Buffalo Chickpea Burgers
Add some pizzazz to your veggie burgers with these Buffalo chickpea burgers! They're perfect topped with avocado slices and your favorite sauces. They're also both gluten-free and vegan before adding toppings.
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Chickpeas are great for replacing chicken in meatless dishes like chickenless chickpea salad, chickenless chickpea nuggets, chickpea meatballs and of course, these chickenless chickpea burgers.
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Ingredients you'll need
- Canned Chickpeas
- Buffalo Sauce
- Carrots
- Shallot
- Fresh Parsley
- Salt
- Chickpea Flour
How to make Buffalo chickpea burgers
Start by adding the carrots, shallot and parsley to your food processor.
Pulse until finely chopped, stopping periodically to scrape down the sides.
Next, heat olive oil in an 8-inch non-stick skillet.
Add the carrot mixture and salt, and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
While the carrot mixture is cooking, rinse out your food processor and set aside as you will need to use it again.
Once the carrot mixture is done cooking, allow it to cool for 1-2 minutes before adding to the food processor along with chickpeas.
Blend carrot mixture and chickpeas on the low setting until everything is well-combined but not pureed, scraping down the sides as needed.
Transfer the burger mixture to a large bowl. Add chickpea flour and Buffalo sauce.
Mix until well-combined using a spoon or your hands.
Using your hands, form 4 burger patties.
Add olive oil to a 10-inch non-stick skillet and heat over medium heat.
Add the burgers to the skillet and cook on medium to medium-low for 5 minutes.
Carefully flip the burgers and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Add ½ teaspoon Buffalo sauce to the top of each burger.
Then, carefully flip each burger with a turner spatula and cook on low for 1 minute.
Add an additional ½ teaspoon Buffalo sauce to the "new" top of each burger and carefully flip again. Cook for 1 more minute.
Toppings
Aside from even more Buffalo sauce, we love these burgers topped with avocado slices and blue cheese dressing.
To keep them vegan, try them with our homemade dairy-free ranch dressing.
You can also opt for our vegan avocado ranch dressing.
Or, you can go with a lightened up dressing like our oil-free vegan ranch or our oil-free vegan blue cheese.
You can also try them with a slice of cheese (vegan if needed), sliced onion, lettuce and tomato or anything else your heart desires. 🙂
What to serve with Buffalo chickpea veggie burgers
Storing and reheating
Store leftover cooked burgers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Reheat the burgers in a nonstick skillet with a little bit of olive oil over medium heat until warmed throughout.
What's the best Buffalo sauce to use?
Some of my favorites are Noble Made, Frank's RedHot and Tessemae's which as of the date of publication, are all gluten-free and vegan options.
Of course, you could always make your own too.
Are these gluten-free veggie burgers grain-free too?
While bread crumbs, oats or rice are typically used for binding in veggie burgers, in this recipe chickpea flour replaces these grains.
Although some Buffalo sauces are made with vinegar that is derived from grains, such as corn, there are technically no actual grains in the burger itself.
You can keep them grain-free by using grain-free toppings.
Of course, traditional burger buns are not grain-free; however, you can opt to go with a lettuce wrap or try a grain-free tortilla such as the Siete brand.
Or you can go with a grain-free bun (such as the ones shown in the photos) which are from Against the Grain. Note that these contain egg and dairy products, and are therefore not vegan.
More chickpea recipes
Buffalo Chickpea Burgers
Ingredients
- 2 medium carrots (peeled and cut into large pieces)
- 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped shallot
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley (heaping tablespoons)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 (15-oz.) can unsalted chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1-2 tablespoon chickpea flour (aka garbanzo bean flour)
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon Buffalo sauce, divided (use gluten-free/vegan Buffalo sauce if needed)
Instructions
- Chop the carrots, shallot and parsley in a food processor on the pulse setting until finely chopped, but not pureed. You may have to stop to scrape down the sides.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in an 8-inch non-stick skillet. Add carrot mixture and salt.
- Cook carrot mixture on medium-low for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow to cool 1-2 minutes.
- While carrot mixture is cooking, rinse out the food processor and set aside.
- Add chickpeas and carrot mixture to the food processor. Process on low until everything is well-combined but not pureed, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Transfer chickpea mixture to a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon chickpea flour and 1 tablespoon Buffalo sauce. Mix thoroughly using a spoon or your hands. If you find the mix is too loose, you can mix in another tablespoon of chickpea flour.
- Use your hands to form 4 burger patties.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a 10-inch non-stick skillet.
- Add burgers to the skillet and cook over medium to medium-low heat for 5 minutes.
- Using a turner spatula, carefully flip burgers and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Add ½ teaspoon Buffalo sauce to the top of each burger and carefully flip. Cook over low heat for 1 minute.
- Add an additional ½ teaspoon Buffalo sauce to the top of each burger and carefully flip. Cook an additional minute over low heat.
- Serve with desired toppings.
