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Easy-to-make, 3-ingredient chickpea flour vegetable flatbread is full of delicious flavor and nutrition, yet free of eggs, grains, gluten, nuts and dairy. It is perfect for sandwiches, snacks, and all manner of gnoshing!
Baked Chickpea Flour Flatbread Made with Vegetables
How about a rainbow to start this late-February Friday?
You’ve come to the right place, because I’ve been working all week on just such a thing.
Specifically, it’s a rainbow of vegetable flatbreads that come together in no time, taste fantastic, and are a great way to add some vegetable diversity to your daily routine. With one recipe, you can make multiple breads, simply by changing the vegetables. Beautiful!
Nutritional Highlights of Chickpea Flour Vegetable Flatbread
Considering the old adage that we eat with our eyes first, these flatbreads deliver eye-candy satisfaction before you take a single bite.
They also happen to be:
- Vegan (egg-free, dairy-free)
- Grain-free
- Nut-free
- Seed-free
- Gluten-free
- Low in calories
The recipe for this bread is inspired, 100%, by the vegetable flatbreads recipe from the folks at Green Kitchen Stories (love this blog; head on over, asap, if you have not yet made their acquaintance).
The Green Kitchen Stories recipe is made with eggs and almond flour; if you are looking for a Paleo vegetable flatbread recipe, their recipe is perfection.
But, as they note for their recipe, replacing the eggs with plant-based options is less than satisfactory.
I tried their chia-egg version, as well as my own variations (flax eggs & a flax-chia egg combo). While delicious, none held together as “bread,” by any definition. I attempted two psyllium husk combinations , as well. While they worked, in that they held together, the texture was more rubber ball than bread.
I decided to head back to the drawing board. Actually, it was the cupboard. I swapped the almond flour for chickpea flour and tried again. After a few test batches, success was, literally, in hand.
The recipe? No egg replacers are needed, since the chickpea flour functions as both flour and eggs in the recipe. Hence, the only ingredients needed are the chickpea flour, a small amount of oil (I used olive oil), plus a raw, hard vegetable of your choice (e.g., broccoli, cauliflower, beet, carrot), processed into a fine, couscous/rice consistency (water and salt go in, too; not including these in official ingredients count).
The flatbread batter is moist and easy to spread. Here’s my broccoli variation:
Scoop the batter onto a lined (with parchment paper or a silpat), large baking sheet. I used a standard size half sheet baking pan, which is 18×13 inches. Spread the batter into an even rectangle that is 1/4-inch thick. My rectangles did not extend all the way to the edges of the pan.
Don’t worry, spreading and smoothing the batter into shape is not hard at all. You can use your hands, a spoon, or a spatula. It will take you about 1 minute, or 2 minutes, if you are a perfectionist.
Into a 400F oven it goes, and, in about 25 minutes, you’ve got flatbread!
I made 4 varieties, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and beet.
The former two require only 3 ingredients, but the carrot and beet need to be mixed with cauliflower. The same is true is the original Green Kitchen Stories recipe, but I thought I would test my recipe with beets and carrots alone (no cauliflower). Perhaps it would be different with chickpea flour?
Nope. Using 100% beet and or 100% carrot resulted in leathery crackers instead of bread.
My subsequent batches of beet and carrot bread were each 50% cauliflower. Perfecto!
Conclusion: 50% Cauliflower is a must for vegetable variations, except for broccoli.
These breads are such an easy, delicious, convenient & versatile way to incoporate more vegetables into your busy day. Add additional flavors to the batter (herbs, spices, pepper, etc.), as you please. When kept plain, they are remarkably neutral in flavor (especially the beet! I am loving the beet slices with nut butter & jam).
The breads are terrific for sandwiches of all kinds, too.
Because these flatbreads are egg-free, they make exceptionally good (portable) power food for your on-the-go life (no refrigeration required, no fear of spoilage).
So grab a rainbow and go! Happy baking everyone, and have a wonderful, colorful, vegetable-packed weekend!
Making this recipe? I would love to see it!
