Mediterranean sweet potato and chickpea burgers take a unique spin on traditional veggie burgers with bright, savory flavors that taste like deep sunshine.
Baking veggie burgers like easy chickpea burgers and vegan tofu burgers is my favorite way of oil-free cooking. These sweet potato chickpea burgers are another winner. Crispy on the outside and firm in the middle.
Table of Contents
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Baked for healthy eating. Grab a baking sheet and take advantage of an easy way to prepare baked sweet potatoes with roasted red peppers. This means you can skip the expensive jarred peppers swimming in olive oil.
- Naturally gluten-free. These vegan sweet potato burgers are unabashedly gluten-free, using chickpeas and chickpea flour or oats for binding.
- Easy and hearty. Keep the baking tray handy because these baked burgers will get firm and crispy enough to give them a brilliant texture and firm center.
Key Ingredients, Notes, & Substitutions
Sweet potato. Use a medium sweet potato to aim for 1 ½ cups of cooked cubes. It doesn’t have to be precise because you can adjust the chickpea flour when you make the burger mixture.
Red bell pepper. The sweetness and smokiness of roasted red pepper are one of our secret favorites for everything from burger recipes to sauces to salads. A yellow or orange pepper can be used as a substitute. Green pepper may be too bitter for these burgers.
Chickpeas. Cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans) help build a firming base for these burgers and add a kick of bean protein and fiber. One can of drained chickpeas is 1 ½ cups, which you’ll need.
Kalamata olives. Kalamata olives are perfect for these Mediterranean-inspired vegan burgers. If you substitute, use green, not black olives.
Cayenne pepper. Use a little or as much as you like to add some spice. Red chili flakes, chili powder, or paprika make a suitable substitute. For a smokier flavor, use chipotle pepper or hot smoked paprika.
Chickpea flour. Also known as gram flour or besan, chickpea flour is a great burger binder. Oat flour is a good substitute. If you don't have that, try grinding oats in the food processor.
Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the complete list of ingredients with measurements plus recipe instructions.
Recipe Variations
Make sweet potato black bean burgers using black beans instead of chickpeas. Black beans are softer and may require more chickpea flour.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Half the sweet potato and red pepper and bake, cut side down, until the pepper is brown and the potato is soft.
Step 2: Mash the chickpeas in a large bowl. Add olives, onion, parsley, and spices.
Step 3: Peel and dice the pepper. Scoop out the sweet potato flesh. Mix them with the rest of the burger ingredients.
Step 4: Use your hand to mix in chickpea flour. Mix in enough that you can form a ball with the mixture.
Step 5: Preheat the oven. Make 4 patties and place them on a lined baking sheet.
Step 6: Bake for 20-25 minutes. Flip and bake for another 15 minutes.
Pro Tips
- My preference for cooking sweet potatoes is to bake them. Boiling or steaming tends to make them very moist, requiring more flour. Pierce them with a fork and wrap them in foil to bake them whole. Or try my favorite way: cut them in half lengthwise and then lay them on the baking tray.
- Remove the pepper when the skin is brown. Cover the pepper in a bowl with plastic wrap for easy peeling. Let it cool, and the skin will slide off the pepper by the time the sweet potato is done (another 10 minutes).
- Test the mixture by making a patty in your hand. The patty should be firm enough to stick together and hold its shape when handled.
- Keep the burgers reasonably thin. No more than ½ an inch. This ensures that the middle gets firm (my pet peeve). Even the best veggie burger recipe in the world can be derailed by a soggy middle (in my opinion).
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What to Serve with Sweet Potato Burgers
The Mediterranean theme makes this a great burger to serve loaded in a bun with your favorite toppings like lettuce, tomato, and red onion. Sliced avocado (or fresh guacamole) goes nicely too! Indeed, you can ramp them up with an excellent side dish like fries or Greek baked beans.
