Chickpea Nuggets | Video

Chickpea nuggets featuring smashed chickpeas combined with oat flour and spices to create high protein snacks. Dunked in your favorite dip, this finger food is crispy, delicious and spiced in all the right ways. Perfect finger food idea for any day of the week!

How about reimagining your favorite chicken nuggets with the addition of a high protein vegetarian alternative? Although there are umpteen ways to make vegetarian nuggets, my most favorite version comes with chickpeas as the main ingredient. Dried or canned, it’s obviously a tasty and healthy snack idea.  

If you have canned chickpeas on hand, making these chickpea nuggets is a quick process. On the other hand, if you are using dried chickpeas you’ll need to plan ahead and soak the chickpeas overnight. The next day, boil them before adding to the nugget mixture.

As you know, all nuggets and patties need a binding agent. An element that holds all the other ingredients together without falling apart while frying. In this recipe, the oat flour acts as the binding agent. To make oat flour, all you need to do is grind rolled oats until you get a fine powder. This flour can be used as a binding agent in patties and nuggets to replace flour and mashed potatoes. 

You’ll also need a touch of spices to enhance the flavor of the chickpea nuggets. A sprinkle of cumin seeds and a pinch of cayenne pepper delivers the much needed flavor and heat. However, to make these nuggets more spicy, you can add more cayenne pepper if you like.

The secret to making the perfect nuggets is getting the right texture. Make sure the mixture has a coarse texture that’s also easy into shape into nuggets. The next step is shaping the nuggets. These are then rolled in breadcrumbs to give them a nice crunch.

With the cooking method, you have two choices – frying and baking. Of course, baking is the healthier choice, but you can also shallow fry them if you like.

Chickpea nuggets that are truly crispy and delicious! Yum!

More Nugget Recipes:

• Chicken Nuggets with Sauce & French Fries

More Chickpea Recipes:

• Vegan Chickpea Omelette | Eggless Omelette (Omelet)
• Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
• Besan Chilla | Besan Cheela | Chickpea Pancakes 
• Easy Chickpea Burgers 
• Mysore Pak | Chickpea Fudge 
• Chana Chat | Healthy Chickpea Salad
• Chickpea Tikka Masala 

Yield: 20 nuggets

Chickpea Nuggets | Video

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Easily customizable, crispy and delicious nuggets loaded with nutritious chickpeas

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked or 4 cups canned chickpeas
• ¼ cup rolled oats
• ¼ cup grated onion
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons coriander (cilantro) leaves
• Juice from half a lemon
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs or regular breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon oil for baking or 1 - ¼ cup oil for frying
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Make Nuggets:

1. To make oat flour, grind rolled oats to a fine powder. Set aside.
2. Place cooked chickpeas, oat flour, onions, garlic, cumin
   seeds, cayenne pepper, coriander (cilantro) leaves and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor. Run the food processor until all the ingredients are well combined and form a coarse mixture.
3. Transfer chickpea mixture to a large bowl. Season with salt
   and pepper.
4. Slightly wet your hands, scoop tablespoonfuls of mixture and
   form into patties or nuggets (approximately ½ inch in thickness).
5. Roll the nuggets in breadcrumbs. Set aside.

Bake Nuggets:

1. Preheat oven to 190C / 375F. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Arrange the nuggets on the tray in a single layer. Drizzle with oil.
3. Bake for 20-30 or until the nuggets are crispy and slightly browned.

Fry Nuggets:

1. Heat 1 cup  oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Carefully place the nuggets in hot oil.
2. Fry nuggets for about 3-5 minutes or until browned and crispy on both sides. Drain on an absorbent towel.
3. Alternatively, you can also shallow fry the nuggets.

How to serve:

Serve chickpea nuggets with ketchup (tomato sauce) or your
favorite dip. You can also add them to wraps, burgers or sandwiches.

Notes

• You can substitute oat flour with all purpose (plain) flour
  or mashed potatoes if you like
• To make these nuggets more nutritious, add grated veggies
  like zucchini, carrot, green peas, corn etc
• Fresh onion can be substituted with onion powder
• Fresh garlic can be substituted with garlic powder

Nutrition Information

Yield

5

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 557Total Fat 19gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 15gCholesterol 0mgSodium 617mgCarbohydrates 79gFiber 16gSugar 17gProtein 20g

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