Swiss Chard Falafel Burger

swiss chard falafel burger

Swiss Chard Falafel Burger
Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Avocado, Hummus
On a Toasted Ciabatta Roll

Besides the obvious, BLT stands for Bistro Laurent Tourondel. This French Chef and his restaurant empire were my inspiration for our monthly Cooking Club challenge to build a sandwich around three ingredients that start with the letters…BLT, other than bacon, lettuce, and tomato.

I did attempt to follow the challenge rules, but my combinations of B, L, and T foods were uninspiring. And I simply cannot share something here on Taste With The Eyes that I don’t consider fabulous in one way or another. So I turned to a cookbook on my shelf BLT Bistro Laurent Tourondel for help. The Chef melds classic French bistro fare with the American steakhouse style. He poetically reinterprets the dishes in an uncomplicated manner with flavor and flair.

The idea for my reinterpreted BLT sandwich comes from a different source however, an item on his menu at restaurant BLT Burger in Las Vegas, called a Veggie Falafel. I had no idea what ingredients were in his falafel, but it was wonderfully green! With lettuce, tomato, avocado, and hummus. So, here I present my version…a Swiss Chard Falafel Burger.

Now, why go through all the trouble to make a superior vegetarian burger then add bacon to the sandwich? Why indeed. Vegetarian friends will love this swiss chard falafel burger, and why not add bacon for my carnivorous friends who believe bacon makes everything better. Which one are you?

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The Creative Cooking Crew is a group of 24 innovative food bloggers hosted by Laz of Lazaro Cooks! and Joan of FOODalogue. Each month brings a new culinary challenge with a round-up of all the entries posted at the end of the month. Although there is no real judging and the challenges are all just for fun, we take pride in sharing our entries, pushing our culinary limits.

My apologies to the Club for not following the rules “to the letter.” Please stop by Laz’s blog on April 29th to view all the imaginative interpretations of a BLT sandwich. And be sure to check out the Creative Cooking Crew’s PINTEREST BOARD here for visual inspiration!

BLT Swiss Chard Falafel Burger Recipe

swiss chard falafel BLT

  • 2 large swiss chard leaves, de-stemmed
  • 1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed & drained
  • small handful each of fresh parsley and dill
  • 1/2 medium onion, rough chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 t. ground cumin
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • 1/2 t. red pepper flakes
  • 2 T. panko
  • 1 T. flour
  • 1 t. baking powder

green chard falafel recipe

Cook chard in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and squeeze out excess water. Place chard in the bowl of a food processor along with garbanzo beans, herbs, onion, garlic, cumin, salt, and red pepper flakes. Process until all the ingredients are blended, but still a bit chunky.

Sprinkle panko, flour, and baking powder over the mixture. Process briefly until the mixture comes together, pulling away from the sides and forming a ball.

BLT Burger
Form the dough into patties and fry in canola oil over medium heat until the exterior is browned and crispy, and the interior is hot.

swiss chard falafel burger
To assemble: brush split ciabatta rolls with olive oil and toast until golden. Spread hummus on the bread. Top the bottom piece with a swiss chard falafel burger. Then layer bacon, tomato, avocado, and green leaf lettuce.

swiss chard falafel burger
And we served these awesome sandwiches with Samuel Adams Boston Lager Tonight…

*Friends, feel free to share your ideas for a fantastic B-L-T sandwich in the comment section.

18 thoughts on “Swiss Chard Falafel Burger”

  1. Love your BLT, LL! I actually think it’s pretty clever that the chef’s initials who was the inspiration for the dish served as the BLT. It sounds delicious too – I bet bacon would add such a lovely umami aspect to a falafel sandwich!

    1. Hi Samantha – I got the skewers at a Japanese market. They are called teppogushi “gun skewers” and used for yakitori grilling. I like them because unlike other skewers I can write on the tab with a sharpie pen, so fun! You can write your guests’ names, or initials.
      Thanks for your enthusiasm!
      LL

  2. I must be mad… I thought we were just to do a sandwich! Oh well. Love your take on a BLT which is one of my favorite sandwiches in the universe. Thing is, I love falafel too and make it often. I always deep-fry my falafel so this is a bit different. Love the addition of swiss chard. A beautiful sandwich!

  3. These look amazing. I love falafel. From the picture the burgers look softer than traditional falafel. Do they freeze well?

    I’ll have to try adding eggplant “bacon” or tempeh”bacon” to mine.

    1. Hi Charc – thanks for your comment. I do not know if they freeze well. If you would like them to have a harder crust, especially on the edges, just fry in deeper oil. I did not use a lot of oil to fry mine. Please let me know if you try them!
      LL

  4. I had to laugh because of the bacon. There is a pub we frequent and I always order the veggie burger with bacon. Everyone makes fun of me, so it’s good to see that I’m not the only one. 🙂 Love this wonderful version of a veggie burger! My favorite green is Swiss Chard so this is definitely one I need to try. Thanks for making me really, really hungry!

  5. Interesting! I’ve been looking for meatless burger options lately. Most of them involve a tonne of ingredients. I like the falafel variation. Last time we tried to make falafel, it was a dismal failure. Maybe it’s time to try this variation.

  6. Hi Lori Lynn, first of all, I love the little Japanese skewers too. Thanks for letting us know about them. I LOVE falafel and I love the fresh green colour of yours, well done! I like the fact that it includes chard, which I’m growing in my garden and always looking for new ways to cook. Also, a real problem I find with most veggie burgers is the texture: they are mushy and not pleasant to bite into. So, the bacon would add the nice bit of crunch that it needs! Great job!

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