Mushroom Spinach Chickpea Burgers

A healthy take on the classic burger, made with organic ingredients, these Mushroom Spinach Chickpea Burgers are sure to please even the staunchest carnivore!

Attention Crumby Cupcake readers: I have an announcement to make.

(Sweet Vegan friends, you may want to shield your eyes. But just for a second.)

I…am irrevocably in love.

With meat.

Yes, I am an unapologetic carnivore. I adore animals or every sort, but I just can’t help but love crispy chicken breast, pan-fried salmon, roasted pork loin, and a nice juicy medium-grilled sirloin steak.

I’d blame my upbringing, but meh.

(Vegans, feel free to pick back up here.)

In spite of that obvious fact about me, today I can honestly say that I’ve seen the way the other half looks at the food chain, and it ain’t that bad! Enter this Mushroom Spinach Chickpea Burger, the dish that changed my mind about meat at every meal.

Real talk.

Until this tasty creation, I had never once eaten a veggie burger.

The very thought of a patty not made with some combination of beef, pork, or chicken, nestled in a topping-laden bun and served at a summer barbecue, made me cringe.

That’s not a burger, that’s an imposter. An imposter that probably tastes like grilled styrofoam. Maybe even worse.

I can’t decide what made me think that. I’m a big fan of vegetables, so why would I think mashing them up and calling it a burger would be so foul?

I’ve jumped on the organic bandwagon recently (blame trying-to-conceive brain), and when I received a two-pound bag of Jiva dried organic chickpeas, I got super excited. Excited at the possibilities of what I could do with them! How I could work them in to my life in every way imaginable, especially with a seemingly endless supply – two pounds of dried chickpeas is a lot! Chickpea brownies! Baked garbanzo snacks! Beans in my salads! Homemade hummus (stay tuned for that, also)!

Having never prepared anything from dried beans before, I wasn’t quite prepared for the extra work it entailed. But wow, the difference it made!

I find that usually, canned chickpeas are super mushy. Great for hummus and things of that nature, but with a veggie burger, you really want some texture, otherwise the whole bite turns to an unidentifiable mass while you chew. Jiva’s got it right – I soaked my dried chickpeas overnight, then boiled them for almost 90 minutes, and they we still very firm, but perfectly snackable & usable for recipe creation.

I searched Pinterest for the tastiest looking veggie burgers out there (since I’d never made one, I needed an idea of a base to start with), and threw together my ingredients based off of many ideas from a handful of different recipes. I dove right in, seasoning here and there, and loving the fact that I could taste my seasoning progression since there was nothing raw in my mix.

The patties came together, and I was pleasantly surprised that they actually looked like burger patties. Like, over the moon excited that I may have nailed it on the first attempt.

And I did, folks; I so did.

The Mushroom Spinach Chickpea Burger was perfectly chunky, and tasted like a big bite of delicious warm hummus. And if the burger wasn’t flavorful enough, I topped it with some crazy Cubanelle Guacamole I pulled out of my butt at the last minute, which pushed it straight over the top in the yummy veggie burger department.

So, Vegans, there you have it. I’ve been convinced, and while I’m not going to give up my Angus burgers any time soon, I could easily see these making a comeback in my kitchen a few times. I plan on branching out and trying even more organic, vegan-style foods in the coming months, for curiosity’s sake.

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Just don’t expect any tofu recipes on this blog anytime soon. That stuff still doesn’t do anything for me.

Mushroom Spinach Chickpea Burgers

A healthy take on the classic burger, made with organic ingredients, these Mushroom Spinach Chickpea Burgers are sure to please even the staunchest carnivore!

4.87 from 15 votes

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword: chickpea burgers

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 burgers

Calories: 492kcal

Author: Erica

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
• ▢ 15 ounces (1 can) black beans drained & rinsed
• ▢ ¼ cup cooked brown rice or quinoa
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 1 small onion diced
• ▢ 3 cloves garlic diced
• ▢ 1 cup baby portabella mushrooms washed and sliced
• ▢ 3 cups baby spinach lightly packed & divided
• ▢ Sea salt to taste
• ▢ Red pepper flakes to taste
• ▢ Cumin to taste
• ▢ Worcestershire sauce to taste
• ▢ 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
• ▢ 2 tomatoes sliced
• ▢ 1 cucumber sliced
• ▢ 6 hamburger buns

Chunky Cubanelle Guacamole

• ▢ 1 medium avocado halved & pitted
• ▢ 1 cup fresh cilantro chopped
• ▢ 1 Cubanelle pepper seeded & chopped
• ▢ 2 jalapenos seeded & chopped
• ▢ 1 clove garlic diced
• ▢ 1 lime juiced
• ▢ Sea salt to taste
• ▢ Red pepper flakes to taste
• ▢ Cumin to taste
• ▢ 3-4 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

• In a large bowl, add chickpeas, black beans, and rice. Set aside.
• Heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet over low heat. Add onion & garlic and saute for about 10 minutes. Then add mushrooms and saute another 3-4 minutes, until browned.
• Wilt spinach over mushroom mixture for a few minutes, then add all to bowl with beans.
• Season liberally with salt, red pepper, and cumin, and add Worcestershire to taste, then stir it all together with the bread crumbs.
• Place all ingredients in a food processor, and pulse until mixture reaches desired texture (I had to keep moving stuff around at the bottom with a spoon so it didn't become too smooth - I went for a chunkier mix.)
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
• Divide mixture into 6 balls, then flatten each ball in to a patty and place them on an oiled baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes.
• Place skillet over medium heat. Remove baking sheet from oven, brush the patties liberally with olive oil, and fry them three at a time for a few minutes on each side. This produces a lovely, crispy exterior.

Chunky Cubanelle Guacamole

• Add all ingredients except olive oil to clean food processor bowl. Pulse, drizzling in olive oil as you go, until blended but still kind of chunky.
• Top your burgers with Chunky Cubanelle Guacamole, spinach, cucumber, & tomato.

Nutrition

Serving: 1burger, no bun | Calories: 492kcal | Carbohydrates: 64g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 586mg | Potassium: 951mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 2075IU | Vitamin C: 29.3mg | Calcium: 180mg | Iron: 5.6mg

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