Jump straight to the recipe for Vegan Deviled Egg Filling with Chickpeas
Do you remember the deviled eggs your mum used to make for every potluck and special occasion?
I sure do, and I think you’ll find that this vegan deviled egg filling made with chickpeas is a delicious and very acceptable alternative.
Growing up, my Mum’s deviled eggs were one of those special treats that she would make from time to time, and I always looked forward to them.
The richness of the egg yolks and the lightly spiced curry filling, contrasted wonderfully with the soft, squishy hard boiled egg whites.
Of course, these days, I don’t eat eggs very often, but I do find myself craving those same flavours and textures at times.
So I was super pleased to discover that there’s a way to recreate it using chickpeas as the base, instead of hard boiled egg yolks.
And this vegan deviled egg filling is so easy to make too!
Just mash everything in together, fill your tomatoes – or whatever you want to serve it on – and sprinkle with spring onions and paprika.
Not only do they look fabulous, but they taste fantastic as well.
Oh, and they’re healthy too. And it makes a super-delicious dip. Bonus!
And it makes a super-delicious dip. Double bonus!
Must be time to crack out a can of chickpeas and whip up a batch.
I can taste the curry already…
Vegan Deviled Egg Chickpea recipe
Make sure to read the tips below the recipe to get the most out of this tasty vegan deviled egg filling recipe.
Vegan Deviled Egg Filling with Chickpeas
Ingredients
Deviled egg filling
- 1 tin chickpeas , drained or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (250g)
- 1/2 med avocado , mashed (100g)
- 6 tsp savoury nutritional yeast flakes (30ml)
- 3 tsp lemon juice (15ml)
- 2 tsp fresh mustard or 1/2 tsp mustard powder
- 1 tsp yellow curry powder
- 1 pinch ground cumin
- salt , to taste
- black pepper , to taste
To assemble
- 20 small tomatoes , halved and seeds removed (optional)
- 6 talks chives or 1 stalk spring onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 tsp sweet red paprika
Method
- Crush the chickpeas roughly with a strong fork or a potato masher.
- Add the avocado, yeast and lemon juice and continue mashing until smooth.
- Add the mustard, curry powder and cumin and mix thoroughly.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Spoon into tomato halves.
- Sprinkle with chopped chives or spring onion, and then paprika.
- Serve immediately.
- Store unused mix in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Preparation
- Before: - (unless you want to cook your own chickpeas)
- During: 10 mins
- After: -
- Need: Bowl, potato masher (optional)
Nutrition Information
Tips
- I used canned chickpeas because it’s fast and easy. I went through a phase a couple of years back where I cooked all of our beans and legumes from scratch, but I just don’t feel like spending the effort these days. It’s definitely cheaper this way, but it’s more time-consuming, so it’s totally up to you. The vegan deviled egg filling will taste the same either way.
- If your avocadoes are on the small size, just use a whole one in this recipe. The amounts are pretty forgiving, so it will turn out great regardless of how much you use.
- The avocado, along with the lemon juice, takes the place of the mayonnaise that you’d normally find in a vegan deviled egg filling recipe. I’m a big fan of using whole ingredients wherever I can (and I also can’t be bothered whipping up a batch of macadamia mayonnaise), and the avocado adds a wonderfully rich and creamy texture to the vegan deviled egg filling.
- Savoury yeast flakes are just a dried and flaked variety of yeast that add a lovely cheesy taste to recipes, along with heaps of protein and vitamins.
- I prefer to use fresh lemon juice in all of my recipes, and I’m also blessed to have a next-door-neighbour with a massive lemon tree than I can harvest from at any time of day or night. If you only have access to bottled lemon juice, you might need to add a smidge more (yes, very technical I know) to get the balance of the tang just right.
- I’ve tended to use dry mustard powder in this recipe because it’s fast and convenient, but sometimes if I’m lucky enough to have a jar of fresh mustard seed relish in my fridge, I’ll use that instead. They both taste great, but because the mustard powder is dried and more concentrated than the fresh version, you’ll need to add less of it.
- You can use your favourite curry powder in this vegan deviled egg filling recipe, but if you’re all out of curry powder, or you want to try making your own, you can give my homemade mild yellow curry powder mix a go. You’ll probably want to adjust the quantity of curry powder that you add, based on how hot your curry powder is. My curry powder is quite mild, because that’s how I like it.
