As courgette season (or zucchini season as it’s known for everyone but the English and the French) is upon us, I figured that a courgette recipe is in order. Enter this baked courgette burger!

It is the bee’s knees, I tell you. It’s moist on the inside and crispy on the outside. It comes together really quickly and with minimal fuss – there is no need to squeeze the moisture out of the courgettes at all. In fact, courgette’s moisture is very much needed in this particular recipe so roughly chopped courgette parties with all of the other ingredients in the food processor. They pulse and mingle together for a while – I am not sure what I am trying to do here…describing food in a new and exciting way for 800th time does get a big challenging at times, I won’t lie.

Anyway, these courgette burgers are legit. They don’t fall apart and they are full of flavour. The mixture freezes well too. I serve mine on my homemade brioche buns because I cannot get any decent vegan buns where I live, but hopefully you have some options where you live. I serve it with mayo, some pickles, a handful of salad leaves and sometimes a dollop of some spicy sauce. If we are really hungry, oven baked, handcut fries make an appearance too. I hope you’ll give these a try.

MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS

COURGETTE / ZUCCHINI: Courgette (known as zucchini in the US) is the main ingredient of these courgette burgers. Go for small/medium sized courgettes (they hold less water), chop it very roughly and put directly into your food processor. There is no need to squeeze the moisture out. The moisture is used to cook the raw chickpeas and to firm the burgers up as they bake.

CHICKPEAS: Chickpeas are one of the key ingredients of this simple courgette burger. For best texture that does not fall apart, use dry chickpeas soaked in plenty of water overnight, 24-48 hours is better. While you can make it with cooked chickpeas (you’ll need about 300 g or one and a half cups), cooked chickpea version is not as good in my opinion.

ONION, GARLIC: Alliums add flavour to these burgers, I opted for a bunch of spring onions (scallions) and garlic, but you could use a small or medium onion or a couple large shallots instead of spring onions. While you can add the aromatics directly to the food processor (after a rough chop), I recommend pan-frying them first to mellow their flavour. If you do use raw aromatics, be sure to add the oil you would use to pan-fry them directly to the food processor too.

GROUND FLAX: I add some ground flax to the burger mixture to help it bind, plus flax seeds are very nutritious so it’s always nice to include them in recipes like this. If you don’t have flax seeds, you could try ground chia seeds instead. I haven’t tried them in this recipe, but I have used them in similar recipes in the past to the same result.

BAKING POWDER: I like to add some baking powder to this burger mixture to help everything cook nicely and to stop the burgers from being too dense.

HERBS: I added a handful of fresh herbs for flavour. I opted for a mixture of parsley and coriander, but either of them on their own will work well too.

SPICES: Inspired by the falafel flavours, I added a bit of ground cumin and coriander for flavour. You can also add a pinch of chilli if you enjoy a bit of heat.

RICE FLOUR: I added rice flour to make these a little easier to shape, although the resulting mixture is still on the wet side and that is intentional. Do not add any extra flour as it will result in burgers that are dry on the inside.

SESAME SEEDS: I sprinkled the patties with some sesame seeds to make them pretty, you can skip them if you wish.

OLIVE OIL: I add a bit of oil to the burgers themselves and use some more to grease the patties as they are baking. Oil helps to keep these courgette burgers moist on the inside and ever so slightly crispy on the outside.

HOW TO MAKE IT?

1) MAKE BURGER MIXTURE

Before you start on these burgers, soak raw chickpeas in plenty of water at least the night before, longer if possible. Once your chickpeas have been soaking for at least 12 hours, drain them and add to the food processor with roughly chopped courgettes (zuccchini) and all of the other remaining burger components. Pulse until minced quite finely – see photo, but take care not to overmince. Chill the mixture in the fridge to enable you shape the burgers better.

2) SHAPE BURGERS

Shape the burgers using your hands into same size discs – mine were 8 cm / 3.1 inches across and about 15 mm / 0.6 inch tall, each weighing 100 g / 3.5 oz. The mixture is quite wet – that’s on purpose – but I found it easy enough to shape. If you struggle, mould the mixture inside a cookie cutter placed on a lined baking tray, then remove the cookie cutter gently and pat the burger into a more pleasing shape and apply some sesame seeds with your hands to the top and sides.

3) BAKE TILL PERFECTION

Bake till perfection. I initially bake them without any oil, once they start holding together, I gently prise them off the baking paper or silicone mat (using a palette knife) and brush them with a bit of oil. I continue baking them until firm and crispy.