This recipe has been sitting in my head for quite awhile now. I thought of it when I made the Italian tofu sausage a few months back. As you can see, I am clearly missing the Field Roast vegan sausages, even after a full year of being gluten free. So, I am doing my best to replicate the flavors in a new way.

This is the first veggie burger recipe I would actually consider eating for breakfast. Especially when topped with the lemon ginger yogurt sauce you’ll see below.

Crockpot chickpeas!

Veggie burgers can sometimes be a little tricky to get the hang of. Often times, there are problems with the mixture holding together, or being too soft after cooking.

These seemed about as full proof as you can get! Not too many ingredients, so not much can go wrong. I always try to leave my veggie burger mixtures a bit on the textured side. Gives them much better chew! No one wants a mushy, doughy veggie burger.

Below is the mixture before adding the ground oats.

My best textured veggie burger to date! Although I’m still quite fond of The Burger.

Enjoy these wrapped in lettuce with a few slices of apple, on a bun with melted cheese + ketchup, crumbled on a salad, or however you choose.

Apple Sage Chickpea Burgers

yields 9 small, 2-3” patties

1.5 cup chickpeas
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup apple, grated
1.5 Tablespoons sage, finely chopped
1/2 cup ground oats
1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon oil + 1-2 Tablespoons for cooking
3 Tablespoons sunflower seeds
pinch of black pepper

Rinse + drain the chickpeas.
Grind the oats, about half way to flour in a blender, food processor, coffee grinder, etc. Measure out 1/2 cup and set aside.
After grating the apple, squeeze between a few paper towels or a kitchen towel to absorb some of the moisture. Measure a loosely packed half cup.
Add the chopped onion + garlic to your food processor and pulse a few times.
Add the chickpeas, apple, sage, salt, oil + black pepper.
Process until everything is combined. About 5-10 seconds. Refer to photograph #2.
Add in the ground oats and pulse around until the mixture holds together. Avoid over processing, so the burgers have a nice texture.
Test by forming a ball and pressing it into a patty. If it’s not holding together, pulse in 1-2 Tablespoons more oats, until it holds.
Stir in the sunflower seeds.
Heat pan over medium and add 1-2 Tablespoons oil. Coconut oil works really well for this.
Form patties and cook on each side for about 4-6min until golden brown.

tips/substitutions: You may be able to add a flour instead of partially ground oats, but the texture will differ slightly. I would start by adding 1/3 cup and go from there.

Lemon Ginger Yogurt Sauce

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Mix together and use as a topping.

I scarfed these down with side of cottage cheese scrambled eggs? Major egg excitement over here. Our local non-chain pet store sells fresh eggs! The owners raise chickens and sell the eggs for the amazing price of $3! And, they beat out every other farm fresh egg to date! I’ve never seen such a golden yellow/orange color and the yolk sits about one inch high! Even after adding cottage cheese, these scrambled eggs were bright yellow.

Breakfast [lunch or dinner] is served!

The sauce adds a nice tangy bite. Made these today and they’re already 100% polished off.

This is another recipe, I highly recommend doubling. Freeze one whole batch, by tightly wrapping each [cooled] burger in saran wrap, then in a sealed freezer bag. Defrost the night before in the fridge. Super quick and easy to heat back up and take to work in the morning, topped with an egg on a toasted bun, or lettuce wrap style.