Veggie Chickpea Sticks - Chickpeas, veggies, chia seeds and cheese made into a delicious finger food that is great for kids of all ages.
Earlier this week I shared the recipe for my Fruity Chickpea Cookies and it was actually those cookies that were the inspiration behind these Veggie Chickpea Sticks. While I was developing the recipe for the former, I just knew that they could also be developed into a savoury version. After developing this recipe I realised that I actually use chickpeas a lot in baby friendly finger foods. Such as these sweet potato and chickpea patties or this baked falafel.
It is hard to decide which I prefer, the sweet or savoury variant. I guess it depends on what mood I am in. I'd say the boys like the sweet version better but are more than happy to munch down several of these veggie chickpea sticks in one sitting. I even popped a few in Finn's lunch box this week, I took them out of the freezer the night before and he was happy to eat them cold, along with a yoghurt dip.
They are very soft in texture and would make a great finger food for toddlers and babies. If you wanted to reduce the sodium level, for younger babies, you could reduce the cheese. You could even add some oats (like in the fruity cookies) before blending.
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Veggie Chickpea Sticks
Ingredients
- 55 g (½ cup) grated carrots
- 2 tablespoon Chia Seeds
- 400 g can Chickpeas (drained and washed)
- ½ red pepper (finely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon cream cheese
- 60 g (½ cup) grated cheddar cheese
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 handful of spinach leaves (chopped)
- 60 g (½ cup) frozen peas
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon mixed dried herbs
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 180c / 350F / Gas 4 and prepare two baking trays with baking paper / reusable baking sheets.
- Squeeze as much liquid out of the carrots as possible. Reserve the carrot juice and add water to it to make it up to 80ml (⅓ cup) of liquid in total.
- Mix the chia seeds and carrot juice mixture together and set aside.
- Add all other ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the chia seed mixture and pulse until mixed together.
- Take approx a ¾ tablespoon of the mixture and form into a finger shape (alternatively you could make cookie shape or nuggets) Repeat until the mixture has finished.
- Bake in the oven for 15 mins.
Linda
Hi Amy, can you please recommend a substitute for cream cheese? No allergies but just never buy it as the kids don’t like cream cheese. Would adding 1 egg work ? Thank you .
Amy
Hi Linda, I'm not sure to be honest. The cheese also provides flavour. You could try this baked falafel instead and grate in a little veggie if you wish.
C Bass
Wish is read the comments first. I probably still would have tried it but I would have ditched most of the water and really made sure I removed maximum moisture.
Also, like some others I used flax seeds instead of chia seeds as they're just too expensive.
The moisture was way too wet, so I tried adding some flour, spreading out out in a baking tray, and cooking for longer time at a slightly lower temperature - all to no avail.
It was for a child's party so I couldn't use it at all and had to come up with something else last minute
Amy
Thanks you for the feedback and I’m sorry this didn’t work for you. This is a very old recipe and I perhaps need to take another look at it.
Sophie
Hi Amy. Do you think this would work with vegan cheese (and without the cream cheese) for my milk allergic daughter? Or should I add in something else to bind it?
Amy
Hi Sophie, I haven't had any experience with vegan cheese so can't really comment, sorry. The cream cheese is used to help bind so you will probably need something else.
Tiffany
This is a brilliant recipe!!!! So easy to chuck together and came out perfect first time Thanks for sharing.
Amy
Thanks Tiffany, glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Brooke
Hi Amy. Thank you for the tasty recipe. I’ve made a few kids meals from your page now. I have a high powered blender but it struggled with the load so I had to take portions out and blend in a few batches. I still had to add a little bit of water so it would combine well enough and then made it too wet so had to then add flour.I also found I had to increase cooking time because they were still mushy on the inside. But they taste great.
Neringa
I did not have chia seeds so I used flax seeds in stead. The texture was super moisty, so had to double the bake time. And then they got dry and, unfortunatelly, overall my 8 month old daughter did not like them too much 🙁
Amy
Hi Neringa, Thank you for the feedback. I'm so sorry the recipe didn't work for you, I will look at the recipe again. This is an older post and I am slowly working my way through updating them.
Elle rudd
Same happened to me unfortunately, they were very mushy so cooked for longer then they were too dry and just crumbled everywhere. My 8 month old son didn’t like them but I’m hoping to modify them somehow so he’ll eat them