This healthy vegan chickpea meatloaf is so easy to make and really crowd-pleasing! Make this flavor- and protein-packed main during the holidays or on weeknights for the whole family.
Eating more plant-based protein and veggies has never been easier and tastier than this chickpea meatloaf.
It’s made from very basic staple ingredients, great for smaller budgets, and a hit with vegans and non-vegans alike!
After sharing our go-to lentil mushroom loaf recipe, we received many questions about substitution ideas for lentils. Here you go!
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Our favorite versatile legume, chickpeas, has found its way into so many of our recipes that it just made sense to create a vegan chickpea meatloaf!
It’s the perfect hearty main during fall or winter (hello, meatless holiday feast!) but it’s also easy enough to make during weeknights for the whole family.
Be sure to check out more recipes featuring this delicious bean, like this potato chickpea curry, our popular vegan bean chili, and this healthy chickpea cookie dough!
We’ve also shared high-protein recipes, Thanksgiving recipes, and vegan Christmas dinner recipes on our website which you’ll love.
Recipe overview
- Budget-friendly and easy to make
- Great for family meals
- High in fiber, protein & veggies
- Perfect meatless main during the holidays
- Meal prep-friendly weeknight recipe
- Rich in flavor & texture
This vegan chickpea meatloaf is low in fat and packed with essential nutrients, making this scrumptious main dish super healthy and hearty yet diet-friendly.
Ingredients needed
- Chickpeas — either canned or cooked from scratch.
- Veggies — onion, garlic, mushrooms, carrots and celery are used in this recipe.
- Spices & flavorings — mustard, smoked paprika, tomato paste, thyme, maple syrup and BBQ sauce all work together to make this the best chickpea meatloaf!
- Flax — our favorite egg replacement when baking!
- Breadcrumbs — for great texture but they can be replaced with oats & nuts (details below).
These are the main ingredients for our chickpea loaf. Find the exact quantities and substitution tips down below.
In terms of kitchen equipment, you’ll need a loaf pan, skillet and food processor to make this recipe.
How to make this chickpea meatloaf
Before you start, preheat your oven to 350° F (180 °C) and line a 9×5” loaf pan with parchment paper.
Sauté the veggies
Place a large non-stick skillet over medium heat and sauté the diced onion in a splash of water until translucent.
Next, add the garlic and mushrooms. Cook for a few more minutes, stirring frequently, until all of the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated and they turn slightly golden.
At this point, add the rest of the (very finely) chopped veggies, some spices and the cooked chickpeas.
Cook for 5-6 more minutes, until the vegetables have become tender.
Process all ingredients
Transfer your veggie and chickpea mixture to a food processor alongside all of the other ingredients: nutritional yeast, soy sauce, tomato paste and mustard as well as breadcrumbs and some flaxseeds.
Pulse a couple of times to combine and be sure not to over-process your chickpea loaf mixture! It should be somewhat mixed but still chunky — we’re looking to make a nice texturized vegan meatloaf, not hummus.
Transfer to pan & bake
Finally, put the chickpea loaf mixture into your prepared loaf pan and press it down until it’s tightly packed! You can use your hands or the back of a wooden spoon for this.
Put the loaf pan into the oven for 40 minutes.
Make & add the glaze
For your last step, whisk together the ingredients for the homemade glaze in a small bowl. Alternatively, you can just use ketchup or any other tomato-based sauce for this.
Remove your chickpea loaf from the oven and spread the glaze evenly on top of it, then bake it for 10 more minutes.
Let your freshly baked chickpea meatloaf cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving!
Storage & reheating
This recipe is great for meal prep because you can enjoy this loaf over the course of a few days. Simply store it in a lidded container in the fridge for up to 5-6 days once the loaf has completely cooled and reheat at your convenience!
You can either do so in the oven at 350° F for about 5-8 minutes or in the microwave.
If you want to freeze your vegan meatloaf, it’s best to cut it into individual slices and put parchment paper between them — this allows you to just take as many slices as you want from the freezer.
Serving suggestions
Classic combinations when serving this chickpea meatloaf as your vegan Thanksgiving dinner or during Christmas include:
- Mashed potatoes
- Vegan gravy
- Brussels sprouts
- Roasted vegetables
- Scalloped potatoes
- Green beans
- Cranberry sauce
We also enjoy it alongside sweet potato fries, roast pumpkin feta salad, spinach fig salad, and this sweet potato arugula salad during weeknights.
FAQs & tips for this recipe
Make the chickpea loaf gluten-free
Just use gluten-free breadcrumbs (you can also sub for gluten-free rolled oats) and swap soy sauce for tamari.
Make it even heartier
You can add ½ – 1 cup of chopped walnuts, pecans or almonds to your chickpea loaf while reducing approximately the same amount of chickpeas and breadcrumbs.
