Make the Best Vege Burgers in the World
Easy and simple
It’s a whole lot easier to find vege burgers out there. They are everywhere in fact: on the menu at your favorite restaurant, fast food, and in the grocery store available in both fresh and frozen varieties. There are endless varieties too. You can go with a spicy southwest kind or choose a spinach and cauliflower power packed punch of goodness. There are vegan burgers if you want to be completely dairy free. If you read the labels on these burgers, they are not necessarily low in fat or calories. In fact, the vege burger sold at Burger King is now called the “Impossible Whopper” which is a plant-based, protein filled patty introduced last year. But this plant-based giant doesn’t fit well in the health food category because of the number of calories and saturated fat it contains. It’s actually not better for you than the meat-based burger.
The Impossible Whopper is 600 calories. If you get it with fries and a soda, you top out at 1000 calories.
If you aren’t counting calories and saturated fat is not an issue for you, then this “vege burger” may be worth it. But beware, if you get it straight off the menu it’s been cooked on the grill with all it’s meat buddies and topped with mayo (in case you were thinking it was vegan).
After trying a lot of vege burgers out there, including the Impossible Whopper, I decided I could do better. I wanted a truly healthy option. You know, on those days when you want your “salad” to be a hot version instead of cold? So, I looked online for vege burger recipes and of course I found quite a few. But mine never turned out like the pictures I was seeing online. My vege burgers would not stick together very well, so they were “Impossible” (pun intended) to eat on a bun.
I experimented with egg, mayo, quinoa, barley, bread crumbs, olive oil, crushed peanuts, crushed tortilla chips (ok, a less healthier option, but I got desperate). I tried freezing the mixture for a day to see if that helped them to stay together. Some of these techniques worked BETTER than others, but nothing was working great. Then I found a really cool cookbook called Vegan Burgers and Burritos: Easy and Delicious Whole Food Recipes for the Everyday Cook written by Sophia DeSantis. Sophia and her family have moved to a plant based diet, so out of necessity she needed to create some recipes that her children would love including being satisfying, healthy, delicious, affordable, and easy to make. This is a great cookbook, and a bonus that it has tons of pictures. I highly recommend it. You can also read more on her plant-based food blog called Veggies Don’t Bite.
So, I made a few of her recipes and was lucky enough to discover the foundational principles behind making a vege burger that is healthy and sticks together. A couple of things I was doing wrong before: adding too much oil, and frying them in an iron skillet.
The Secret to Great Vege Burgers Every Time…
- Keep it simple. Choose the vegetables you want to use: cooked or uncooked. I’ve used both.
- Use good spice. Mix it up, don’t be afraid to get spicy, because the veges you use can handle it.
- Use oatmeal. I use the extra thick rolled oats whole grain from Bob’s Red Mill. I don’t use bread crumbs, or flour, or eggs, or tortilla chips. All you need is oatmeal. It binds your ingredients and gives you the sticking power you need.
4. You have to BAKE them. Once you form a patty, place on parchment paper on a baking pan. Then bake at 375 degrees (convection) for about 15 minutes, then flip them over and bake another 15 minutes. Depending on your ingredients, you may need to bake for a total of 40 minutes (20 minutes each side). They are done when they are golden brown, and easy to pick up.
5. You don’t need any eggs, or oil, or mayo in your recipe. You can literally create a fantastic vege burger that is just that: VEGETABLES, along with oatmeal. You can add some oil for flavor if you want, but I would recommend a small amount.
6. After you make these, you can keep in the fridge or freeze a few patties for later. They freeze well.
Here is a recipe I used to create the vege burger pictured above. This was what I had for breakfast, served on a sprouted wheat English muffin and topped with about a teaspoon of chipotle mayo. A little spicy for breakfast, but that’s how I like it.
Vege All-Star
2 c. Cooked vegetables (I used the leftover steamed vegetables from last night’s dinner of cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and onions)
1/2 c. Pico De Gallo
1/2 c Chopped red pepper
2 c raw spinach
2 TBSP chipotle Mayo
Seasoning: Black Pepper, Wicked Spice, Salt, chili powder
2 c extra thick rolled oats (Bob’s Red Mill)
1) Put cooked vegetables in food processor, and pulse. You want it to be chunky.
2) Add spinach, red pepper and pulse it into the mix. Make sure all the spinach is chopped up.
3) Add Pico, Mayo and spice.
4) Add the oats, pulse some more.
The mixture should be sticky. And you should be able to scoop it up and form a patty that you can place on parchment paper on a baking tray. You may need to add more oatmeal if your mixture is not holding together.
Bake at 375 convection oven for 15–20 minutes each side. Total baking time will be 30–40 minutes.
Cool on a baking rack. Again, you can store in the fridge or freeze a few patties for later.
Who doesn’t like to eat their veges as a burger? Enjoy.