- I add a pinch of cumin to the vegan deviled egg filling mix because I think it helps to round out the flavours that little bit more. Of course, it is only a pinch, so the impact is subtle, and it will be very much affected by the curry powder that you use. Play with it and see how much of it you think it needs.
- I add a small amount of salt and pepper at the end, more out of habit than anything else. With all of the strong flavours in this recipe, you could probably skip this if you wanted and you’d barely notice.
- Although the paprika and chives or spring onions are mostly for adding colour to your finished creations, they do actually add something to the taste experience as well. But if you don’t want to use these exact ingredients, feel free to play around with other similar fresh herbs and spices.
- If you want to make your vegan deviled egg filling look even fancier, you can make it in your food processor or blender and process it until it’s totally smooth, and then use a piping bag with a fancy end to fill your “cup” of choice. Then just sprinkle it with paprika and wow everyone with your vegan creativity!
Variations
Now for the fun part! Deciding what to serve your vegan deviled egg filling in:
- Tomato: This is my “go to” option for serving this mix in, because they’re fresh, colourful and tasty, and very quick to prepare, especially if you don’t remove the seeds. Honestly I just tend to cut my tomatoes in half and top them with the filling, mostly because I can’t stand to waste the seeds. But you would get more filling in your tomatoes if you took them out. It’s totally up to you. Any tomatoes can work, but smaller tends to work better for finger food.
- Avocado: This is a slightly different experience, partly because avocados are richer and less “fresh” tasting than tomatoes, but also because they’re usually bigger. Just chop one on half, remove the seed and stuff the middle with the deviled chickpea filling. Served this way, it becomes a side dish all on its own.
- Roast/baked potato: This vegan deviled egg filling is a great topping for roast potatoes. It’s creamy, cheesy and spicy, and is the perfect complement to the neutral taste of baked or roasted potatoes. Once again, this would make a pretty filling addition to any meal.
- Tofu slices: If you want to make this into finger food, then serving it on square slices of tofu work well. Just use a firm tofu and drain it as thoroughly as you can before starting. Once again the strong flavours of the curried chickpeas balance out the neutral flavour of the tofu brilliantly.
- Flax crackers: You could also serve this vegan deviled egg filling on top of flax crackers, although the moisture in the filling will make the crackers soften up fairly quickly, so this isn’t one you’ll want to leave sitting around before eating. Spread, top and eat immediately!
- Zucchini rounds: Another great cracker alternative for finger food is slices of zucchini. They’re strong enough to hold any fillings, neutral enough not to overwhelm the flavours of the toppings and less prone to going soggy than dry crackers. Just be sure to use smaller zucchinis to avoid having a hollow seedy part in the middle of your raw “crackers”.
- Agar and milk “eggs”: I haven’t tried this variation yet myself, but I’m super keen to give it a try. You just boil up some agar with some dairy-free milk, and pour it into appropriately-sized Easter egg moulds to create vegan “boiled eggs”. And then you just scoop out a hollow in the middle and fill them with the vegan deviled egg filling. How cool is that? I’ve posted some links below in the resources section to some recipes for doing this.
Of course, you don’t even need to serve this vegan deviled egg filling like this.
You can just spread it on your sandwich or wrap, or use it as a dip with fresh veggie sticks.
The possibilities are endless.
My inspiration
I used to love eating my mum’s deviled eggs as a kid, and I found myself missing the flavours one day, so I went looking for a vegan alternative.
I also wanted to find a way to use more chickpeas in my recipes, and I was looking for more ideas for dips and spreads for lunches.
So when I came across this recipe for deviled tomatoes at Veg Kitchen, I was very excited to give it a try, and it didn’t disappoint.
I adapted the recipe to use even more whole foods, and tweaked the flavours until it was as close I could get to the taste I remembered from my childhood.
I’ve eaten this vegan deviled egg filling in so many different ways, because it really is that versatile.
And I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.
Resources
If you want to have a go at making your own vegan agar boiled eggs, here’s a couple of recipes to get you going:
- Vegan Deviled Eggs @ Baked In
- The Ultimate Genius Vegan Eggs @ Mouth Watering Vegan
- Vegan Deviled Eggs @ Affectioknit
And have a brilliant day :)
2 comments
George Rose
I have the same fond memories of deviled eggs and have been missing them ever since my wife and I decided to go vegan last year. This recipe looks great – I can’t wait to try it!
Nikki
Hi George,
I’m so glad I can help you recreate your wife’s delicious recipe. Fingers crossed it lives up to your expectations! :D