Vegan Quinoa Burgers

Freshly baked Vegan Quinoa Burgers

I have discovered something wonderful. Quinoa Flakes. It is like oatmeal, but quinoa. The flakes are nutty, light, and fluffy. Just like quinoa. Oh yeah, and they're gluten-free. What could be better? Quinoa flakes are fantastic in all kinds of recipes. They're great for cookies, awesome for warm cereals, amazing in pancakes (my Pumpkin Pancake recipe will be posted soon!), and even better in crisps.

Now I've found a new use for them, burgers. That's right, burgers. Vegan Quinoa Burgers, at that. I'm very familiar with meat burgers. I love hamburgers. Big, juicy, medium-rare burgers. I do also enjoy vegetarian burgers, but I'm not as familiar with the preparation.

This was my first vegan burger and I was unsure how it would turn out. When making burgers, I have always used egg as my binding agent. No egg? What would hold these little babies together? Well quinoa flakes of course!

I found this recipe from my trusty friend, Google. I searched high and low for a recipe that I could incorporate quinoa. The Vegan Project was my savior on this one. She has a phenomenal recipe for Vegan Quinoa Burgers that I slightly tweaked to make gluten-free and packed with quinoa protein. The secret? Quinoa flakes.

Vegan Quinoa Burgers

Super healthy, gluten-free vegan burgers

These little burgers turned out much better than I expected. I tried to keep them as healthy as possible, limiting the amount of oil. I didn't fry or sear, but baked them instead. I was worried they would dry out in the oven, but was happily surprised when I bit into them and they were moist and delightful.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup chopped Spanish onion
• 1 large clove of garlic
• 1/4 cup dry quinoa
• 1/4 cup quinoa flakes
• 1/2 can rinsed chickpeas (about 2/3 cup or so)
• 2 tbsp filtered water
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Start by cooking your quinoa. Set 1/2 cup water to boil on the stove and add the 1/4 cup dry quinoa. Cover and let simmer for 8 - 12 minutes.

Place your chopped onions and garlic in a food processor. Pulse until they are finely chopped. Add your chickpeas and quinoa flakes and continue to pulse. Don't puree the mixture; you want it to be a little chunky.

Transfer the chickpea mixture to a large bowl and stir in the remaining ingredients. Fold all the ingredients together. You want to mixture to be sticky, not runny or dry. If it's dry, add water (1 tsp at a time) and if it's wet, add a touch of gluten-free flour (preferably quinoa if you have it on hand). Place the bowl in the refrigerator and let cool for 15 minutes.

Once chilled, separate the mixture into equal sized patties. From this recipe you can either get two large burger-style patties or four cake-like patties. I chose to go the cake-like route this time around. Place your patties on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and place in the center of the warm over for 20 minutes. Flip half way through and finish with a quick 2 - 3 minute broil to get the patties nice and browned.

Vegan quinoa burgers (crab cake style), ready to be baked!

Serve these little, nutrient packed beauties however you would like. On a bun with classic condiments or atop a bunch of greens, it's your choice. I served mine over spicy greens with a mustard lemon vinaigrette. Delicious

Serves 2