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3-Ingredient Vegetable Flatbread {Vegan & Grain-free}
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 12 pieces 1x
Description
3-ingredient, grain-free and vegan vegetable flatbreads, made with chickpea flour!
Ingredients
- 12 ounces broccoli (see notes for variations)
- 1 cup chickpea flour
- 1–1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 cup water
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Line a large (18×13) baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Cut the broccoli into pieces. Place the broccoli pieces (crowns and stems) in a large food processor and process until very fine (about the consistency of couscous; 12 oz will yield 3 cups finely chopped). Scrape mixture into a large bowl.
- Add the chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt to bowl with broccoli, stirring until completely combined.
- Spread batter into an even rectangle on the prepared baking sheet, smoothing the top. The batter should be 1/4-inch thick (the batter will not go all the way to the edges of the pan).
- Bake in the preheated oven for 24 to 28 minutes until light golden brown at the edges and the center is set. Transfer sheet pan to a cooling rack and cool completely.
- Invert flatbread onto a cutting board and carefully peel off paper/silpat. Cut into 12 pieces and turn pieces right side up..
Notes
Storage: Store the flatbread in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days, the refrigerator for 1 week, or the freezer for up to 6 months.
Variations:[
Cauliflower Flatbread: Replace the broccoli with an equal amount of cauliflower.
Carrot Flatbread: Replace the broccoli with 6 ounces cauliflower and 6 ounces peeled carrots (about 2 medium-large carrots).
Beet Flatbread: Replace the broccoli with 6 ounces cauliflower and 6 ounces peeled beets (about 1 medium-large beet).
- Category: Bread
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 piece
- Calories: 53
- Sugar: 1.3 g
- Sodium: 159 mg
- Fat: 2.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 5.9 g
- Fiber: 1.7 g
- Protein: 2.6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This bread is absolutely DELISH!!! I am a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and I am always on the lookout for recipes like this for my clients. I like to add herbs to mine, so for the broccoli bread, I add an italian mix (just a tsp), for the carrot, I added a tsp of tarragon, and for the beet, I added a tsp of dill. They received rave reviews! Tomorrow, I am teaching a client of mine how to cook. She’s a new mom and baby has a lot of sensitivities. She is now gluten. egg, and dairy free so this recipe is on the list. I’m sure she’s going to love its versatility.
★★★★★
Vicki, that’s wonderful! I love the sound of your herb additions and I am so glad it was well received by others. Thank you!
Great, healthy and creative …..
★★★★★
Thank you, Sandeep!
This looks so simple and great! I have a gluten sensitivity to I want to try this.
If I made it and put it in the freezer how do I thaw it out without it becoming a soggy mess?
Thank you for recipe!
Hi e! I almost always freeze some of the bread when I make it–it freezes very well, no soggy mess at all! For all frozen breads, I typically double wrap (plastic wrap, then a container or zippered bag) to prevent moisture or freezer burn. 🙂
Just thaw it out. It will not be soggy in the least! It freezes really well
★★★★★
Hi Camilla,
I just made this for the first time – cauliflower version. I forgot to oil the silpat so it stuck a bit but it’s tasty nonetheless.
What I would like to know is why mine came out all cracked along the top surface – – makes the bread less likely to hold together.
Thanks for this and the other grain free recipes – I’ll be trying the chickpea beer bread next!
★★★★
Looking for a good use of my veggies and this looks great. Sadly no chickpeas (canned, but was gonna try to make hummus) I have regular flour and coconut flour. Would rather continue to avoid the store. Would either of those work?
Hi Meredith! I know that coconut flour will not work here, it does not bind the way that chickpea flour binds (it will be baked mush). You might be able to use all-purpose flour and add egg, if you use eggs, but it would take some testing to get the proportions right. Sorry!
Hello,
Can you use cooked beets instead of fresh?
Thank you!
HI Sasha,
I have not tried it, but I think that should work fine. The cooked beets will likely have a different water content than fresh (more for boiled or canned beets, less for roasted beets), so I would start by using less water than I have in the recipe and add a little bit more at a time until you have the consistency I describe in the recipe.
