Chickpea Frittata Muffins

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.

What we learned by making them so many times are two things:

1. 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.
   
2. 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.

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.

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!

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.

To discover more chickpea recipes, check out these other delicious meals:

• One-pot chickpea stew
• Vegan chickpea salad
• Chickpea pasta salad
• Couscous salad
• Chickpea quinoa salad
• Chickpea crepes with mushroom filling

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