Packed with juicy Kalamata olives, zippy lemon, and fresh herbs, these Greek-inspired chickpea burgers are like a Mediterranean flavor party in your face!
I love these chickpea burgers. I've made them many times since I first developed the recipe a couple of years ago. I even made a video showing how they're made, just so I could enjoy them again!
This is my go-to recipe when I want to impress people with my veggie burger crafting skills. It works well on so many levels!
First, chickpeas. They make an excellent base for veggie burgers, and I find myself using them again and again in so many veggie burger variations, from falafel burgers, to vegan barbecue burgers to vegan Buffalo burgers.
But this particular chickpea burger recipe also has some amazing, Mediterranean-inspired flavors going on. We're talking fresh herbs, juicy olives, and zesty lemon. All of this comes together to create vegan burger that can't be beat in terms of flavor and texture.
Let's talk about how they're made!
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Rolled oats. Oat flour can be substituted — just cut down on the amount by about 2 tablespoons.
- Chickpeas. The recipe calls for canned chickpeas. You can use dried, but you'll need to soak and cook them first.
- Red onion.
- Kalamata olives.
- Scallions.
- Fresh oregano. I don't recommend subbing dried.
- Lemon juice. Fresh squeezed is best.
- Salt & pepper.
- Olive oil. You can use another high-heat oil, but olive will give you burgers the best flavor.
- Burger buns. Check the ingredients to ensure they're vegan. I'm a big fan of Dave's Killer Bread burger buns.
- Toppings. Use whatever you like! I use vegan mayo, ketchup, greens, tomato, vegan cheese, and sliced red onion. If you're up for a homemade sauce, try vegan tzatziki or tahini dressing.
How They're Made
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make these burgers. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
- Place your oats into a food processor bowl.
- Blend them to a coarse powder.
- Now add the chickpeas, chopped red onion, olives, scallions, oregano, lemon juice and salt.
- Pulse the food processor until the ingredients are finely chopped and well mixed. Don't overdo it! You want your burgers to have some texture.
- Shape your burger mixture into 4 patties.
- Heat up some olive oil in a skillet.
- Place a few patties in the skillet and cook them for about 5 minutes on each side, until they're lightly browned and crispy.
Stuff the patties into buns, along with your choice of burger toppings.
Your vegan chickpea burgers are ready to enjoy. Go get 'em!
Tips & Frequently Asked Questions
- Are these burgers gluten-free? They are if you use gluten-free buns and certified gluten-free oats!
- Shelf-life & storage: Leftover patties will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for about 3 days, or in the freezer for about 3 months.
- The recipe makes about 4 patties. If you're feeding less than 4 people, I recommend saving the excess burger mix in a sealed container (don't shape it into patties). It should keep in the fridge for about 3 days or in the freezer for a couple of months. Then, when you're ready for leftovers, thaw (if frozen), shape the patties, and cook them up according to the recipe.
- You can substitute oat flour for the rolled oats if you like. If you do, use a scant cup instead of a level cup.
- Can this recipe be made oil-free? I haven't tried making these oil-free, but I suspect cooking them on a good nonstick surface or baking them at about 400°F for 15 minutes on each side would work.
More Vegan Burger Recipes
- Pesto White Bean Burgers
- Zesty Lentil Burgers
- Smoky Black Bean Burgers
- Garlicky Kale Burgers
- Teriyaki Tempeh Burgers
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
📖 Recipe
Greek Chickpea Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 (14 ounce or 400 gram) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup chopped red onion
- â…“ cup roughly chopped Kalamata olives
- 2 tablespoons chopped scallions
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- Black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
For Serving
- 4 burger buns
- Lettuce
- Tomato slices
- Red onion
- Vegan mayo, yogurt or hummus
Instructions
- Place the oats into the bowl of a food processor fitted with an s-blade. Blend them to a powder.
- Add the chickpeas, red onion, Kalamata olives, scallions, garlic, oregano, lemon juice, and salt.
- Pulse the food processor until everything is finely chopped and well mixed, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Taste-test the mixture and season it with additional salt, if desired, as well as some black pepper to taste.
- Shape the mixture into 4 patties.
- Coat the bottom of a medium skillet with olive oil and place it over medium heat.
- When the oil is hot, arrange the patties in the skillet, cooking as many as you can fit without crowding.
- Cook the patties for about 5 minutes on each side, until golden and crisp.
- Cook any remaining patties in another batch, adding oil to the skillet if needed.
- Stuff the patties onto buns and top with toppings of choice.
- Serve.
Notes
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I made these for dinner tonight and loved them! The olives are awesome! I didn’t have fresh oregano so I used 1 teaspoon of dried and I thought that was a good amount for my taste. I will definitely save this recipe to make again. Thanks for a great recipe!
These were super fast and easy to whip up, with ingredients I had in the pantry!