(Please refer to the post above for instructional photographs and other helpful information for this recipe)
Suggested Equipment/Tools
Notes
Nutrition
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I loved these chickpea burgers! I made them using my favorite BBQ sauce instead of buffalo, simply because I didn't have any buffalo sauce. I used extra BBQ sauce when cooking, because I love BBQ. I made these twice (a double batch the second time), and the first time I didn't have trouble with them crumbling, but the second time I did. I think it was my fault for letting the mixture sit for awhile before cooking while I was prepping other dishes (like your vegan ranch to go with them!). I also didn't use oil to cook them, just a bit of water (which I don't necessarily recommend, but I am on an oil-free diet, and it worked okay). I had these chickpea burgers over a spring mix and cole slaw mix with BBQ sauce and vegan ranch drizzled on top, in a whole wheat pita pocket the same way, as a taco filling mixed with salsa and the vegan ranch, and even over brown rice and cole slaw with sriracha and soy sauce. Yum! Each variation was totally satisfying and delicious! I was hoping to post some pictures of what I did with them. Thank you so much for this recipe! It has helped me so much with making the switch to a vegan diet!!
That is so awesome, Skye! I love the idea of the BBQ sauce and I am definitely going to have to try that myself. 🙂 I'm so happy you enjoyed the burgers and the vegan ranch. So glad you were able to enjoy these burgers in different ways; that is so cool. I really appreciate you kind words and it means so much that this helped you in your vegan food journey. I'd love to see your pics! Perhaps you can post them on your Facebook or Instagram and tag me at Watch Learn Eat. Thanks so much for sharing your experience! Wishing you the best! 🙂
Mine fell apart and were very crumbly. Tasted great though! I might add more chickpea flour next time.
Thanks Kelsie; I'm glad you enjoyed them! You can definitely try adding a little more chickpea flour. Also, I'm not sure what utensil you used to flip them, so I've added to the directions to use a turner spatula which is the best way to flip them while keeping them intact. Let me know how it goes with adding more flour. Hope you have an awesome weekend!
As long as you don't expect them to be firm, I think you'll love these. My son is not a vegan and is an honest critic on my vegan dishes. He really liked these and so did I. I found an easy vegan buffalo sauce recipe, also on Pinterest that was yummy. But also nice to top with your own favorite sauce/condiment.
Thanks so much for sharing, Roberta! I'm so glad you and your son both enjoyed the chickpea burgers! I haven't made my own vegan Buffalo sauce yet, but I will definitely have to give that a try soon. Hope you have an awesome rest of your week! 🙂
Made these for dinner the other night for my family (they aren't vegan) and everyone LOVED IT! We added your vegan ranch dressing on top with avocados. Definitely going to be a repeat dish in our house this summer.
That's so awesome, Eva! So glad you and your family love the burgers! 🙂
These look divine! I'm going to have to drizzle it with your avocado bleu cheese. Yummy!
Thanks Krystle! I bet they would taste great with the avocado blue cheese!
Feeling better with less meat and more vegan meals. This is one delicious way to enjoy meatless Mondays. Look crispy and delicious!
Yes, I've been doing the same myself. Thanks so much! 🙂
You had me at buffalo! So I've never had a chickpea burger, but I'd be curious to try it...especially if it involves buffalo sauce and a drizzle of ranch or blue cheese dressing. Yum!!
I hope you go for it, David! Chickpea burgers are awesome! 🙂
I love a good chickpea burger! How brilliant to use Buffalo sauce too - I'm kinda obsessed with all things Buffalo sauce and can't wait to try this!!
I'm obsessed with Buffalo sauce too! Thank you Lauren! 🙂
These sound so good! Perfect for game day!
Thanks Allison! 🙂
I love chickpea burgers and this looks so good! Plus, it has buffalo sauce! Dynamite!
Thank you Shanika! Yay for chickpeas and Buffalo sauce! 🙂
Cooking with chickpeas is one of my favorite healthy tricks! There's something about that Buffalo flavor that I just love too!
Thanks Krissy! I ♥ both so much too! 🙂
love a tasty vegetarian dish like this! Bet buffalo makes it absolutely delicious!
Yes, Buffalo sauce rocks! Thank you Shadi! 🙂
These buffalo chickpea burgers look great! I love the different ways that you use chickpeas!
Thank you Dawn! Chickpeas rock!
This HAS to taste incredible! It looks incredible and flavorful! I need to try it for sure.
Thank you so much, Denise! Hope you enjoy it!
You had me at buffalo! Now I love a good beef burger, and I've done chicken burgers on occasion, too...but I must admit that I've never even had a chickpea burger. I do love hummus, though, so I'm totally down to try these out! I was surprised to see the carrots in there, but it totally makes sense. It's football season, and that means buffalo everything needs to be on the table! 🙂
Thanks David! I loooove Buffalo sauce! And chickpeas 🙂
So friggin unique!!! YOU are doing what I recommended - making veggie burgers from scratch so you know EXACTLY what goes into them!!! 🙂
You know it, girl! I loved your piece on veggie burgers! Thanks so much! 🙂