Vegetarian Chickpea Burger Recipe and Review

So, in an attempt to get me and my meat loving boyfriend to eat healthier I was looking for a replacement for the Hardeee’s burgers that he thinks are the most amazing things on the planet (I think Hardee’s is probably one of the top five contributors to why America keeps getting fatter and fatter. Every time I see one of their commercials it’s all about their “bigger” burger, like must you throw on ANOTHER beef pattie?!? Anywho, that’s neither here nor there…..). SO, I decided to try this recipe by Rachel Ray.  Rach suggests serving them on a bun with cheese and other toppings, but I think an easy way to cut calories is to nix the bun but have at least one topping, so I’ll also provide my recipe for homemade tzatziki sauce that I put on top of this bunless burger.

These turned out really good, the crisp golden outside was really easy to achieve, I was so excited because I usually burn everything. The tzatziki was a perfect compliment and worked really well with the flavors of cumin and garlic. I was skeptical as to whether this recipe would be guy friendly, but he ate the whole thing and half of another. So for a healthy and delicious alternative to a fatty burger I would definitely recommend this! They were simple and even really good leftover, and as far as I’m concerned, throw tzatziki on anything and it’s automatically tasty. You could also serve this along with a simple salad with lettuce, onion, cuke, tomato, and feta, just add a little olive and splash of lemon juice for the dressing and you’re golden!

Recipe can also be found here.

Ingredients:

• One 19-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• One 4-ounce can diced green chiles
• 2/3 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 2/3 cup bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

**I added 1 tsp of cumin, ½ tsp of garlic powder, and ½ tsp onion powder to give it a little more flavor

Directions:

1.      In a food processor, pulse the chickpeas, green chiles and parsley until finely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and stir in the bread crumbs and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the egg and form the mixture into 4 patties, each about 2/3 inch thick.

2.      In a large skillet or grill pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Cook the burgers for 4 minutes, then flip and cook for 3 minutes more. You’ll want the patties to have a nice crispy gold look.

Katina’s Homemade Tzatziki Sauce

1 or 1 ½ cups 0% fat greek yogurt (Fage brand works the best)

1 small cuke

1-2 garlic gloves depending on how garlicky you like things

Dried dill weed

Place the yogurt in a medium sized bowl. Cute the cucumber in half, grate half of it into the yogurt, finely chop the other half and mix this into the yogurt. Next, grate the garlic cloves into the yogurt and mix in. Next, add as much dill weed as you like to taste. I love dill weed so I probably add about a tbsp or maybe even a little more. Let this mixture marinate in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Another way to eat chickpeas:

Have a can of chickpeas in your pantry and have no idea what to do with them?? All you have to do to make a quick healthy meal is drizzle some olive oil on top, a splash of lemon juice, and sprinkle on some feta. Eat them as is or put on top of a bed of lettuce or spinach for a healthy salad topping!