Would it be possible to use cooked peas instead? I don’t have chickpea flour regularly on hand, but I often cook beans and I have dry chickpeas at home. Alternatively, do you have any success making chickpea flour in a food processor?
Hi Hanna,
I have not had success subbing cooked chickpeas for chickpea flour in other recipes, it just does not work. I’m sorry.
You can definitely make chickpea flour at home. I have only used a high speed blender; it needs to be a pretty powerful motor to process the pea fine enough into a flour. However, you could try in the food processor and sift through a fine sifter to remove larger pieces. A small coffee grinder could also work. I suggest googling how to make bean flour at home, I am sure you could find some guidelines.
Cheers,
Camilla
Hello. You can definitely grind the garbanzos in your food processor! That is what the flour is… I will be doing the same tomorrow. I am in Barcelona on house quarantine, so no popping out to the eco-bakery for my daily bread. And after making the buckwheat bread (LOVE that!) came across the flatbread and it looks so pretty… going to grind up my chickpeas tomorrow and make a batch!
Thanks, Mary!
Made the broccoli bread many times, it is perfect. Today will use it again to make a pizza crust, thank you for this recipe and doing the heavy lifting up front so all I have to do is bake, eat and look like I know what I am doing.
★★★★★
That’s so great to hear, Michael, glad these are successful (and delicious)! 🙂
How about spinach? Do you know the ratios for this recipe with leafy greens?
Hi Anna,
I have not made the recipe with leafy greens. I am sure you could make it work, but you will have to experiment. I think it would be best if you used half of a harder vegetable (e.g., cauliflower) and half greens (go with volume of finely chopped greens to measure).
Really easy to make and super tasty! I tried the broccoli one today and I was amazed by it. Gonna try the cauliflower and carrot one next. And also going to try other recipes… if they are as good as this one… I’ll be very happy!!!
★★★★★
Hi Federica,
That is wonderful to hear, so glad that you had such success with the broccoli bread !!! 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to let me know. I hope you enjoy the other varieties, too 🙂
Made these last night with golden beets and cauliflower – so delicious! THANKS!
Whoohoo! So glad to hear it, Jude! I envy your access to golden beets 🙂
Would potato work as a substitute for 50% broccoli/cauliflower when using carrots?
Hi Sue,
I think it would all hold together nicely. Might be heavier than cauliflower, but that might be adjustable by using a little bit less potato and upping the liquid slightly. I know, pretty vague, apologies! I will have to give it a try, too, it’s a good idea.
Allergy yo chickpeas/garbanzo beans, Please what other bean proves successful? Thank you. Susanna
You could use black bean flour, but the bread will be greyish (but still delicious). You could also try lupin flour.
Camilla, I made the broccoli version tonight and it was delicious.
I also made your Flour-less Flax Pucks today to freeze for breakfast…btw they are good straight from the freezer…easy breakfast!
Thank you for sharing your delicious and nutritious recipes!
June
June, you made my day! So glad you are enjoying the recipes, and thank you, so much, for taking the time to let me know you like them! 🙂
Camilla, this looks so delicious! You amaze me with your creativity. I can’t wait to try it.
Thank you for sharing!
June
That looks awesome! Now i´m hungry 😉
These look amazing. Wow. I would love to try these, but would there be a substitute for the oil? I am eating oil-free.
Hi Christine,
Yes, these will work without the oil; just add an equal amount of water to replace it. The breads will not be quite as tender, but still tasty. If you want to add some fat to get the tenderness without oil, I would suggest adding some flaxseed meal or ground chia seeds; both are rich in natural oil (add 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons of either and replace the oil with an equal amount of water). You could also replace the oil with 1 tablespoon nut or seed butter + 1 tablespoon water. Oh, one more easy option: replace the water, and the fat, with equal amounts of milk (nondairy or dairy; one that contains some natural fat) 🙂
I just have to say that’s the most thorough response I’ve seen for any question! I was thinking about trying these and definitely will now, you can hear the enthusiasm in your words!
:):):) you are too kind, Melissa!
You’ve outdone yourself!
And YOU have made my day! xo