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

Why not help your child grate a couple of carrots? Show them how to do it safely, and if they are up for more, let them add it with the other ingredients to the food processor and push the buttons. A keen child might even like to 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.

Find more ideas, safety tips, videos and even a free chart in our Kids in the Kitchen section here.

Master these skills:

Cleaning vegetables, Grating, Mixing

More about Kitchen Ninja Skills

Activities

Why not try making a carrot face mask, a cut-out and colour carrot or carrot crown?

Or grab some of our free games & puzzles with carrots like our Carrot Launcher or Get Over It Carrot game?

Kids more interested in science? If you are just starting out with kitchen science, start small by exploring the different colours of carrots – you can find rainbow bunches of carrots in greengrocers and they can be great fun to explore with kids! If you feel like a more silly DIY-confident science experiment, all you need is a drill, a large carrot and a straw! Watch Stefan Gates’ carrot flute experiment and have a go, it’s a giggle for kids to watch and play!

Find loads more free carrot-themed crafts here and games here.

Sensory

Why not use carrots as a way of exploring smell? Try tossing carrot slices or grated carrot in a tiny bit of cinnamon and take a bite of carrot with your nose pinched, and another without. Can you notice the difference? 80% of flavour is actually in the smell, so this is a great way to explore flavour! If your child doesn’t feel up to taking a bite, they could lick instead, or sniff a carrot slice with cinnamon and one without to compare how adding flavouring impacts our experience of veggies.

Watch our video from Ruth Platt for a visual guide to exploring carrots with your senses here. Find more sensory ideas, tips and videos here. If you get stuck and need a little help with describing words, we have a selection for you here, too!

Serving

When serving it up, why not let your child help you plate it up and add any toppings or make it look as attractive as they can!

Find the best ways of involving your own child and their skills and interests on our Roles for Kids page.

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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