Get ready for another delicious recipe starring the incredibly delicious humble chickpeas. These Turmeric Chickpea Cakes are super yummy and very easy and quick to make. And they are naturally gluten-free and vegan too! Enjoy!
This is a recipe inspired by my very popular Quinoa & Chickpea Burgers – except that I didn’t have any quinoa and it was a busy evening that I didn’t want to wait for it to cook. (I usually use leftover quinoa for that recipe) so this recipe was pretty much impossible as it. However, that inspired my new version!
Turmeric is a big influencer here because it’s a superfood I am trying to eat more of. I like to sprinkle here and there so that my family doesn’t get suspicious that I’m feeding them food that’s ‘too healthy’ :) This is subtle enough that it works! You see, I have an 8 year old who’s quick to figure things out and she likes to go against the grain on me sometimes – not all the time – but she pushes my buttons sometimes when I push a smoothie with spinach in it, you know, things like that. Gah! Kids! :)
Anyway, this worked – my husband, the kiddo, the baby all love them! And I hope you will love these soon too!
Turmeric Chickpea Cakes
Serves 4 | Prep & Cook time : 15 minutes
INGREDIENTS :
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 can rinsed and drained chickpeas (or 1 1/2 cups pre-cooked)
small bunch of fresh parsley, roughly chopped (about 1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons potato starch
1-2 teaspoons of sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 – 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
2 tablespoons chickpea flour + extra 3 tablespoons for coating
grape seed oil for cooking
Garlicky Avocado Cream to serve (recipe will be shared separately soon) (for now you can try this recipe for Avocado Lime Cream and omit the lime and add 1/2 minced garlic clove instead)
DIRECTIONS :
In a large cast iron pan, drizzle in a little grape seed oil and fry the onion and garlic until slightly golden but not burned. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
In a food processor, process the chickpeas until they turn to a slightly textured paste, be sure to turn off the food processor and scrape down the sides to get all the chickpeas ground up. Add in onion and garlic, salt, pepper, turmeric and cayenne pepper and mix to fully combine. Turn the food processor off and stir in the chopped parsley.
(If you do have kids, I would omit the cayenne pepper entirely as most kids are not into spicy foods. Or divide the batch into two and season them differently for kiddos and adults.)
Take a large plate and sprinkle a few tablespoons of chickpea flour onto it. Using a spoon, scoop some of the mixture with onto your hands and shape into a ball, the size of a golf ball, and then press gently to make a patty. Drop into the chickpea flour to coat evenly. If too much flour sticks to the patty then gently dust it off with your fingers or a pastry brush. You should have a very light coating all over the patties/ burgers.
Reheat that same large cast iron pan to medium heat. Drizzle in a little more oil and place the patties in to cook. Cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side until the bottom is nicely browned.
Serve with a big salad for a healthy lunch or dinner. Or with cut up veggies on the side for kids. Makes a great party small-plates or potluck party dish! Enjoy!
I hope you will enjoy these deliciously healthy Chickpea Cakes!
ps. remember that the black pepper in this recipe is essential to boost the absorption of turmeric! Enjoy!!
Ella Leché is an author, recipe developer, and photographer/stylist behind Pure Ella; where she shares how delicious and fun healthy food can be. Here, you’ll find mostly plant-based gluten/ wheat -free recipes, that are always refined sugar-free with whole food clean ingredients. Thanks for being here!
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Blogger, Recipe Developer, Photographer and Author. Loves healthy food, photography, sunshine and dancing in the kitchen with her two daughters. 
Chickpeas are so wonderfully versatile! I love these little cakes – they look awesome!
Thank you so much Katrina! :)
I am sure you will love them! xoxo
Looking for your Garlicky Avocado Cream receipe. Sounds relish and would like to try.
Made these tonight and were really good. Wasn’t sure what to do with the potato starch, recipe does not say but added to the chickpea mix when combining everything. Also, did you use a whole bunch of parsley? wasn’t sure about that either, I did add the whole bunch I bought for the recipe. Yours pictured look more golden than green : )
Thanks Sandy for your comment.