You can also sauté your veggies in oil to bump up the calories!
Don’t like mushrooms?
Replace them with more chickpeas, a handful of chopped nuts or simply leave them out completely. However, they do add earthy flavor and depth to the loaf without tasting like mushrooms!
Food processor-free version
If you don’t have a food processor, mash your cooked chickpeas with a fork or potato masher in a large bowl, then add your cooked veggies and all of the spices.
Mix with a spoon until well combined and broken down!
Meal prep instructions
You can make the mixture for this chickpea meatloaf a day in advance and then store it in your loaf pan in the fridge before baking!
More hearty vegan recipes
If you liked this vegan chickpea meatloaf recipe, be sure to check out the following goodness next!
- Quinoa Stuffed Aubergine
- Beet Kidney Bean Burgers
- Quick Bean Burritos
- Baked Falafel Tacos
- Vegan Bean Pesto Pasta
Did you make our chickpea meatloaf and like it? Be sure to share it in the comments below, give the recipe a rating and don’t forget to Pin it here.
Hey! Would I be able to use oats instead of breadcrumbs for a gluten free recipe? Thanks!! So excited to bring this to our Christmas potluck.
Hi Bailey, yes I’m pretty sure this will work! Let us know how everyone liked the vegan loaf :)
I made this for Christmas dinner and it was sooo good! I am making it again today. Thank you!
I mixed everything together and then instead of baking it in a loaf, I created thin patties and pan fried them until they were crispy and topped them with the BBQ sauce.
gosh that sounds fantastic!!
Love this! Thank you so much!!! It is so good to have on cold nights right now! It’s so GOOD!
May I please ask where you found that circle tray its served on? I have been looking for a speckle one everywhere and can not find one for my life!!!! If you know the potter or name brand/store I’d be so grateful!!!!!
aww thanks so much for your lovely feedback, this makes me so happy! sorry I can’t give you any tips for the speckled tray, though…
Try searching on the “Society6” artists website as I’ve seen similar styles of round cutting boards/slabs there.
I would like to print the recipe out, but don’t see a print icon…
So sorry:, i did find the print button.
Hey! Mine wouldn’t bake into a loaf? It stayed pushing even after baking almost an hour and half :( what did I do wrong?
Can I leave out the mushrooms?
yes, absolutely!
I’ve made this twice and it tastes fantastic, but it is mushy. Any suggestions?
Same here. I’m used to a firm loaf and the consistency just wasn’t right for me. Tasted pretty good but just hard to get past the mushiness.
Tastes good, but don’t believe the 10 minute prep time, it’s more like 2 hours.
Right? It’s only 10 minutes if you have a sous chef to mince the onions and mushrooms and dice the carrots and celery. I LOVE this recipe and it turns out great every time. I’ve made it about a dozen times. It is delicious. I am an experienced and organized cook and between gathering all the ingredients, washing and dicing and sautéing etc it is an HOUR to prep this. It is worth it, but 10 minutes is a gross underestimate of the time required.
Thanks so much for your comments, Deb and Karen! I listed some ingredients as “chopped” which takes away lots of prep time :) perhaps this seems a little misleading. There is no clear definition as to what is included in prep time — other recipes for chickpea loaf also state 10 minutes if you take a look around. I’ll make sure to reevaluate!
That is 100 percent correct. Just spent 1.5 hours preparing everything and there is not nearly enough mixture to go into the suggested loaf pan. It looks pitiful and I just wasted my Sunday meal prep day, way too many ingredients and measurements. What a mess! I was so excited about this too and followed the recipe to a T…
Says 10 minutes preparation. I am now at an hour and ten minutes and still not finished preparation. Parking this for another day
thanks for your feedbakc, Pontios! If you have all of the ingredients chopped and prepared as it states in the ingredients list, then just combining everything etc. really takes 10 minutes. I understand that this can be misleading and I’ll be sure to reevaluate how to calculate prep time!
It costs double for chopped vegetables at the grocery store.
I read the comments regarding prep time before making the loaf. I decided to toss the onions, carrots, mushrooms and celery into the food processor and just pulse until they were roughly chopped. Then I put them in the skillet to soften them. Meanwhile I measured out all the other ingredients so that by the time the veggies were soft everything was ready to go back into the food processor. Pulsed everything to combine then poured into an 8.75″ x 4.5″ loaf pan. This took about 20 minutes. I’m not baking until tomorrow so I’ll have to wait to rate the taste. It would be helpful if you could give gram measurements for the carrots. It did not fill my smaller loaf pan so I can certainly understand that it would not seem much like a loaf in a 9″ x 6″ loaf pan. Curious to see if it cooks all the way through in the small pan.