Spicy Chickpea Bacon Burgers

These chickpea burgers are amped up with bacon and Sriracha, making them a fabulous addition to your burger repertoire!

Are you scared of veggie burgers? If so, no shame necessary here… these aren’t TRUE veggie burgers! I say they’re close enough though. Legit vegetarians can use facon instead of bacon to make these tasty treats, and the rest of us can use the good stuff. 🙂 I have a long history with veggie burgers, though I am most certainly not a true vegetarian [though I do threaten to become one from time to time, just to agitate my husband]. Back in the day, I’d love to have some packaged veggie burgers or black bean burgers in the freezer at all times for an effortless, tasty dinner. But in recent years, I’ve made my own. I’ve tried alot of recipes online and have invented some of my own, with mixed results. While I’ve seen some highs in this veggie burger quest, I’ve also seen some lows. Some really, really deep lows. Ben would agree that the lowest point of them all was a sweet potato burger that I [secretly] hated but pretended I liked so I could convince him to eat them. What can I say? The recipe made a bunch and I HATE food waste. Oops.

I doubt you’ll have to waste any of these burgers though. They are good. SO good in fact, that you may not want to share them. I certainly didn’t. The burger itself is made out of chickpeas, so they’re kind of reminiscent of falafel, except with a spicy, meaty twist. They’re chewy and hearty, just as a burger should be. If spice isn’t your thing, omit the sriracha and things should be justtt fine. If you like spice, I would think some red pepper flakes or jalapenos might make a tasty addition. I like some spice, but not a ton, so I was happy with the recipe as written.

As you can see from the above photo, I’m a ketchup-lover and I don’t care who knows it. I don’t style my food in ways that I wouldn’t eat it, and the naked bun looked plain so I added my condiments. 🙂 The original recipe suggested serving these burgers with a roasted garlic yogurt sauce [YUM], arugla, and red onions, all of which sounded amazing. But I used what I had, which was [a giant piece of] lettuce and ketchup. No matter how you serve these burgers, they are fab. I highly suggest you make them asap! Enjoy friends!

one year ago: Zin-Zen Chicken
two years ago: Guacamole Salsa
three years ago: Ham & Cheese Baked Pasta
four years ago: Oreo Truffles