Here it is ladies and gents, another Meatless Monday recipe for the win! While I enjoy all varieties of beans tossed into salads and scooped into grain bowls I sometimes need to put a twist on them to keep things interesting.- enter chickpea burgers. These patties are inspired and slightly tweaked from the Middle Eastern Chickpea Burgers found in the book The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen, a cookbook I’d highly recommend for any RD working in oncology and for anyone with or caring for someone with cancer. 

As my marathon training runs have gotten longer and longer, my legs have certainly felt the fire and could use a bit of a cool down from foods with anti-inflammatory properties, such as turmeric, and others that promote blood flow, like parsely and garlic powder, which is why I love this recipe. For muscle recovery and rebuilding my very depleted glycogen stores there’s the chickpeas and brown rice, but another grain such as quinoa or bulgur would also work great here.

Serve these sunny burgers in lettuce wraps, tucked inside a whole wheat tortilla, or on a wheat burger bun. And if you can’t live witout a condiment, may I recommend a sweet and spicy chutney or a drizzle of tahini sauce. Enjoy, burger lovers!

Anti-Inflammatory Chickpea Burgers- makes 5

Ingredients

• 1 low-sodium can or 2 cups cooked chickpeas

• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

• 1/2 tsp turmeric

• 1/2 tsp paprika

• 1/4 tsp cumin

• 1/4 tsp coriander

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tbsp ginger paste (from Trader Joes)

• 1 egg, beaten

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 2 cups cooked brown rice

• 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper

• 1/4 cup chopped parsley

Directions

1. In a food processor, combine the chickpeas, salt, turmeric, paprika, cumin, coriander, garlic powder, ginger paste, egg, olive oil, and lemon juice. Process until smooth. Transfer mixture to mixing bowl and fold in rice, bell pepper, and parsley.

2. Shape mixture into 5 equal sized burger patties. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees until patties start to get dry and crispy on outside. For a crispier finish, lightly pan-fry finished patties until golden brown. Careful when flipping as there is a risk of crumbling, but I swear they’re still delicious anyways.

These burgers wold also freeze quite well, cooked or uncooked. Stack them up with a slip of parchment paper in between each layer, then wrap tightly in plastic and store for 1-2 months.