Gluten free & vegan chickpea burgers made with fresh basil, sun dried tomatoes, and ground almonds
These Sun Dried Tomato Chickpea Burgers are further proof that chickpeas really can do it all. But first…
I have a bone to pick with labelling laws when it comes to gluten free foods. I mentioned this in my newsletter I sent out a couple days ago, but let me back up a minute and explain.
A couple of weeks ago Mike and I went to a local wholesaler recommended to us as a great place to get gluten free flours and ingredients – crunchy granola hippie things you can’t necessarily find in your local supermarket – nutritional yeast, coconut sugar, organics, stuff like that.
It probably says a lot about me as a person that the idea of being able to buy bulk bags of almond flour and coconut sugar exciting, but there you go. After checking the labels on the bag and seeing the only potential allergen listed was nuts I started throwing things in the cart and imagining all the grain free/ refined sugar free baking I was about to do. Real exciting stuff, obviously.
A couple of minutes in I noticed the giant bags of wheat bran sitting right next to the coconut sugar in the exact same packaging. I pointed it out to Mike who then went to ask a staff member about the packaging procedures for gluten/non gluten free foods. He was told that despite the packaging only declaring nuts as a potential allergen there was also wheat cross-contamination that they’d failed to list. According to their staff the ‘may contain’ warnings on labelling are a guideline rather than a law which means that there’s no legal requirement for manufacturers to declare potential cross contamination; only a recommendation that they do so.
Cross contamination may not sound like a big deal if a food or ingredient is inherently gluten free but the fact is, food needs to contain less that 20 parts per million in order to be safe for most Coeliac’s. In layman’s terms, crumbs are enough to cause an autoimmune reaction in people with serious Coeliac Disease.
I don’t bring this up to scare anyone. I hate those kinds of marketing ploys. Haaaaaaate them. A couple of weeks ago someone set me an email asking to add a link on my blog to a post on their website explaining the health benefits of ginger or something like that. I was on her site for all of 5 seconds before a giant popup filled my screen promising to tell me what 5 foods are going to give my children cancer or something else equally ominous and threatening. All I needed to do was give them my email and then I’d get to learn the supposed life saving news. Absolutely not.
But I digress…
I only share this story to remind you to 1) always check the labels and 2) ask questions.
Mike missed out on about 10 years of his life because of undiagnosed Coeliac Disease and one of his thumbs is permanently fused in place because of the arthritis he developed as a result of it. I hate the thought anyone else going through the same thing. I also hate the thought of people frustrated that they still symptoms of Coeliac Disease even though they’re eating what they think is a gluten free diet.
On the bright side, I don’t there are too many cases of this kind of thing happening. More and more people are learning about the seriousness of Coeliac Disease and with awareness comes more protection. Unfortunately as we learned, it does happen and even once is once too often.
Last week Mike had a meeting with a local politician (the former deputy Prime Minister!) about this issue and how to fix it. His goal is to make it law that manufacturers are obligated to list potential allergens rather than it being a suggestion.
Now
On to the burgers!
If you ever need to prove to someone that plant based foods are the stuff (I’d say the real word, but my mom reads this blog) then might I recommend making them these burgers.
I can’t get over how much I love these burgers and how much I want to eat them all!
Even though I have a lot of meat containing recipes on this blog, I personally eat a vegetarian diet 80% of the time. That’s pretty easy considering the fact that I mostly live off of cookies, but whatever. I just happen to be married to a meat loving man who enjoys chicken more than any human being has a right to.
That being said I make it my mission to feed him as many plant based meals as I possibly can. It’s not that hard to do, but I need to get creative every now and then because there are only so many days in a row that I can get him to eat a standard chickpea curry without protest.
Which brings me to these chickpea burgers. I had a jar of sun dried tomatoes sitting in the fridge begging to be used. It reminded me of the most amazing sun dried tomato quinoa burger that I ordered from a pub of all places sometime last year.  I did a quick google search of the menu hoping to see whatever went into it, but realized that they must have taken it off the menu because it was no where to be found.
After a bit of experimenting and substituting (chickpeas for quinoa) I ended up with these burgers and now they are my new favorite thing. After these cookies.
A couple tips before you begin:
- Make sure that you dry the chickpeas as much as you can before processing them. Too much moisture will result in a sticky mess making it difficult to shape patties.
- I ground the almonds myself using my blender. I left in a few larger bits of almond because I love the texture but that’s totally up to you.
Other than that it’s a pretty straight forward recipe!
I hope you enjoy these burgers as much as I do!
