Vegan Spanish Omelet with Caramelized Onion, Roasted Garlic and Rosemary (2024)

Published: Nov 22, 2015 · Updated: Aug 4, 2019

If you were to ask me what the most ubiquitous dish in Spain is, I’d say certainly the tortilla de patata. As far as I know, every Spanish person knows how to make it, even those who don’t cook. I imagine that when you’re born in Spain, the recipe comes in the Spaniard Handbook along with how to speak at an unnecessarily elevated volume and how to annoy the hell out of your neighbours until they move because they can’t stand you anymore. I’ve never made a tortilla de patatas, I usually leave it up to my husband on the nights that I force ask him to cook, so this is my very first Spanish omelet.

A few weeks ago I attended a vegan meetup where I met probably the most food-obsessed people I have ever met in my life (even more than me), and where the topic of conversation turned several times to the best way to make a vegan Spanish omelet. The consensus seemed to be chickpea flour, so after I got home I checked out a couple of recipes online. The recipes I found were simple, which is how a traditional Spanish omelet should be – with just a few basic ingredients, but also pretty boring. I mean, you can put virtually anything into a Spanish omelet so why not get a little creative? Or could it be that the Spanish don’t like their tortilla de patata to be messed with? Come to think of it, I once tried to convince my husband to make a tortilla with sweet potatoes but he definitely wasn’t having it. So I decided to make my vegan Spanish omelet just a little bit different from the rest but still familiar enough that no one would be sticking their nose up at it. Result: Vegan Spanish Omelet with Roasted Garlic, Caramelized Onions and Rosemary. Ta-Da!

Yield: Serves 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

If you've ever been to Spain, surely you've seen the Spanish omelete. Now it's vegan!

Ingredients

Oil for frying
1 large onion
1 head garlic
3 medium sized potatoes (about 450 grams)
1 cup (120 grams) chickpea (gram) flour
1 cup (250 ml) water
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt, plus a pinch for the onions
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, roughly chopped

Instructions

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a small pan over medium-low heat. Peel and slice the onion and add it to the pan with a pinch of salt. Fry very gently, stirring often, until golden brown and caramelized. It could take 45 minutes to an hour.
Meanwhile, heat about 2 cm of oil in a pan over medium-high heat. I usually test my oil by dipping in a wooden chopstick. When bubbles form around the chopstick, the oil is hot. While the oil heats up, peel the potatoes, cut them in half lengthwise and slice into ½ to 1 cm slices. Fry the potatoes until soft and beginning to turn golden brown. Remove to a paper towel-lined dish to drain.
You can roast your garlic in the oven, but I prefer to roast it in the microwave with a clay garlic roaster*(see note). Cut off the top of the head of garlic and drizzle over a tablespoon of oil. Place in the garlic roaster and cook on high for 2 minutes. Alternatively, place the oiled garlic in a microwave-safe dish and add 2 tablespoons of water. Cover with cling film or a plate and cook on high for 2 minutes or until soft. When cool enough to handle, squeeze out all the cloves and chop or mash them. Set aside.
In a blender or food processor, combine the chickpea flour, water, vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt, and rosemary. Blend until it forms a smooth batter.
In a large bowl combine the fried potatoes, caramelized onions, roasted garlic and chickpea flour batter and stir well. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a medium-sized pan over medium heat and add the omelet batter. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes until the bottom browns. Uncover and place a large plate over your pan. Quickly flip over the pan onto the plate. Slide the omelet back into the pan to cook on the second side, covered, for a further 5 minutes until brown. Finally, slide the omelet out of the pan onto a plate and serve.

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*Note: If your wondering what a clay garlic roaster is, here's a picture.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

