Green Burgers – Easy Felafel Style Veggie Burgers

The whole family will love these ‘green burgers’ – an easy falafel style veggie burger recipe that even picky eaters might try!

Packed full of chick peas (fava beans), green leafy vegetables, and lots of herbs, these veggie burgers make a great easy family dinner, or lunch.

I have one child who doesn’t eat sausages.

She used to eat sausages when she was very little, but at around three years of age she declared this kid friendly, cheap and easy meal option off limits, and has never let a sausage, however humble or fancy, pass her lips since that day. She is nothing if not consistent.

For a long time the sausage embargo drove me insane. Everyone else likes sausages, in fact everyone else adores sausages and begs for a nice sausage sanger, or a herby chicken sausage. On those occasions the sausage hater has salad, until the day I accidentally made the best veggie burgers/felafel ever.

My kids call them ‘green burgers’ since we add so much mint that they are a lovely shade of green, and I’ve spent the last year or so trying to consistently make these little veggie packed nuggets because the child who won’t eat sausages adores these!

So here it is… my almost perfect, easy felafel style ‘Green Burgers’.

Green Burgers - Easy Felafel Style Veggie Burgers

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Try these easy 'green burgers' - a simple falafel style veggie burger the whole family witll love.

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Ingredients

• 180gm or half a packet of dried chick peas soaked over night (or longer)
• Or about 2 cups of canned chick peas
• 1 onion
• big bunch of mint
• 4-6 leaves of spinach, silver beet, kale or other green leafy vegetable
• 1 tbs taco mix
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic
• salt and pepper
• 3 slices of fresh bread

Instructions

1. If you are using dried chick peas (which I prefer) pop them in a container and cover them with double the amount of water and put them in the fridge to soak over night or longer until they have doubled in size.
2. If you are using canned chick peas make sure you drain them well and you may have to add more bread or some bread crumbs to soak up the extra moisture.
3. In a food processor whiz up your onion until it is very finely chopped, then add the chick peas and whiz till they make a coarse paste.
4. Add in lots and lots of mint (or not so much depending on taste) and your green leafy veggies. We use whatever we have in the garden which is most often silver beet (chard) or kale. They all get whizzed into a pulp so it doesn't matter what you use, you could even leave them out.
5. Add in your taco mix (we make our own), spices and a little salt and pepper. Feel free to add more cumin and garlic (we usually do because we love it) or add some chilli if you like things a little fiery.
6. As you are whizzing all this together slowly add your slices of fresh bread. Keep adding bits until the mixture starts to come together and you can roll balls out of it without them falling apart. You may need more or less bread depending on the type of bread you use and if you use dried or canned chick peas.
7. With damp hands roll spoonfuls of mixture into balls and flatten into 'burgers'.
8. Heat some oil in a pan and fry the burgers over a medium heat until they are brown on both sides.
9. Makes about 20 smallish burgers.

Please note: this recipe uses Australian measurements and cooking temperatures, if you need to convert measurements or temperatures this website is useful.

These veggie burgers freeze really well and I often make a double batch, freeze a big tray full and pop them into a zip lock bag so we I can easily cook up a couple of these for the sausage hater while the rest of us chow down on bangers and chips.

They go great with some flat bread, either our homemade tortillas or some homemade Naan, or shop bought pita bread, and some yoghurt dip.

Do you have a non-eater in your house? How do you deal with your families varying tastes?

If you liked this easy family dinner recipe you might like to check out these budget friendly dinner ideas too.