The best Vegan Chickpea Spinach Burgers filled with Mediterranean flavors are here! These vegetarian chickpea burgers are easy to pan-fry, bake, and are grillable too. With only 10 easy ingredients needed, top these burgers with lettuce, caramelized onions, avocado, and a vegan red pesto for the best weeknight dinner recipe!
A few months ago I made my very first veggie burger recipe for SGTO- Vegan Black Bean Quinoa Burgers. While I will always love that recipe, I knew it was time to make another burger recipe with my favorite legume- chickpeas!
These burgers are inspired by some of my favorite Mediterranean flavors and ingredients- most notably spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, lemon, and garlic. This makes them SO flavorful while still being made mostly with pantry/freezer ingredients.
Steps to make chickpea spinach burgers
First, blend the spinach and sun-dried tomatoes
Since we are using frozen spinach, the first thing you'll want to do is rinse the spinach under warm water and then press out any excess water. I started off with about 2 cups frozen spinach and ended up with ½ cup once all the water had been pressed out. P.S- You could also make this recipe with fresh spinach, but you'll need to sauté it first.
Next, add the spinach and sun-dried tomatoes to a small blender or food processor and blend together. Then, remove and set aside in a small bowl.
Mash the chickpeas
I used a potato masher to do this, but you can also use a fork. I prefer mashing vs. using a blender as I like my burgers a bit chunkier, but you could also add the chickpeas to a blender if you're okay with a less chunky veggie burger.
Add in everything but the flour
Next, add in everything but the flour. This includes the flax egg, blended spinach tomato mixture, lemon juice, garlic powder, black pepper, and salt. Use the potato masher to mash everything together.
Add in the oat flour, mix & add to the fridge
Lastly, add in the oat flour and mash together until all the flour is mixed in. Again, I like to keep my burgers chunky so I use the masher, but you can also add everything to a food processor if that's easier for you.
Once the chickpea spinach patty mixture is ready, add it to the fridge for 15 minutes. This little bit of time in the fridge makes these patties much easier to form and pan-fry.
Then, pan-fry the chickpea spinach burgers!
Remove the mixture from the fridge and form into 5-6 evenly size patties. You can check out the video to see how I did this, but my biggest tip is to wet your hands first as it makes the dough easier to handle.
Then, add to a greased cast-iron skillet and grill for 3-5 minutes on each side. See the pictures above to see how the patties look before and after cooking.
Vegan chickpea burger toppings:
Now that the veggie burgers are ready, it's time to turn them into the best darn Mediterranean Chickpea Burgers! For my burgers, I decided to add on a homemade sun-dried tomato pesto, lettuce, avocado, and caramelized onions. However, here are a few additional veggie burger toppings ideas:
- Vegan Sun-dried Tomato Pesto (I mixed sun-dried tomatoes with basil, pine nuts, olive oil, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic, salt, & pepper!)
- Vegan Pesto
- Avocado
- Sautéed Mushrooms (I added these to my Black Bean Quinoa Burgers)
- Vegan Garlic Aioli
- Cilantro Chimichurri (find the recipe in my Portobello Mushroom Tacos recipe)
- Garlic Cashew Sauce (I used this in my Butternut Squash Pear Pizza recipe and it's awesome!)
- Vegan Cheese (I personally prefer Miyokos or Violife brands)
- Caramelized Onions (basically just sauté thinly sliced onions in a pan with vegan butter until they are browned and caramelized, about 30-40 minutes. You can view a rough recipe in my Vegan Caramelized Onion & Spinach Pizza Rolls too!)
Or... Make a Veggie Burger Salad!
Another favorite way to eat this veggie burger is on a salad! While I don't have a picture, if you follow my on Instagram, you likely have seen my Veggie Burger Salad Creations! My favorite recipe to use is my Chickpea Quinoa Arugula Salad and add a crumbled chickpea spinach patty on top.
FAQ & Substitutions:
Yes, this burger recipe is naturally gluten-free since we use oat flour! Just make sure you use a gluten-free burger bun to truly make the entire burger gluten-free.