Edelweiss says
November 25, 2015 at 6:46 pm
Thank you for this recipe ! I miss my time in Spain and I love chickpea so I decided to do your recipe tonight ! I'll let you know 🙂
Reply
M says
January 28, 2016 at 1:30 pm
Hi! Great recipe 🙂 I wonder if using black salt would give it more of the "egg" taste in the end. I love to use it in my tofu scramble!
Reply
- Melissa says
  January 28, 2016 at 2:43 pm
  See Also
  Rain calls for roasted vegetable quiche Better-Than-Restaurant Falafel (Vegan & Gluten-Free)Easy Vitamix Tomato Soup (the BEST tomato soup!) | From Scratch Fast Puff Pastry Mincemeat Swirls
  Yes, I think it would give it a more egg-y taste. I haven't managed to find black salt in my city yet, but if you try it, let me know how it is.
  Reply
Dayna says
February 09, 2016 at 4:31 am
Oohh my gosh, I made this today for the first time and was a hit. My son loved it! Thank you.
Reply
- Melissa says
  February 09, 2016 at 8:55 am
  Great! I'm happy you enjoyed it, thanks!
  Reply
Melissa says
March 13, 2016 at 11:01 am
So what's the proper way for North Americans to live in Spain? And does that include Mexicans? Thanks for visiting!
Reply
- Marina says
  March 22, 2016 at 12:00 am
  why would that include Mexicans, it is a different country
  Reply
  - Melissa says
    April 09, 2016 at 6:01 pm
    Folks, I can't make this stuff up!
    Reply
    - Val says
      February 19, 2020 at 3:54 pm
      It seems appropriate for someone to call you out on your very negative blanket statement about Spaniards. It's unfortunate that you apparently had a bad experience with your neighbors but to say all citizens of a country are loud and annoying is absurd. Would that be okay if someone said it about Americans after a bad experience? about you?
      Reply
      - Melissa says
        February 20, 2020 at 11:06 am
        I'm not American, you f*ckwit. Not everyone that speaks English is American, genius. Get your head out of your ass, America isn't the centre of the world.
Melissa says
April 09, 2016 at 5:55 pm
Thank you for commenting! All comments are great for search engine optimization and help me rank higher in Google meaning that more people will find my recipes! As a fellow blogger, Cristina @ La Vie en White (& anglophile!), I imagine that you already understand about SEO.
p.s. Your blog is amazeballs!
Reply
hank riley says
March 04, 2017 at 1:10 pm
I like this recipe but you just made hashbrowns. not an omelet. In cuisine, an omelet is a dish made from beaten eggs quickly fried with butter or oil in a frying pan (without stirring as in scrambled egg). so you used potatoes. you can call it a potato bake, a skillet, or hashbrowns. but please stop calling something it is not.
Reply
- Melissa says
  March 04, 2017 at 3:11 pm
  See Also
  Christmas Cheese Log
  From Wikipedia: "Spanish omelette is the English name for a traditional dish from Spanish cuisine called tortilla española or tortilla de patatas. It is an omelette made with eggs and potatoes, sometimes also with onion and/or chives or garlic; fried in oil and often served cold as an appetizer. It is part of the cuisine of Spain and many South American countries, especially in the zone of Rio de la Plata". Google it.
  Reply
Gillian says
July 11, 2017 at 10:48 pm
GIRL! You do you! I was so stoked that I found your recipe!
I lived in Spain for 6 months and absolutely LOVED their cuisine and culture, especially the late night tortillas :')
I am currently living with my vegan sister, so I've been slowly accumulating her food preferences. I became so sad when I realized I wouldn't be able to make my tortillas!!! :O But, low and behold, a vegan tortilla!!!! My life is complete 🙂
Thank you so much, and cannot wait to try this out tonight!
Love from a 'North American'
Reply
- Melissa says
  July 12, 2017 at 10:16 am
  Thanks so much, hope you like the recipe!
  Reply
- Sandra says
  January 16, 2020 at 2:57 pm
  It is obvious he doesn’t know much about vegan cuisine.
  Reply
Jayme Graha says
August 25, 2017 at 7:35 pm
I just came across your recipe via facebook and all I can say is THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS!!! I only discovered the Spanish omelette a few years ago (before turning vegan) and fell in love with it. This is one dish I really missed being vegan - I cannot wait to make this!
Reply
Kris says
March 03, 2018 at 2:53 am
I don't understand people who look for vegan tortilla and then mention eggs. Of course a real tortilla is made off eggs but hey guess what ? Rhis is a vegan version and it can be easily called tortilla. Sometimes people amaze me with their inappropriate comments. Anyway lets get back to the recipe. Thank you Melissa. It is delicious and it will be my new perfect "vegan tortilla" meal . I love it and you made my day. You rock! Thanks ❤
Reply
Beth V says
March 19, 2018 at 5:37 pm
I am always amazed how rude people can be no matter where they hail from!! You handle this very well. I happen to think your recipe looks great! I am going to try it out for dinner tonight. Thanks for taking the time to create and post.
Reply
Pongodhall says
March 31, 2018 at 12:52 pm
I don't care if you call it Fred.
It's a great recipe for good food, so thank you
Reply
Linda McKenzie says
October 03, 2018 at 6:21 pm
45 grams of potato? I'm assuming this is a typo and that you intended 450 grams?
Reply
- Melissa says
  October 15, 2018 at 8:10 am
  OOPSIE!!!
  Reply
Tine says
October 21, 2018 at 4:33 pm
This got great reviews for flavor at Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie watch party, but I think your pan must be much smaller than my 10 inch cast iron! My "tortilla" was all of 1/2 of an inch thick, lol.
Reply
Sandra says
January 04, 2019 at 12:33 am
This recipe is amazing, I had tried many different recipes of tortilla española, but this is the best one Thank you so much
Reply
Kasia says
July 20, 2019 at 3:37 pm
Hi! How many servings does this recipe make?
Reply
- Melissa says
  July 22, 2019 at 3:11 pm
  It will give you about 4 servings.
  Reply
Sarah says
November 18, 2019 at 3:43 am
Wow, this was soooo good, only thing I changed was to add kale, lil more salt. I gotta say I was worried as I’ve never used chick pea flour that perhaps that it all you would taste. But no, this was spot on. Served with a tad bit of vegan mayo and smoked chipotle oil on side. Thank you!!!!!
Reply
Monique says
December 09, 2019 at 6:25 pm
This was such a great recipe, it turned out delicious. It was pretty easy too, thank you!
Reply
Nicole Bacha says
January 21, 2020 at 1:56 pm
This recipe is delicious! Ignore all the constipated trolls. Thank you for this cruelty free Vegan Spanish Omelete. love xo
Reply
Becca says
September 22, 2020 at 9:31 am
I'll first say that the finished product turned out OK, but the act of making it was a bit disastrous. It's my first time working with chickpea flour so I was quite clueless about that. I ended up having to add more than 50% water to the chickpea mix to get it to a consistency that wasn't like sand. And the cooking process did not go well at all. I had to stick mine in the oven for 20 min or so. That being said, although mine didn't look anything like the picture, the taste was OK. I'd have loved a video to go along with this recipe. Thanks for an interesting experiment in vegan cooking though! 🙂
Reply
Tan says
January 28, 2021 at 9:38 am
IT WAS SCRUMPITOUS
Reply

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Vegan Spanish Omelet with Caramelized Onion, Roasted Garlic and Rosemary (2024)

Ingredients

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