These veggie-packed curried millet cakes make a fun, unexpected, and delicious vegetarian dinner! From The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get quinoa to stick together to form cohesive patties. With eggs, without eggs… I’ve made countless variations, some more successful than others, but now I have just one word: millet.
What is millet?
If you’ve never cooked millet before, you’re going to love it. One of my favorite grains, millet has a delicious nutty flavor and versatile texture. Depending on what water:grain ratio you use while cooking it, it can become a fluffy couscous-like grain or a creamy millet porridge. Like brown rice, it’s a naturally gluten-free grain, so even if you’re gluten-free, you can enjoy these yummy millet cakes!
After making them a few times, these little guys have become one of my favorite millet recipes. Luckily for me, millet is sticker than quinoa, so they bind together really easily. They’re packed with carrots, spinach, and fresh herbs and spiced with curry and garlic. This recipe is so flavorful and foolproof… as it should be since it comes from America’s Test Kitchen’s new book: The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook.
Millet Cake Recipe Variations
Because I knew this millet recipe was well-tested, I messed with it. I knew many of you would ask how to make the cakes vegan, so I tried them 2 ways. In half, I followed the recipe and used an egg and yogurt to bind the patties. In the other half, I used flaxseed and almond milk to veganize them. Guess what – both ways worked! The sticky millet was enough to bind the cakes together, with or without eggs, so it’s easy to make this recipe vegan and gluten-free.
I didn’t follow one other instruction: I baked my millet patties instead of pan frying them as was recommended. We loved them baked, so I can only imagine that pan frying them would make them extra tasty.
So back to the book – you’re going to want this one in your kitchen. Inside, you’ll find over 700 recipes, vegetable cooking tips, ingredient explanations, step-by-step chopping how-to’s, and more. It’s a great resource for vegetarians or anyone who just wants to incorporate more meatless meals into their lives. Many of the recipes are also vegan and gluten-free. Buy it here!
Looking for more millet recipes?
Try this tabbouleh, this millet salad, or this stuffed squash next!
Millet Cakes with Carrots & Spinach
- 1 cup millet, rinsed
- 2 cups water
- salt and pepper
- 3 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 shallot, minced
- 6 ounces (6 cups) baby spinach, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and shredded
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- ¼ cup plain yogurt (vegan version: ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon almond milk)
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten (vegan version: ¼ cup ground flaxseed)
- 2 tablespoons minced cilantro
- any sauce or chutney you like - I topped mine with greek yogurt, mixed with salt, pepper, chile flakes and a squeeze of lime, or use this recipe and make a similar vegan version.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine the millet, water, and ½ teaspoon salt in medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until grains are tender and liquid is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, let millet sit, covered, for 10 minutes; transfer to a large bowl.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the shallot and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the spinach and carrots and cook until the spinach wilts, about 2 minutes. Stir in the garlic, curry powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Transfer the mixture to the bowl with millet.
- Add the yogurt, egg, (or flax + almond milk) and cilantro into the millet mixture and fold until well combined. Use a ⅓ cup measuring cup to scoop the mixture, then form into a ½-inch-thick cake, and place on prepared sheet. Repeat. Refrigerate cakes until chilled and firm, about 30 minutes. (15 minutes for the vegan version).
- Drizzle the cakes with olive oil and bake 25-30 minutes or until the edges are crispy and cakes are cooked through.
Recipe is from America’s Test Kitchen’s new book: The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, and is re-printed with permission.
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I don’t know where I went wrong but these are incredibly mushy and a bit bland. I followed the instructions to a tee. After 25 minutes in the oven at 350 the patties weren’t holding together at all. In fact, a few had fallen apart on the baking sheet. I turned the oven up to 375 and set the timer for another 20 minutes. Eating one now and it’s falling apart. Is that supposed to happen? The rest are in the oven for another 10 minutes. Not sure how I’m going to transfer these to a container intact for storage. A lot of effort and disappointing results.
Made them. Substituted 3 T red curry paste for the curry powder and added 2 T flax seed and 2 T chia seeds…held together beautifully and taste was awesome…big hit with friends
Hello, I have some millet flour. Would you have suggestions to using it in this recipe?
I didn’t have time to form cakes, so I just prepared the millet with the vegetables and was impressed at how delicious it turned out. I ate it as a warm side dish at dinner and then put it over a bed of greens with oil and vinegar for lunch the next day ?
Hi Suzanne, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
My daughter has an egg allergy. Would omitting the egg still work?
Hi Julie, we’ve had success substituting 1/4 cup ground flaxseed for the egg.
Flavorful but total disaster as a patty/cake. I’ll not try this again
These are great! Thank you for the recipe. I doubled the carrots and used a seasonal braising greens mix (kale, chard, radicchio, etc.) instead of spinach because it’s what I had. I also used a half cup scoop to measure them. It all worked! They held together beautifully. It was my first time trying millet and they will be in my regular meal rotation. My partner loved them so much he ate 4!!!
I’m so glad you both loved them!
Very tasty! thank you for the recipe! I ate it along a salad with beans fto make a complete protein 🙂
I’m so glad you loved them!
Used green onions instead of shallots and spinach, added the tops in after and cooked the whites. Phenomenal! Thank you for this recipe!
I’m so glad you loved it!
Great recipe!!! Quick question, can I put these cakes into the fridge the day before I need to bake them?
I’d like to know this too please!
Oh, my goodness, thank you so much for this recipe! I’m currently working my way through my COVID pantry (I kept buying things to have adventure when I was isolated in my apartment and I ended up with too many things). I had no idea what to do with millet, but I loved your millet cakes. It was too hot to have my oven on, so I pan fried them; I can attest that they are delicious that way. I’m sold on millet now. It’s amazing.
Made these tonight… sort of. I didn’t have carrots, so I subbed several veggies and spices to match their profile, so I can’t speak to the flavor, BUT the texture was terrific. I have little doubt te flavor of the original would have matched, and I’ll try it again when I have carrots..
I am getting ready to make these for the third time! I love them. I may finish off this batch by a quick pan saute so they are little crispier!!
I had some millet in the pantry and googled some vegan recipes. We loved your recipe. We will make it again. I did make my own vegan tzatziki sauce and presented the millet cakes on a bed of spinach. Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Followed the recipe exactly as written and it was a home run. Am getting ready to make my second batch.
I just made the vegan version of this. It was great!!! Thx for the recipe!!!
Can’t wait to try! Is there a sub for the yogurt? We’re vegan but don’t have yogurt on hand
Hi Christina, I’d go for another sauce like a drizzle of cashew cream (https://www.loveandlemons.com/cashew-cream/), or the avocado option in this cilantro lime dressing recipe: https://www.loveandlemons.com/cilantro-lime-dressing/
Hope that helps!
Anyone tried freezing these before cooking.
I just made this and it was fantastic! My husband loved the aroma while cooking and he loved the cakes when they were done. I made the vegan version at it came out perfect. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
These were absolutely delicious! Thank you for the great recipe. Only four little patties leftover for tomorrow. I’m pretty sure that my 13 year old son will get to it before I do. He wanted to have some more after he had brushe his teeth.
I forgot to say that I also processes some fresh broccoli stalks into the recipe and sauteed it with the rest of the veggies. It worked great. Dressed the patties with tomato slices.
I forgot to rate it. 5 stars!!!
And one last thing, we are vegan. The vegan version works wonderfully.
Hi Maidellyn, I’m so glad you all enjoyed these!