Chickpea frittata muffins are an easy make-ahead recipe that you can eat as a nutritious and tasty breakfast, quick lunch, or dinner.
They are very similar to vegan mini quiches, they are made with chickpea flour you can customize them with any vegetables of your choice.
Check out our best vegan brunch recipe collection!
What to expect
Those are oven-baked, frittata-like muffins made with chickpea flour to replace eggs then stuffed with your favorite vegetables.
Some bloggers like to call them vegan mini quiches, but I think they are a lot more similar to actual muffins.
We make these so often that we tried many fillings combinations. Here we show you how to make them with a simple pea and carrot filling, with broccoli, and with cauliflower. If you prefer a regular vegan frittata, try our zucchini frittata or asparagus frittata too.
What we learned by making them so many times are two things:
- Cook the vegetables and season them before adding them to the batter. The muffins will cook much faster, they will not get soggy in the centre, and they will be a lot more flavourful this way.
- Use parchment/baking paper to line the muffin molds. Chickpea flour is super sticky so parchment paper is the safest bet. Also, you can easily transport them with you once they are nicely wrapped in parchment paper.
Ingredients & substitutions
For the chickpea frittata muffins batter
- Chickpea flour: also known as garbanzo bean flour. It's a gluten free flour made from ground chickpea and it is a great egg replacement.
- Nutritional Yeast: to add a cheesy flavour. It's optional.
- Olive oil: to add some healthy fats to the muffins.
- Curry powder: we love to add curry powder to this recipe, however if you don't like that, just feel free to replace it with some mixed Italian herbs.
- Baking powder: it makes the muffins lighter and taller.
- Salt, pepper, water.
We do not add Kala Namak (black salt) to this recipe because we don't find it necessary. If however you have Kala Namak at home and want to add some eggy flavor to the muffins, then by any means go ahead and add a couple of pinches of it to the batter.
For the filling
You can really use any vegetables of your choice. Our tip is to cook them and season them before you add them to the batter.
Instructions
Start with the filling.
To a non-stick pan, add one tablespoon olive oil, a crushed clove of garlic, and sliced red onion.
Fry gently for a couple of minutes, adding a dash of water if necessary, then add a grated carrot and season with salt and pepper.
Cook for a couple of minutes then add 200 grams or 1 and a half cups of frozen peas. Stir and cook for about ten minutes at most, until the peas are cooked.
Prep the muffin pan
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius or 370 degrees Fahrenheit. Then get the muffin pan ready.
FYI, chickpea flour is very sticky once baked, so I recommend lining each muffin mold with a piece of baking paper that is about 12 by 12 centimeters, or 5 by 5 inches in size.
You'll need 12 muffin molds with our quantities.
Make the batter
Next, let's make the batter. To a bowl, add 200 grams or 1 and a half cups of chickpea flour, 15 grams or 3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast to give it a light cheesy flavor, 2 pinches of salt, 2 rounds of pepper, 1 teaspoon of curry powder, which I think fits this recipe perfectly, and 16 grams or 1 tablespoon of baking powder.
Then add 25 grams or 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and 360 grams or 1 and a half cups of water.
Blend well with an immersion blender until the batter is very smooth and without any lumps. If you want, you can make this in a regular blender too.
Add the veggies
Then the vegetables should be cooked by now. It is important that there’s no liquid in the pan. Add them to the bowl with the chickpea batter and give it a stir.
Now portion a ladleful of chickpea batter into the muffin molds. You’ve got to be decisive when you do that or it’ll spill out. Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it after a couple of muffins.
Good, now we can bake the chickpea frittata muffins at 190 degrees Celsius or 370 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 to 30 minutes.
Variations
And of course, if you don't like peas or carrots, you can use pretty much any vegetable of your liking for these chickpea frittata muffins.
The important thing is that you keep the vegetable quantity to around 400 grams or 14 ounces in total, cook them in advance, and season them well, before adding them to the batter.
Then, if you use vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, or sweet potatoes, then it's best to steam them instead of boiling them in water to retain more flavor, more nutrients, and to prevent the muffins from getting soggy.
So in this case, steam the broccoli or cauliflower for about 20 minutes, then once soft season it with oil, salt, and pepper.
Give it a stir, breaking up the larger pieces with a fork, then add it to the batter.
Cauliflower or broccoli are my absolute favorite, also because they go extremely well with the curry flavor.
Serving suggestions
After 25 minutes our savory vegan muffins are ready. Let them cool for at least 15 minutes before eating them.
So, I assure you that this recipe really changed our lives. In addition to being super cute and colorful, these muffins are soft, light, yummy, and also very nutritious thanks to the vegetables and chickpea flour.