Frequently Asked Questions
Chickpea flour and oats make the best sweet potato burger binders because they have a neutral flavor and are gluten-free. Other options include quinoa flour or rice flour. Binders such as a flax egg, tahini, or avocado won’t work by themselves because cooked sweet potatoes have a lot of moisture but could reduce the amount of flour you need.
Sweet potatoes and yams are used interchangeably for this recipe. And yes, you can also use purple sweet potatoes. The time to bake different types of potatoes and the amount of moisture they contain depends on the type of potato and its individuality. You can also use leftover mashed sweet potatoes (1 ½ cups).
Let leftover burgers cool to room temperature, and then place them in an airtight container or wrap them in plastic or foil. They keep in the fridge for five days. These are great burgers for freezing. It's a good idea to separate them with a small piece of parchment paper so they don't stick together. Be sure to bake them before freezing.
To reheat, wrap the burgers in foil and heat them in the oven at 400 F for about 15 minutes. The foil will protect them from getting too brown. If you want to crisp them up a bit, open the foil for the last 5 minutes. You can also reheat a leftover burger quickly in the microwave.
Vegan Condiments for Veggie Burgers
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👩🏻🍳 Recipe
Mediterranean Sweet Potato and Chickpea Burgers
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Ingredients
- 1 medium sweet potato - 1 ½ cups cooked
- 1 small red bell pepper - deseeded and cut in half
- 1 ½ cups chickpeas - 15-ounce can
- 10-12 medium kalamata olives - chopped (¼ cup)
- 1 small red onion - chopped
- ¼ cup parsley - chopped
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup chickpea flour - see notes for substitutions
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees (220 C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scrub the sweet potato and cut it in half lengthwise. Slice the pepper in half, removing the core and seeds. Place the sweet potato and pepper cut side down on the baking tray and bake them.
- Remove the red pepper when the skin browns (15-20 minutes). The sweet potato may take another 10 minutes before it is soft. Remove the potato and let it cool.
- Add the chickpeas to a large mixing bowl and mash them with a potato masher or fork. Then add the olives, onion, parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and salt.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line the baking tray with fresh parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Peel the skin off the red pepper and dice it into small pieces. Remove the skin from the sweet potato halves and dice them into small cubes.
- Add the pepper and sweet potato to the chickpea mixture and mix the ingredients well.
- Measure out ¾ of a cup of chickpea flour and set it aside. Add about ¼ of a cup of flour and use your hand to mix it with the rest of the burger mixture. Use your free hand to add more flour, a little at a time, until you can form a ball or small patty that doesn’t fall apart.
- Divide the burger mixture into quarters and form patties about ½ an inch thick. Place them on the baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes or until brown. Then flip and bake for 15 minutes until the middle is firm and the outside is brown and a little crispy.
Video
Notes
- Store leftover burgers in an airtight container or wrap them in plastic or foil. They keep in the fridge for five days.
- These are great burgers for freezing. It's a good idea to separate them with a small piece of parchment paper so they don't stick together. Be sure to bake them before freezing.
- To reheat, wrap the burgers in foil and heat them in the oven at 400 F for about 15 minutes. The foil will protect them from getting too brown. If you want to crisp them up a bit, open the foil for the last 5 minutes. You can also reheat a leftover burger quickly in the microwave.
- You can use any color or type of sweet potato or yam you like. Note that the time they bake and their moisture content can vary.
- You need a dry binder such as chickpea flour for the burgers. If you substitute, use neutral-tasting flour such as oat, quinoa, or rice flour.
- The burger baking time can vary depending on how thick the burgers are and your oven idiosyncrasies.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimation only.
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Barbara
Do you know if these freeze well? Thank you for the recipe!
Denise
Hi, they are great to freeze. Bake them first. Either wrap them separately or slide a piece of parchment paper between them, so they don't freeze together. Let me know if you have more questions - I'm here to help 🙂
Charlean
Do you have a recipe for the veg burger buns you use?
Denise
Hi, here's a link to my burger recipe - let me know if you have questions. 🙂
https://veganwithgusto.com/whole-wheat-vegan-hamburger-buns/