Yes, the potato starch gets mixed in and it’s just a small handful of parsley. I will make sure to add those details into the recipe.
Thanks so much for bringing it to my attention.
Hugs, ella
Could I sub coconut flour? I don’t have chickpea flour and don’t want to buy it for this one recipe.
Great question… I haven’t tried it with coconut flour and honestly that wouldn’t be my first suggestion.
How about 2 tablespoons of potato starch or other starch?
(btw, there are so many great uses for chickpea flour that you might be surprised :) like these Savoury Chickpea Crepes ~ the base is just chickpea flour and water and a bit of salt is all you need :))
Recipe here : https://pureella.com/vegan-chickpea-crepes-with-balsamic-glazed-portabellos/ xox ella
What a delicious, lightweight way to use turmeric & chickpeas. Is there a way around using the potato starch such as swapping out almond or coconut flour? Or just mixing in the chickpea flour in addition to coating? I imagine it’s mainly for helping to hold it together more than a starchy factor, yes?
I would love to know that too.
(I have an allergy for potatoes.)
Hi Tess,
You could try subbing in a different starch, corn or tapioca or you could also just omit the starch but process in the food processor.
Let me know how you like these :) xox
Hi Aviva,
Apologies, I didn’t see your comment earlier…
So yes, you’re right. It helps to keep it together…. you could try subbing in a different starch, corn or tapioca or you could also just omit the starch but process in the food processor.
Let me know how you like these :) xox
Could you use an egg instead of the potato starch?
Hi Sarah,
Apologies, I didn’t see your comment earlier…
Yes you can. Just mix it into the mixture, then shape. However, I would suggest cooking for longer (either frying or baking) to make sure the egg is cooked inside.
Hope you enjoy these soon! xo ella
Yum!! This was my lunch today. Thank you for the recipe!
WOW!!! This dish was delicious !!!! Making it again tomorrow night.
Thank you !!
Hi there, is there anything else you can use instead of black pepper? You said its key in the absorption of the turmeric but I can’t have it :( could you use cumin or paprika instead?
Thank you <3
Hi Kate, Thanks so much for your great question – so brilliant in fact that I don’t know how to answer it :)
As far as my research goes, the combination of turmeric with pepper is the only way to get the absorption level.
In terms of the recipe, you could omit the pepper in this recipe and it will be just great and delicious :)
Now to get the benefits of turmeric is a different story. If you would like to benefit from this superfood, I would suggest getting a supplement that’s called curcumin. Curcumin is the compound found in turmeric that has all the health benefits. This supplement is more easily absorbable and you don’t need to combine it with pepper.
I hope this helps. All the best, ella
Hi Ella,
Just wondering if you posted the garlicky avocado cream dipping sauce recipe yet? I did a quick search of your site, and it brought up some other really tasty looking dishes I look forward to trying. But I am very interested in the garlic avocado cream sauce.
Loved these – as did my whole family. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Ella,
I look forward to trying this out. Looks amazing!
What size can of chickpeas?
Thanks!
* Actually realized the answer is i the recipe. Oops – thanks!!
This sounds like a great recipe. The only problem is that I cannot have oil. Can these be baked instead of fried? Thank you.
Hi,
Yes, you can certainly bake them. Just omit the flour topping.
Make into patties and place on a baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for about 30 minutes, turning over once or when they are slightly golden :)
I hope you enjoy them soon! xoxo ella
I tried making these and they were just too sloppy to make into cakes. I tried adding extra chickpea flour and that didn’t make much of a difference. Did i go massively wrong somewhere? I’d like to try them again.
Just made this tonight for the family. I would double next time for a family of four (especially with big boys). Everyone loved it. I used cornstarch in place of potato flour, worked fine. I accidentally omitted sauteing the onion and garlic but it was still delicious. I love the idea of baking them.
Sorry but this was an absolute fail. The chickpeas tasted like sand and had the same mouth-feel, which was caused by using tinned chickpeas which have of course already been cooked. Soaking raw chickpeas overnight and then blending them without cooking, as is done with falafel, would help.