Easy Chickpea Patties {Your Kids Are Gonna Love}

This yummy little Chickpea Patties are crispy on the outside and full of flavor and goodness on the inside. They take less than 5 minutes to out together and can be made from scratch, cooked and on the table ready to full up little tummies in less than 10. Perfect for a quick lunch or an easy snack, serve these little patties with some tomato sauce for extra Mmmm.

Easy Chickpea Patties

I always have tins of chickpeas in the pantry. Always. They've saved me many times when I've not been to the shops and I need a store cupboard dinner that's easy to make and will stave off those Ahhh moments when it'd be way to easy to end up at the Drive Thru. Yep Chickpeas are great, no question, but do the kids like them? And do they eat them? And how on earth can you get the kids to like them if (like me!) they'd never come across them before you started eating Clean?

Ok. So before I carry on I'll tell you right now that my kids were not huge fans initially. None of them, not a single one. But then I realised I'd been getting it all wrong: I'd been using them in ways that were to well, blatant, if I'm honest. And like most of the foods I've introduced the kids to over the years we've been eating Clean, slow and steady wins the race. Disguising foods also wins the race. That I can promise you :)

One of the first things I tried to make to replace the foods they used to love were burgers, and chickpeas seemed like the natural choice. They weren't. I ended up with this delicious little black bean burger instead that they loved and still to this day a regular and much loved burger choice, but I wasn't done with chickpeas just yet!

And this is how these little chickpea patties came to be. They're the result of quite a long period of time playing about with recipes and trying to find something yummy enough that the kids would see past the chickpeas. And this is it, and they do!

I added grated carrot to this recipe as an extra sneaky veg addition, but they also add texture and color as well as goodness. Plus the kids like carrots and so I knew they'd eat them :)

What else is there to love about these patties? They're crispy on the outside and yummy in the middle. They really are. I don't breadcrumb them on the outside as they have breadcrumbs to help them bind in the mixture, but I do flour them before they go into the frying pan. This helps crisp the outside and if you're kids are anything like mine they love crispy things!

Ingredients

The list of ingredients is simple and short...

Chickpeas

I buy chickpeas in tins rather than the dried version you have to soak. The tins are very cheap in my local shops and have a long use by date on them so I can keep a few tins in the pantry. You can buy the organic or regular versions so get whatever suits you, just make sure you drain all the brine off them before using them. I also give them a bit of a rinse too.

When you make this mixture, it can need a tablespoon or two of water to bring it all together. Do this one tablespoon at a time to make sure you don't make the mixture too wet.

Carrots

Fresh carrots, grated: They're sweet and juicy and add some crunchy texture to these chickpea patties. I just wash the carrots and don't worry about peeling them, I just grate them as they are. A quick carrot salad is easy here, you're grating carrots anyway, grate a few extra and serve this with a yummy carrot salad.

Breadcrumbs

I use 2 slices of wholegrain bread here to make breadcrumbs. If you don't have fresh wholegrain bread you can use frozen bread and put it straight into the food processor.

What To Serve With These Patties

I like to make these patties for lunch and so usually either serve them with a big green salad, or with lots of raw veg sticks and pickles. You can easily turn these patties into a mini slider burger, sometimes my local supermarket stocks these little teeny tiny wholemeal burger rolls and they're absolutely perfect for turning these into sliders.

Of course you can just make these a little bigger and have them as regular burgers, but my kids have an obsession with all things mini and so if I see the little burger buns, these go straight in them!

A simple grated carrot salad dressed with a balsamic dressing goes really well with these or keep it plain, whatever your kids prefer.

Making Ahead, Refrigerating, Freezing And Recipe Notes

Making these ahead of time ready to go straight into the frying pan is easy. Make the whole recipe right up to dusting them in flour and then pop them in the fridge until you need them. There's no need to bring them back up to room temperature before frying them, simply cook them straight off.

You can also freeze these and keep them in the freezer for up to a month. There's a couple of things you need to know though. Don't add any water to the mixture as the water you'll get from the frozen mixture is enough to bind the mixture when it's defrosted. I recommend making the mixture up and putting it into a freezer bag to be frozen. When you want to defrost the mix, leave it out overnight to fully defrost and then dust the patties and cook them as usual.

This mix needs a couple of tablespoons of water to bind it all together. Add one tablespoon at a time until you have a mixture that sticks together well. Try not to make the mixture too wet, if you accidentally do, add another tablespoon of breadcrumbs until the mixture is workable again.

More Clean Eating Patties & Burgers

• Tuna and carrot patties (no egg)
• Healthy salmon patties
• Black Bean veggie burgers for kids
• Clean eating take out burger

How To Make Chickpea Patties

Ingredients

• 1 Can Chickpeas Drained, rinsed
• 1 Large Carrot Grated
• 2 Slices Wholemeal/Wholegrain bread
• 1 Egg
• ½ tsp Onion powder
• ½ tsp Sweet Paprika
• Salt & pepper To season
• 2 tbsp Flour For dusting
• 2 tbsp Olive oil For frying

Instructions

• Put a sheet of parchment out ready to out the patties onto
• In a food processor blend the slices of bread, onion powder, paprika, salt and pepper until breadcrumbed. Transfer the mix to a large bowl
• Add the chickpeas and grated carrot and egg to the bowl and mix well. If you don't want the chickpeas to be whole use a fork to mash them up a little. If the mixture is too dry add one table spoon at a time until the mixture is workable
• Put the flour into a shallow bowl and using a table spoon per patty, use your hands to shape the patties and roll them in the flour. Place each one onto the parchment paper and repeat until all the mixture is done
• Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on a medium heat and once it's heated add the patties and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until the patties are golden and cooked through
• Serve straight away

Chickpea Pattie Recipe