Carrot & Chickpea Burgers

Claire Wright

Featuring:

Carrots

Pulses

Effort:

Complexity:

Cost:

In season now

Serves: 4

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

3 medium carrots, grated

1x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained

1 medium egg

salt & pepper, to taste

2 tbsp dried mixed herbs

100g breadcrumbs or porridge oats

Your choice of extras to serve: burger buns, sliced tomatoes, sliced avocados, lettuce, mayonnaise or hummus or pesto, pickles, sliced cheese, or your own favourites

Veg Portions / Serving: 1

Recipe created for Veg Power by Claire Wright. Food photography by Claire Wright | addsomeveg.com

Claire Wright from addsomeveg.com shares 3 simple ways to prepare carrots that the whole family will enjoy. These burgers are an easy weeknight dinner everyone can have fun making and eating.

What kid doesn’t love burgers? These carrot & chickpea burgers have a sweet and yummy twist – they are veg-filled and really delicious. The real joy of this recipe comes from the kids getting their hands dirty and shaping the patties.

Method:

Mix carrots, chickpeas, egg, salt & pepper, dried mixed herbs and breadcrumbs or oats in a food processor to form a smooth, thick paste. Form into 8 patties and fry in a drizzle of olive oil in a pan set over medium heat until cooked through and golden (about 3-4 mins on each side). Serve with your choice of bun, fillings and extras. To make it extra fun for the kids, choose a selection of favourite burger fillings you are happy for them to eat and lay them out in bowls and plates on the table to make it a “build-your-own” burger dinner. They are more likely to eat the veg they choose to put in it themselves!

Engaging Kids

Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.

Kids in the kitchen

Kids can push the food processor buttons and then get stuck in shaping the patties. Most kids love this bit. Fry them off for them while they layer the filling ingredients in the buns and get everyone’s dinner ready.

Activities

While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.

Sensory

Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.

Serving

The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.

Claire Wright

Editor: After leaving Exeter University with a degree in English Literature, Claire worked in various fields ranging from youth work and charities to publishing, before starting up a food-focused website when her first child was born. After being asked to project manage the publication of Veg Power's Crowdfunder book, Claire came on board as a fully-fledged team member in 2018 to take on the role of Communications Manager, then Editor, looking after Veg Power's website, content, recipes and social media platforms.

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