Quinoa Chickpea Patties
Quinoa chickpea patties are perfect for brunch, a light lunch, or meatless meal. With just 3 Weight Watchers Smart Points per patty, they’re healthy and delicious! This quinoa recipe is vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free, and packed with protein. Grab your apron and come on in to my virtual kitchen to learn how easy this quinoa patties recipe is to make.
While St. Patrick’s Day may be over, I’m keeping the spirit alive with patties of a different kind!
I’ve even decided to color outside the lines of my typical, very meat-loving food style with something from my meatless recipes box for you. I care enough to give up bacon for a day. That’s true love, people! <3
I can see some of your faces getting all sad and frumpy looking right now. Come on gang, stick with me… please?!
I get that this dish isn’t the kind of food you’d typically want to munch on while watching your favorite TV show, and it’s definitely not going to curb your sweet tooth like my best ever brownies will, but we all need to eat healthy now and then.
And even though quinoa is one of those foods that seems too nerdy to hang around, I promise you that looks are deceiving! Quinoa is the super cool nerd! It’s fluffy and because it’s so light, it tickles your tongue a little bit. Plus, it’s packed with nutrients and protein.
Quinoa’s the new rice, and it’ll keep your motor running. I recently used quinoa to make a batch of delicious fluffy quinoa muffins with asparagus and cheese. They’ll be perfect for Easter brunch!
How to Make Quinoa Chickpea Patties
The mixture for the quinoa chickpea patties couldn’t be any easier to whip up. Using canned chickpeas and pre-shredded carrots makes putting this together lightning quick, too!
I use organic products for the chickpeas and the quinoa in these patties, but I know that many of you are living under incredibly tight budgets, so don’t fret if you can’t afford them. That being said, I use canned organic chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans), only costing an extra twelve pennies per can. Take a look the next time you go grocery shopping and you may find that some of the store brand products are available in organic varieties now. Many of them are just a few cents more per can than the regular generic products.
The quinoa will take about 20 minutes to cook. While it does, you can fix a nice salad to serve with these quinoa chickpea patties. Or, whip up some poached eggs or pesto to serve on top of them, which would taste amazing! My friend Kalyn’s recipe for spinach basil pesto is delicious and would be perfect.
Are you ready to cook up some quinoa chickpea goodness?
I can taste the goodness already, and it’s yummi!
Quinoa Chickpea Patties
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil separated
- 1 shallot minced
- 1.5 cups (14 ounce can) cooked garbanzo beans
- ½ cup superfine almond flour or gluten free bread crumbs
- 1 cup cooked quinoa*
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup grated carrots (about 1 medium size carrot)
- ¼ cup fresh parsley finely chopped
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher or sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Place 1 teaspoon oil in a small saute pan over medium heat. Saute the shallots until softened and sweetened, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
- In a large mixing bowl, mash the beans with the back of a fork. Add the cooked shallots and remaining ingredients and use a spoon to combine well.
- Gently form into patties about 1/2-inch thick and 3 inches across. In a heavy cast iron skillet (do NOT use a non-stick pan or the patties won’t brown), heat remaining olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Cook patties until golden brown and crisp, about 3 minutes per side, reducing heat if they’re browning too quickly.
Serving Suggestion:
- Top patties with a poached egg, cracked black pepper, and scallions to serve. Also great topped with tomato salsa or spinach pesto!
I hate quinoa. There, I’ve said it. I tried it many times in many forms in many recipes thinking I just hadn’t found the right presentation and had just given up.
I have to admit that a patty like this is intriguing. Guess I’ll have to give quinoa one more try.
Ya know what? I get it. COMPLETELY! I gagged my way through every bite of it in culinary school, and then I added my favorite foods to it. First, quinoa and bacon…with melted butter drizzled on it. (Can you say “heart attack”?) Then I tried it with salsa. Hardly worthy of presentation on a plate, but delicious nonetheless.
Add your favorite foods to a small bowl if it and see what you think 🙂
I like quinoa, but everything I’ve tried so far has my family gagging. These patties are definitely worth a try!
Hey Jodie! Did you see the comment I left for another reader about how I used to gag my way through quinoa in culinary school? I fell completely in love with it once I added it to my favorite foods. Namely, bacon and melted butter! These patties would be great topped with gravy, salsa, or even BBQ sauce! I hope you can find a way for your family to love quinoa, because it’s SO healthy!
I’m going to have to pass this on to my sister, she love quinoa! I still haven’t tried it. But planning on it soon.
I hope you have a chance to try it soon, Lucy. It’s SO good!
Quinoa is a staple in our house! Love the added egg.
Healthy and delicious, right, Jill?! Thanks for stopping over!
Nerdy but so worth it! I love quinoa. I was surprised that I actually liked it plan, by itself when I tasted it straight out of the pot. I like to mix it into salads but I have never made it into a patty before. This is something that I look forward to trying!
hehe… I just KNEW that nerdy would be cool one day 😉 Thanks for coming over, Dionne!
I love chickpeas and never thought of combining with quinoa. These patties look amazing!!
Thank you so much, Zainab!
I made these and they are not staying together, they keep falling apart 🙁 is there something I’m doing wrong?
Hi Angela,
I’m SO sorry that you’re having trouble keeping the patties together! I know that during testing of the recipe, I did have the same problem. I thought I had rectified it by adding another egg and some extra almond flour (which I wrote into the ingredient list). Try a little more almond flour first, or if you’re not allergic, I suggest using some bread crumbs or even some rolled oats. They’re thicker and will help absorb some of the moisture and hold everything together for you. Please let me know if you need more help.
I’m so excited to have another quinoa recipe to try! It’s on the list of things to force myself to eat more, but I honestly didn’t know how to use it. 🙂 Oh, and I have only eaten chickpeas in hummus, so this should be fun!
I’m so happy that you stopped by, Lisa! I hope you’ll try these patties out. It’s a great way to get the healthy quinoa into your body 🙂
I just made the patties and they are great!!! It is a really good recipe… tasty 🙂
I’m SO happy to hear that you liked them! Thanks for coming back to let me know 🙂
Hi are you able to freeze these patties?
Hi Jess – I never tried freezing the chickpea patties, but it may work. For best results, allow the patties to cool completely first. Then, wrap them individually in plastic wrap and store them together in a zip top freezer bag. My biggest concern is that they may lose their crispiness when you reheat them, so the best option for reheating would probably be to put them onto a sheet pan and bake them at 350 degrees F. in the oven. Please let me know how it turns out for you!