Yes! This burger is grillable and we have tested it many times on our charcoal grill. It needs about 5 minutes on each side and it's especially important to let the patty dough rest in the fridge before grilling as this helps it not fall apart.
As for baking, I haven't tried it yet with this recipe, but if you do I would recommend forming the patties and adding them to a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Then, bake at 350F for 20-22 minutes. The burgers will end up a bit more crispy when cooked this way so keep that in mind.
I used Bob's Red Mill oat flour in this recipe to keep it gluten-free, however, keep in mind oat flour is easy to make at home and is really just ground up oats. Here's a homemade oat flour recipe if you're looking to go that route.
However, if you can't find or make oat flour, all-purpose flour should work as a 1:1 substitute in this recipe. I also tried the burgers with cassava flour for a grain-free version and it seems to work with ½ cup cassava flour too (though the burgers ended up a little more dry).
Leftover cooked chickpea spinach patties can be stored in a closed container between sheets of parchment paper in the fridge for 3-4 days and in the freezer for up to 1 month.
To reheat, just add to the microwave or add to a cast-iron skillet and heat each side over low heat until warmed throughout.
I truly hope you love these healthy & easy Vegan Mediterranean Chickpea Spinach Veggie Burgers as much as I do! They are full of flavor and make a great weeknight dinner recipe that stores great as leftovers. Enjoy!
-TSG
More easy plant-based dinner recipes with chickpeas or spinach:
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Vegan Chickpea Spinach Burgers
Ingredients
- 2 cups frozen spinach starts as 2 cups and then gets rinsed and strained to be ½ cup
- ¼ cup sundried tomatoes in oil
- 1 can cooked chickpeas about 1 ½ cups chickpeas strained
- 1 flax egg 1 Tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 Tbsp water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice juice of 1 lemon
- 1-1 ½ teaspoon salt add more or less depending on preference
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder or 1 garlic clove
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¾ cup oat flour oat flour is just finely ground rolled oats
Instructions
Making the chickpea spinach patties
- First, run the frozen spinach under warm water until soft. Then, squeeze out all the water from the rinsed spinach.
- Add the rinsed spinach and sundried tomatoes to a blender or food processor and blend together. Remove and set aside.
- Next, add the chickpeas to a large mixing bowl and use a potato masher to mash the chickpeas. Then, add in the spinach and sundried tomato mixture, flax egg, lemon juice, salt, garlic powder, and black pepper, and continue mashing until a thick mixture forms. It's okay to leave some chickpeas whole for texture.
- Then, add in the oat flour. Use the potato masher or a fork to mix together until all the flour is incorporated. Then, cover the mixing bowl and add the chickpea spinach mixture to the fridge to sit for 15 minutes.
Cooking the patties
- Remove the chickpea spinach mixture from the fridge and form into 5-6 patties. To do this, scoop out a ½ cup of the mixture, roll it into a ball, then pat into a patty that is 1-inch in height.
- Lightly grease a cast-iron skillet and turn on the heat. Once warm, cook the patties on medium heat for 3-5 minutes on each side until lightly browned. This will take two rounds as you do not want to overcrowd the pan.
- Remove the patties from the skillet and add to a burger with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!
Notes
- Oat flour can be subbed 1:1 for all-purpose flour or for ½ cup cassava flour for a grain-free version (though cassava flour makes the patties slightly more dry)
- Frozen spinach can be subbed 1:1 for ½ cup sautéed fresh spinach so it has wilted.
- If the sundried tomatoes you have were not sitting in oil, add ½ Tbsp of oil to the recipe.
- Leftover cooked patties can be stored in a closed container between sheets of parchment paper. They will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Reheat in the microwave on a skillet at low heat until warmed throughout.
Karen says
When do you add in the spinach mixture to the mashed chickpeas? That step seems to be left out of the instructions. Thanks!
Megan says
Thanks for catching that, just updated it! It should be added with the flax egg and other ingredients after mashing the chickpeas and before the oat flour.
April says
Made these patties in my airfryer! Love the flavours and served it chopped up in a pita with some hummus!