat greek yogurt
Add all ingredients to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the ingredients come to a rough mash. I still like to have larger bits of the chickpeas in the mix, and since I chop all of the veggies before adding, I don’t have to worry about them staying too big. I did have to stop several times and scrape the bowl between pulsing, to make sure that it broke down more evenly.
Scoop out large portions of the mash and pat together into burgers. Place on a skillet (I use a seasoned cast iron one) heated to medium temp. Cook until golden brown, and turn to cook the other side. It’s important to make sure the temperature in your skillet isn’t too hot, so that the burger can cook all the way through without scorching on the outside.
Serve the burgers on the whole wheat flatbreads, topped with greek yogurt, fresh summer cuke salad, and pickled peppers. (We also add in slices of fresh tomato when we have them on hand!) Don’t forget your favorite sides! I’ll be sharing ours in upcoming posts!
Makes 6-8 burgers
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