These vegetarian Middle Eastern chickpea burgers are made with fresh herbs and topped with Tzatziki, a creamy cucumber-dill yogurt sauce.
Toddlers are fickle eaters – they love one thing one week and hate it the next. Right now, my five year old isn’t really into meat, choosing vegetables, beans and seafood over steak and chicken. Since it’s burger season, I knew just the solution. Cue: hearty and satisfying vegetarian Middle Eastern chickpea burgers.
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Made with fresh herbs like parsley and scallions and topped with my cucumber dill Greek Tzatziki sauce, these burgers were a home run with my little guy. In fact, he ate two of them in one sitting as though it was his last meal.
If you’ve never made vegetarian burgers at home before, I urger you to give it a try. Unlike store-bought varieties made with artificial ingredients and fillers, homemade vegetarian burgers are made with simple ingredients you probably already have on hand like canned beans, bread crumbs and spices.
Luckily, everything you need for these beauties can be found at your local Kroger store. Easy, affordable and way more delicious than anything you’ll find in the freezer aisle, be sure to add these Vegetarian Chickpea Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce to your next weekly meal plan.
No forks required.
These Middle Eastern inspired vegetarian chickpea burgers are made with fresh herbs then topped with a creamy cucumber yogurt sauce.
- 15 ounces canned chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup scallions
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne optional
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
- olive oil as needed
- 4 whole wheat hamburger buns
- 4 servings Greek Tzatziki Sauce
- tomato slices, lettuce, onion slices optional to serve
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Place the first 9 ingredients (chickpeas through egg) in a high speed food processor and pulse on high until the mixture is smooth and everything is evenly incorporated. (It's ok if it's slightly chunky - texture is good.)
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Remove mixture from the food processor and place into a medium bowl. Working a couple tablespoons at a time, slowly stir in the bread crumbs. Continue adding breadcrumbs until the mixture is dry enough to form patties.
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Divide the bowl into quarters with your hands and carefully form four patties. Place patties on a platter drizzled with a little olive oil and flip once so the patties are lightly oiled on both sides.
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To cook, heat a non-stick griddle or frying pan over medium-high heat. Brown patties until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes per side.
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While the patties are cooking, make the tzatziki sauce in a separate bowl. To serve, place one patty in between each hamburger bun and top with tzatziki sauce and other designed condiments.1
Photography by Alejandro Photography // Recipe by The Lemon Bowl
Disclosure: I am honored to be an ambassador for Kroger. Thank you for supporting the brands that make The Lemon Bowl possible. All thoughts are my own.
Kay
Or you can keep the bean juice
and use as egg replacer.
Liz DellaCroce
Great idea!
Cookin Canuck
Love the Middle Eastern spin you put on these veggie burgers. And really, you can never go wrong with anything slathered with tzatziki. :)
Liz DellaCroce
Basically I wanted to eat falafel in burger form. ;)
Celeste
Wow, these look AMAZING!!
Liz DellaCroce
Thank you!! They turned out so good!
Alison's Allspice
I have been loving tzatziki lately, but have never tried it on a veggie burger. It’s on my rotation for next week, thanks!
Liz DellaCroce
I hope you love it!
Megan @ MegUnprocessed
I love making chickpea burgers!
Liz DellaCroce
You can’t beat them!
Lizzie
Do you think the flavor would be terribly compromised by cutting back on the salt? A teaspoon sounds like a lot to me …. love the idea of chickpeas for something other than hummus!
Liz DellaCroce
It’s a matter of preference but in general when you’re cooking from scratch you need to add a decent amount of salt to bring out the other flavors. Anything you eat in a restaurant or purchase from a freezer has more salt than you would use at home so that’s something to keep in mind. All that said, you could leave it out entirely – it’s completely up to you!
Mabel Pope
I think that someone mixed up the order of the ingredients. It says to put the first 8 ingredients in food processor (chickpeas through parsley) but that’s only the first 4 ingredients, and what about the egg? I mean it’s easy to figure out but some might find it a little confusing. Otherwise it sounds like a great recipe. Thanks.
Liz DellaCroce
So sorry about that Mabel – the recipe has been corrected! :) I hope you love it!
Cassidy Stockton
These look amazing, Liz!
Liz DellaCroce
You would love these!