Healthy Chickpea Blondies

Healthy Chickpea Blondies are an allergen-friendly snack packed with natural goodness and free from nuts, gluten, eggs, oil, and refined sugar.

What are Chickpea Blondies?

Chickpea blondies are a type of dessert that typically swaps out traditional flour for chickpeas, making them a gluten-free and protein-packed alternative. They have a similar texture to a brownie but without the chocolate.

Bloodied usually contain ingredients like canned chickpeas, nut or seed butter (such as almond or tahini like we used in this recipe), natural sweeteners (like maple syrup or honey), vanilla extract, and sometimes chocolate chips or nuts.

For this recipe, we kind of combined a healthy blondie with a healthy brownie when we added just a touch of cacao. What you get is a fudgy, soft baked treat that is both healthy and delicious, but lighter and less chocolatey than a brownie.

Hungry yet?

As for their origin, chickpea blondies are a modern twist on traditional blondies, which are believed to have originated in the United States in the early 20th century as a variation to the classic brownie recipe.

Why you’ll love this healthy, nut-free chickpea blondie recipe

• Unlike many treats or brownies, these chickpea blondies are free from refined sugar, eggs, flour, oil/butter, and gluten
• This recipe contains more fibre and plant-based protein from oats and chickpeas than most snack recipes
• They are school safe
• Easy prep with minimal clean up

Check out the health benefits of chickpeas here:

What are the health benefits of chickpeas?

• High in Protein: Chickpeas are an excellent source of plant-based protein, making them a great option for vegetarians and vegans
• Rich in Fiber: They contain a significant amount of dietary fiber, which aids digestion and helps maintain healthy blood sugar levels
• Low in Glycemic Index: Chickpeas have a low glycemic index, which helps in maintaining stable blood sugar levels
• Packed with Vitamins: They provide essential vitamins such as B vitamins (like folate) which are important for energy metabolism and cell production
• Mineral Content: Chickpeas are a good source of important minerals, including iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc
• Heart Health: The fiber and nutrient profile in chickpeas contribute to heart health by lowering cholesterol levels
• Antioxidant Properties: They contain antioxidants that help fight inflammation and protect against chronic diseases
• Weight Management: High protein and fiber content can promote feelings of fullness, aiding in weight loss and management

Ingredients you will need for these chickpea blondies

Canned chickpeas– Drain and rinse them really well

Oat flour (Quick oats)– You will be grinding up quick oats into a flour, or use oat flour

Tahini butter– Nut-free tahini is naturally high in calcium and is the perfect replacement for nut butter

Maple syrup– Used to naturally sweeten these chickpea blondies

Pure vanilla extract– Gives some depth and more natural sweetness to the recipe

Baking soda– A baking staple. Choose aluminum-free baking soda if you can

Cacao powder– Raw, natural cacao powder is free from sugar. This is not the same as hot cocoa powder. This is what you are looking for in the baking aisle

Chocolate chips– Are optional. Choose sugar-free, dairy-free, and pure where possible

Sea salt and coarse salt– Good quality sea salt goes into the recipe and coarse, or flaked, is what you will use to garnish the blondies just before baking

How to make them

Start by preheating the oven to 350F and line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper. I dampen mine, then wring it out before setting it into the baking dish so it stays put

If you don’t already have oat flour, start by grinding up 1/2 cup of quick oats in the food processor until fine like a flour

Add all the other ingredients (except the chocolate chips and coarse salt for garnishing) to the oats in the food processor and puree until creamy

Stir 3/4 of the chocolate chips into the batter and transfer it to the baking dish. Garnish with remaining chocolate chips plus coarse or flaked salt

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove dish from oven and let cool before slicing into 9-12 squares