You can prepare them the night before and take them with you for a snack or a quick lunch, but they are also perfect for dinner or as an appetizer with friends.
Have fun with trying out different fillings and let us know in the comments below which one you like the most!
Storage
Chickpea frittata muffins are a perfect make-ahead recipe and they store very well in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
And you can reheat them in the microwave. They stay soft and moist, and they are delicious.
You can also freeze the muffins for up to two months, then thaw them in the microwave, or in the refrigerator.
More Breakfast Recipes
If you liked these brunch-friendly muffins, take a peek at our other vibrant breakfast recipes:
- Easy oat muffins for a meal-prep-friendly breakfast and brunch option.
- Light zucchini muffins with chocolate chip and walnuts bits.
- Sweet potato muffins: ready in less than 30 minutes!
- Quick vegan french toast with fresh berries, butter, and syrup on top.
- Vegan crepes with a (generous) drizzle of hazelnut spread and banana slices.
- Fluffy pancakes with apple compote and cinnamon or fresh fruit and whipped cream.
- Or check out our vegan brunch collection for more ideas.
- Tofu scramble: an excellent savory breakfast idea.
More Chickpea Recipes
To discover more chickpea recipes, check out these other delicious meals:
For many more breakfast ideas, check out our breakfast category page.
Recipe
Chickpea frittata muffins | Savoury vegan muffins
Equipment
- muffin pan (12 muffins)
- Immersion blender or regular blender
- parchment paper
Ingredients
For the muffin batter
- 1½ cups chickpea flour garbanzo bean flour
- 1½ cups water
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pinches salt
- 2 twists pepper
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon curry powder (if you don't like curry you can replace it with Italian seasoning)
Filling 1: peas and carrots
- 1½ cups frozen peas
- 1 red onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- salt & pepper to taste
Filling 2: cauliflower
- 14 ounces cauliflour steamed (or broccoli)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- salt & pepper to taste
Filling 3: your filling
- 14 ounces Your favourite veggies cook them in advance and season them with olive oil, salt, pepper, or with your favourite seasoning.
Instructions
Cook the veggies
- Filling 1: peas and carrots. To a non-stick pan, add the olive oil, sliced onion, grated carrot and frozen peas. Add a splash of water, then season with salt and pepper and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes.Filling 2: cauliflower. Steam the cauliflower, then add it to a bowl and season it with olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir with a fork, breaking off large pieces.Note: you can use any vegetables. Our tip is to cook them and season them before you add them to the batter.
Prep the muffin pan
- Preheat the oven to 370F or 190C. Cut 12 squares of parchment paper, 5x5 inches ( 12 x 12 cm) each. Use them to line the muffin moulds, pushing the parchment paper down into each mould. Chickpea flour is very sticky once baked, so I recommend using parchment paper.
Make the batter
- Blend together all ingredients for muffin batter: chickpea flour, water, nutritional yeast, olive oil, salt, pepper, baking powder and curry. You can use a regular blender, or you can put all ingredients in a bowl and use an immersion blender.
- In a bowl, mix the batter with the vegetables, stirring with a fork. Transfer a ladleful of batter into each muffin mould.
- Bake at 370F or 190C for 25 to 30 minutes, then let them cool down for at least 20 minutes before eating them.
Video Recipe
Nutritional Values
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K
Gorgeous muffins. We made these for our toddler and omitted the salt yet they still had a lovely mellow flavour.
Just one question, I found the cutting out the baking paper a bit faffy. Could these be baked just in muffin cases? Thank you
Nico
Hi Krishna, I'm so happy to hear!
That should not be a problem, however, we find that sometimes if the muffin liners have ridges, the batter might stick to them a little. I hope that helps you out. Many thanks, Nico
Kade
Hi! :)) I want to try to make this but as a loaf because I don't have a muffin tray, do you have any advice for adjusting cooking time/temperature?
Chef Nico
Hi kade, I am not sure how this would work in a loaf unfortunately. I would probably not fill up the loaf too much, maybe just half way. I would keep temperature the same, for cooking time you can check with a toothpick once is cooked inside. Hope this helps.
Katie
These are delicious, I didn't have cumin so I used ground coriander and not keen on peas so used spinach. Great idea for a healthy snack or canapés if you're having a gathering. They cooked well in silicon cupcake cases (the ones on a flat tray rather than the muffin tray rose better). Thank you for this great recipe!
Chef Nico
Thanks Katie, for taking the time to comment.
I'm happy that you swapped ingredients according to your liking, spinach and coriander sounds heavenly!
Cheers,
Nico