The one thing I didn't have was the olives, so I drained some oil packed sundried tomatoes and replaced them with those - really delicious!
Thank you for the great recipe!
These sound great. Can these be air fried since we're oil free? Any idea of time/temp?
Remember, an air fryer is just a high-powered convection oven. If you can bake them in the oven you can bake them in your air fryer. I would try 400 F for 12 minutes, flip and check at 5 minutes. If it needs more time, put it back in for 3 to 5 minutes and check again. Don't crowd the basket/tray
Super yummy and they were so quick and easy to whip up! I put some leftover tzatziki on them and it was delicious. Will definitely be making these again.
Hi-can you use almond flour in place of the oats?
I'm afraid I'm not sure! Oats soak up a lot of moisture and help with binding though, and I suspect almond flour wouldn't be able to do that.
Can you give the recipe with kilograms. Thanks
Done! Just click the button below the ingredients to switch to metric. I've slowly been adding this to my recipes but hadn't gotten to this one yet. :)
You don't say whether to add the liquid from the garbanzos to the mx. I didn't and it didn't work.
You shouldn't add the liquid - that's why the ingredients list specifies that the chickpeas should be drained. How did it not work? If you let me know I can try to help figure out what went wrong.
These get a thumbs up...I made the for dinner tonight. Both my husband and 12 year old son devoured them.
I'm glad they were a hit! Thanks Karen!
Thank you for all your delicious vegan recipes. You inspire me to be more creative and to realize vegan cooking doesn't need to be boring! I've tried so many of your recipes and I'm never let down, trying these burgers tonight!
thank you
That's so great to hear! Thanks so much Maru, and I hope you enjoy the burgers!
These were sooooo good! I didn't have the falling apart issues others said they had, hiwever, I think this recipe makes 5-7 burgers instead of the four you suggest( it has also been very humid here so I don't know if that is a factor or not. I also allowed the mixture to sit for about 10 min. before I made my patties. Delicious! I am making them again today and I NEVER make the same dish two days in a row.
Delicious!
I’m unable to eat garlic or onions and these happily turned out great even without them. I subbed 1 tsp. of homemade Greek Seasoning for the lack of onion. Thank you for this wonderful recipe 💕
I'm so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks Sierra!
I am making these tonight as they look delish.
Quick q : I forgot to buy fresh oregano. How many teaspoons or tablespoons of the dried stuff should I use instead ? Thanks
I think 2 teaspoons should do it! Give the burger mixture a taste-test after mixing it up and add more from there if you'd like. Enjoy!!
This was the best veg burger I have ever made in my whole life (I have made a lot.) soooo delicious and just the perfect amount of crispy and juicy. I finally found a keeper. Thanks a lot for this one can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Yay!! I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks so much Anastasia!
These are fantastic! The kalamatas make the difference, I think. Almost reminded me of Feta cheese. Will definitely keep this recipe in the rotation. Thank you!!
Yes! I thought they tasted like there was some feta in there too, even though there wasn't! I'm so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks Kathy!
Ps. I bake them 200. For 15 minutes on each side
Thanks so much for sharing!
These burgers are absolutely delicious. I dont like eating bread too much so input them in a lettuce wrap. This is my favourite burger. Thank you for the recipe
Lettuce wraps sound like a great way to eat these! I'm so glad you like them!
I'm such a fan of vegetarian and online you'd find mostly non vegetarian blogs , but on finding this one, that too burger, wow, i tried it instantly and it turned out to be really mouthwatering, thanks for sharing this innovative recipe, my daughter really loved it , thanks so much
I'm glad you and your daughter enjoyed it!! Thanks so much!
These were a huge hit with the whole family - including the 7 and 10 yr old boys. We made some tzatziki to top them with. In my opinion, hummus would be too "dry" for these burgers. My burger mix came out very dry and crumbly so I added an egg to bind. Next time I would mix everything and then add the powdered oats slowly until I had the right consistency to avoid needing the egg.
I'm glad they were a hit!
These are *delicious.* I doubled the recipe and the flavors are excellent the next day. We didn't make the into burgers, rather made the patties and then had a saucy cucumber-tomato salad that went with it. Fabulous! Thank you for a great recipe.
Yay!! We ate the leftovers as fritters and loved them that way too! I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
Can these burgers be oven baked? Please reply. I'm ready to make them!!!
I haven't tried baking them, but I think so! Try 400°F for 15 minutes on each side.
These were wonderful, I especially loved the olives
I'm glad you liked them! I was nervous about the olives but they turned out to be my favorite part too. :)
If you don't eat oats or have oat flour what else can be substituted for it
Try panko breadcrumbs - you might need to use just a tablespoon or two extra to get the consistency right. Alternatively, if you're grain-free chickpea flour might work.
I am a Greek vagan. Very well done....JP
Thank you!