Chickpeas and crispy veggies are smothered in spicy Buffalo sauce to make these delicious vegan stuffed potatoes! Top with creamy dairy-free ranch for a satisfying meal that's also a cinch to make.
January has been an epic month of recipe fails for me. It's been rough, and made even worse by the fact that I slacked off over the holidays and got behind on recipe development, thinking I'd catch up during the new year. Well that hasn't happened so far!
So I ended up scrapping a few of my recipe ideas that just wouldn't work, and instead turned to something simple, tried, and true.
I first posted the recipe for these vegan stuffed potatoes back in 2014. I think I was having a rough spell with recipes back then as well, but I remember being so satisfied with how easy these potatoes came together and how delicious they turned out. Now seemed like a good time to revisit the recipe and update the blog post with some better looking photos.
Buffalo Sauce
First order of business: is Buffalo sauce vegan? Generally, no. Conventional Buffalo sauce is made from vinegar-based hot sauce (Frank's brand is preferable) and melted butter. Butter isn't vegan.
But! Vegan butter is a thing, so if you want vegan Buffalo sauce, all you really need to do is substitute vegan butter for the dairy-based stuff you'd find in conventional Buffalo sauce.
For this recipe I simply used vegan butter to sauté the veggies and chickpeas, thus keeping the amount a bit less than what you'd normally find in Buffalo sauce. It's still totally delicious. Trust me.
How to Make Buffalo Chickpea Stuffed Potatoes
First, bake your potatoes. This can take a while, but fortunately most of the process of baking a potato is hands-off. Just scrub them, poke a few holes in the skin, and pop those potatoes into the oven for about an hour.
I like to start on the chickpea filling when the potatoes are almost done baking.
Melt that vegan butter in a skillet and give it a minute to heat up. Now add some diced celery and carrot. Cook the veggies for a few minutes. I like to keep them a bit on the crunchy side.
Next, add your chickpeas, hot sauce, and a tiny bit of maple syrup. Stir everything up, bring the sauce to a simmer, and let it cook until it thickens up just a bit and coats the chickpeas.
When the potatoes are done you can slice them open and stuff them with the chickpea filling. I like to top mine with some cashew ranch or vegan blue cheese dressing and fresh chives.
Vegan Stuffed Potato FAQ & Tips
- To save time, you can microwave your potatoes instead of baking them. The skin won't be quite as crispy though. Scrub your potatoes and poke them with a few holes, then place them on a plate together and microwave them for about 8 minutes. Check the potatoes and then microwave them in additional one to two minute increments until they're done.
- Is this recipe spicy? It is! Buffalo sauce, by nature, is hot stuff. Feel free to experiment and create your own version of this recipe using different sauces, such as barbecue, teriyaki, or pesto.
- Is this recipe gluten-free? It sure is!
- Where can I find vegan butter? Check your supermarket's refrigerator, near the regular butter. Look for brands like Earth Balance and Miyoko's.
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Buffalo Chickpea Vegan Stuffed Potatoes
Chickpeas and crispy veggies are smothered in spicy Buffalo sauce to make these delicious vegan stuffed potatoes! Top with creamy dairy-free ranch for a satisfying meal that's also a cinch to make.
Ingredients
- 2 medium baking potatoes (10 to 12 ounces each)
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter, plus more for serving, if desired
- 1 medium carrot diced
- 1 celery stalk diced
- 1 cup cooked or canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ⅓ cup Franks RedHot Sauce
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- Salt and pepper, to taste
For Serving
- Vegan ranch dressing
- Chopped fresh chives
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 400°.
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Scrub the potatoes and poke a few holes in each with a knife.
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Place the potatoes into the oven, directly on the rack, and bake them until they are easily pierced with a knife, about 1 hour.
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When potatoes have about 5 or 10 minutes left of cook time, melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.
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Add the carrot and celery. Cook the veggies, stirring frequently, until they become tender-crisp, about 4 minutes.
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Add the chickpeas, hot sauce, and maple syrup. Stir well and bring the sauce to a simmer. Cook everything for about 3 minutes more, until the sauce has thickened a bit.
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Remove the skillet from heat and season the chickpea mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
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Cut a slit down the length of each potato and carefully open them.
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Stuff each potato with the chickpea mixture. Top with vegan ranch and chives. Serve with extra butter and hot sauce, if desired.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition information does not include accompaniments.
OMG this is amazing. I was nervous at first just because of it being celery, carrots and chickpeas but it was so good. Thank you for sharing!!
Amazing!!!
I made this tonight for houseguests (some omnivores). Rave reviews!!! This dish was easy to make with readily available ingredients. I inadvertently left out the salt and pepper, but the dish had so much flavor that no one felt the need to add it at the table. Our accompanying cucumber-onion vinaigrette salad added a nice cool, crisp balance to the flavorful entree.
Btw, last night I made them your taco-stuffed spaghetti squash...another terrific recipe. I asked them which dish they preferred and everyone said they could not pick one over the other...both equally excellent. Thanks for making me look like the perfect hostess. What will I make for tomorrow’s dinner? I guess I should start looking through your blog!!!
Thank you Alissa!
This is so much better than it should be for the small amount of work that goes into it! I also really like your ranch recipe it has the right consistency which I've never found in cashew-based ones before. We use an entire recipe of ranch sauce for 4 potatoes...