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Sun Dried Tomato Chickpea Burgers
Gluten free & vegan chickpea burgers made with fresh basil, sun dried tomatoes, and ground almonds
Ingredients
- 1 400 gram can of chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry
- 1 medium sized red onion, about 3/4 cup or 90 grams, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 3 tablespoons sun dried tomatoes*
- small handful fresh basil leaves
- 1 cup ground almonds *, 140 grams
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
- black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- In a food processor blend the chickpeas, red onion, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, basil leaves and blend until smooth. You can do this in a blender if you don't own a food processor, but you'll need to add ingredients one at a time and stop to scrape down the sides more frequently.
- Add the ground almonds, salt, and pepper and continue to blend until everything is evenly incorporated.
- Transfer to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. This will help firm up the mixture so they are easier to mold into patties in the next step.
- Mould the chickpea mixture into 5 patties. If your mixture is too sticky you can add a little extra almond flour, just try not to add too much because you don't want the burgers to be crumbly.
- Place the patties onto a lined/greased baking tray. Brush each side with the olive oil and then bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden at 400°F/205°C.
Notes
I measured my almonds before grinding themÂ
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Nutrition Information
Serving Size:
patty Calories: 249Saturated Fat: 1gSodium: 595mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 6gSugar: 1gProtein: 9gThis post contains affiliate links.  I only post links for products I personally use and believe in. If you make a purchase on Amazon after clicking one of my links, I receive a small commission and the price you pay is not affected.  Thank you!
Jorden says
My husband just deemed these his favorite veggie burgers, and I make lots of veggie burgers ;). I had to make them stovetop because it is WAY too hot to use the oven, but I bet they are even more delicious when baked!! =)
Sarah says
Yay! So glad you guys enjoyed them! Thanks Jorden!
Huma says
Hi do you have a recipe for the buns as well? Thank you
Sarah says
I’m sorry I don’t! We’re lucky enough to have a decent selection of gluten free burger buns at our local grocery store
Alicia Ogard says
Hi there! I was wondering what I could use in substitution for the almonds? Would oat flour work? Or would you highly suggest almonds? Also, this recipe looks delicious!
Sarah says
Hi Alicia! I haven’t tried it yet with oat flour but I do think that would be a good substitute!
Alicia Ogard says
These were good! I did end up grinding almonds to make this but will try again with oat flour another time! Tasted like a vegan pizza burger at times!
Sarah says
Awesome! Really glad you enjoyed it!
Caitlin says
Could you use almond flour instead of ground almonds?
Sarah says
Yes! Though you will probably need more almond flour that almond meal since they have different masses. Add more almond flour a tablespoon at a time when you’re forming your patties until the mixture sticks better. If there’s too much moisture they’ll fall apart
Charlie says
Hello,
Strange question. I am thinking of bringing these into work for lunch. But don’t want to use the microwave to heat them up. I just want to double check that they are fine to eat cold?
Sarah says
That shouldn’t be a problem! I sometimes broke up some leftovers to eat in salads
Bianca says
Hi. I tried this, I followed the recipe but… I ended up with a mess of crumbly (if delicious) food !
Where did I go wrong?? Please help.
Sarah says
Hi Bianca! Glad you still liked the taste even though they crumbled up on you! It sounds like there might have been too much moisture in the patties – that’s usually the problem with veggie burgers that fall apart. If you ever wanted to make these again I’d recommend adding more almonds or even adding a couple tablespoons of tapioca or corn starch to create a little more stickiness. That a very gentle cooking should help!
Kara says
Hi. These look delicious and I’m planing on making these for my lunches this week. I was just wondering what you would recommend using for sauce?
Sarah says
So glad you liked them! I usually like to make this avocado tahini dip with these (I spread it on everything) https://www.asaucykitchen.com/creamy-basil-avocado-dip/ I also really enjoy this tahini sauce from Minimalist Baker – it’s also soooo good on everything!
Abbey says
Could I use sweet onion instead? Would they taste as good? It’s all I have on hand and I’m in dinner prep mode;)
Sarah says
That should be totally fine! It might affect the taste a tiny bit, but not at all in a bad way!
Phoebe Cleghorn Miller says
These look and sound delicious! It’s so good to see more and more gluten-free recipes being shared now. If you’re ever looking for your own inspiration, I post GF recipes over at phoebemiller.co.uk
x
Sarah says
Thanks, Phoebe! I’ll check it out! Always good to find new recipes ☺
Allie Bell says
Can I refrigerate or freeze these? If so, for how long?
Sarah says
Refrigerating these should be alright, but I’m not sure about freezing them. I looked up what you would normally do for freezing veggie burgers and I saw this post by Oh She Glows about freezing burgers. http://ohsheglows.com/2012/08/09/how-to-prep-and-freeze-veggie-burgers-a-tutorial/ She made a note that freezing the chickpea burgers didn’t go so well because there was too much moisture after defrosting – they ended up falling apart. Since I’ve never tried freezing these myself I can’t say for sure how they would turn out, but based on her experience I wouldn’t recommend it. As for refrigerating these, they should keep well in the fridge for at least 4-5 days