This post contains affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
Chickpea Veggie Loaf with spices and a spicy bbq glaze. Chickpea Cannellini bean Vegan Meatloaf for Thanksgiving and the holidays. Easy and delicious. Vegan Recipe. Nut-free, Soy-free, Can be gluten-free
Jump to Recipe
It seems to be the year of the chickpeas. This loaf is easy and quick prep if you have cooked/canned chickpeas. It is inspired from my Lentil Quinoa Loaf. This is a great loaf for anyone who finds lentils too earthy.
Cook some veggies. Pulse the chickpeas and beans, add spices, shape and bake. You can also shape the mixture into fat balls or patties and bake. Use your favorite glaze or my spicy bbq sauce glaze. Serve with cranberry sauce or gravy, some mashed potatoes, other sides and the menu is done! I used up some leftover slices in tacos with guacamole and sprinkled with chipotle pepper. Pictured below with Spicy Cranberry Sauce and Butternut, Apple, Pecan, Cranberry Salad with Harissa spiced Pecans.
More Thanksgiving Mains Recipes:
- Lentil Quinoa Loaf
- Cauliflower Steaks with mushroom gravy GF
- Lasagna Bechamel with Sweet Potato and Cauliflower layers.
- Cauliflower Alfredo, Spinach, Artichoke Lasagna. can be GF
- Easy Vegan Veggie Lasagna. Can be GF
- Whole Roasted Cauliflower with creamy makhani sauce .
Steps:
Cook the veggies, process the beans and half the veggies. Transfer to a bowl and mix in spices and sauces. Get in there to mix and mash if needed.
Press into loaf pan. Glaze and bake.
Cool for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan. Cool completely before slicing.
Serve with sides of choice and sauces or gravy.
This amazing loaf is also in my second book Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen
Chickpea Veggie Loaf - Vegan Meatloaf Recipe
Ingredients
For the Loaf:
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 red onion chopped, 3/4 cup
- 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 1/2 cup finely chopped celery , or use other veggies
- 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper , or carrots or both
- 2 tbsp dried cranberries, optional
- 15 oz can chickpeas , or 1.5 cups cooked
- 15 oz can cannellini beans, or other white beans or use more chickpeas or cooked lentils
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 to 4 tbsp my soy free barbecue sauce
- 1.5 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp chia seed meal , or 1.5 Tbsp flax seed meal
- 1 Tbsp Tahini, optional
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne , or chipotle pepper powder
- 1 tsp dried thyme , or rosemary or 2 tsp fresh
- 1/2 tsp dried sage
- 1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/2 cup or more breadcrumbs or a mix of half oats and half breadcrumbs, (for gf use coarsely ground oats or gluten-free breadccrumbs)
Glaze
- 3 tbsp bbq sauce
- 1 tsp hot sauce
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp ketchup
- a generous dash of freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
Instructions
- Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add oil, onions and garlic and pinch of salt. Cook until translucent. Add celery, peppers, cranberries and cook for 3 minutes, * You can cook the veggies without oil. Cook onions and garlic in a splash of broth or water until translucent, then add other veggies.
- Drain the chickpeas and beans really well. In a food processor, process the chickpeas, beans, cilantro, parsley and half of the cooked veggie mixture. Pulse, process until the mixture is half mashed and half coarsely chunky. You can add a handful of greens in as well at this step. .
- Transfer to a bowl. Mix in the chia seed meal into the bbq sauce + lemon juice in a small bowl and let it sit for a minute. Add spices, tahini, bbq sauce mixture, leftover veggies to the beans bowl. Mix in. Add in the breadcrumbs and mix in. The mixture should be like a veggie burger mixture. If too wet, add more breadcrumbs. If too dry, add a tbsp of aquafaba (chickpea brine). or 1 tsp chia/ flax seed meal mixed in 1 tbsp water. Taste the mixture and adjust salt, spice, seasoning.
- Transfer the mixture to parchment lined loaf pan with parchment sheet hanging out to make it easy to remove the loaf. Even it out(by lightly pressing. too much pressing will make a mashed texture loaf ) If you don't have a pan, use a parchment lined baking sheet and shape into a rectangular log.
- Prepare the glaze by mixing everything and spread over the loaf.
- Cover the loaf with parchment, bake at pre-heated 400 degrees F / 200ºc for 20 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to bake for another 15 to 25 minutes, till toothpick from the center comes out clean. Bake longer for taller loaf or if you want crispier edges.
- Cool for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan. Cool almost completely and slice with a serrated knife.
- Or shape into balls and bake for 15 minutes, then flip and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Serve with cranberry sauce, gravy, mashed potatoes or other sides of choice.
Video
Notes
Add 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast.
Add 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms with the onions.
Add 1/4 cup walnuts, oats or cooked rice with the beans in the processor for more textured loaf. Freeze: Bake the loaf, cool, slice and freeze the individual slices. To reheat, reheat slice on a skillet like a burger patty or bake for 15 mins. Nutritional values based on one serving ( 2 slices)
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Another fabulous recipe, thank you! I love this so much, it’s delicious and hearty. I added some hot green chili peppers, and I used flax seed meal and the optional tahini. I read the directions wrong and added too much bbq sauce lol so I just added more breadcrumbs. Instead of making the bbq sauce, I used my favorite from TJ’s but in future I want to try yours!
awesome! so glad it turned out well!
Hi,
I’M m planning to make this recipe for Thanksgiving. I’m not a fan of barbeque sauce, would t be ok to omit it and maybe use gravy instead?
Thank you
Stefania
yes just omit it
I am planning on making this for Thanksgiving. Can I prepare this meal the day before and cook following the instructions?
Yes bake half way so some moisture is cooked out, and bake rest onthe day of.You might need additional glaze.
Instead of a glaze would it be ok to use gravy instead? I am going to have thanksgiving with my family but they are all meat eaters and I am not so i wanted to create something for me and my son.
yes. The glaze helps keep some extra moisture inthe loaf. you can just brush it with a bit of gravy instead and serve with more gravy later
can they be frozen?
yes. freeze slices
I made this recipe because it had awesome reviews and I feel the need to add to the positivity. All I can say is great recipe!!! 5/5 stars 100% A+ my only comment is that it was a bit more moist than I expected it to be but this was not positive or negative. Thank you for the recipe & all the best!
awesome!
I have chia seeds. Can I just grind them for the chia see meal? Thanks!
yes
I just made this loaf for Thanksgiving and it was great! Even my non-vegan friends and family enjoyed it. I will definitely be making this again– it’s great for the holidays or any time you want a filling dinner. I made the soy-free bbq sauce as recommended and it was the perfect glaze. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Thanks for the recipe. I made this today, I followed all the instructions, the flavor is very tasty but the loaf ended up being too fluffly and not compact as in the picture. Should I add more breadcrumbs the next time? Thanks!
By fluffy do you mean it was very crumbly? It could be anything from needing a bit more mashing, pressing it really well to compact it, baking slightly longer foe excess moisture or less if it was dryer and crumbly etc. Some breadcrumbs might also help with extra binding.
This loaf is AMAZING!! I’m about to make it again for thanksgiving and am wondering whether you’d recommend preparing it, storing it in the fridge, and then cooking tomorrow OR cooking and reheating tomorrow? Seems like the latter might make it a little dry, but am wondering if you’ve experimented with either option, by chance? Thank you for this great recipe!!
shape, store without glaze, then glaze and bake tomorrow. Chickpeas tend to dry out more than lentils so reheating is not a great idea unless you are reheating individual slices.