Your Go-To Homemade Vegan Burgers
Burgers. Undeniably a classic. Once a rarity, there are now so many vegan burger options on the market! There’s something for everyone: quinoa, black bean, nut-based, beef imitations, and on and on.
We are so thankful that these items are readily available in grocery stores, but do you know how easy they can be to make at home? There are a million different styles of vegan burgers out there making it hard to know where to start. We made this burger to be a loveable staple in any household! We mean it. It’s a real crowd-pleaser and holds up next to its non-vegan competition.
Yes, this patty is “meaty.” The dough is pink and it browns while you cook, giving you a fully satisfying cooking experience. Based on our experience, this patty leaves both meat lovers and the meat-averse happy and full. No shade here (we love many of the store-bought products on the market), but we’re here to prove that a delicious vegan burger doesn’t have to be rocket science—it doesn't have to be impossible… Look at the ingredients list! It’s all recognizable and easy to source food making it easy for any home cook to whip up.
Each ingredient plays an important role. Sautéed mushrooms for an earthy flavor. Chickpeas, oats, and walnuts combine to make a protein-rich binder and create that “meaty” texture. Beets double down on the earthy, rich flavors of the mushrooms…. They also make the dough pink, creating the appearance of ground meat, which is fun for freaking out your friends.
We hope you enjoy these burgers as much as we do! They’ve become an absolute staple in our house. Mars has eaten these for lunch more days in a row than we’re going to disclose here. They are SO easy to cook ahead of time and reheat to eat at your pleasure making them perfect for weekly meal prep. They are a surprisingly easy way to impress your friends. We’re all about making people ohh and ahh with minimal effort.
There are endless ways to prepare and serve these! Our go-to is a classic burger: Lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion on a classic bun with ketchup and mustard. Here are some ideas for different burgers to try:
BBQ Burger: Glaze the fully cooked patty with BBQ sauce in a pan. Serve on a toasted potato bun with yellow mustard, coleslaw, and sautéed onions.
Hawaiian Burger: Glaze the fully-cooked patty with Teriyaki sauce in a pan. Serve on a toasted sesame bun with mayo, lettuce, seared pineapple rings, and sliced sweet onion.
Southwest Burger: Melt vegan cheese of choice on the patty. Serve on a toasted bun with chipotle mayo, shredded lettuce, sliced red onion, and green chiles or roasted poblano pepper.
Diner-Style Patty Melt: Melt vegan cheese of choice on the patty. Serve on toasted rye bread with sautéed onions and thousand-island dressing.
East Coast Slider-Style: Make patties 2-2.5oz. Serve on warm slider buns with grilled onions and kosher dill chips. Ketchup optional.
Tips & Tricks
“Help! I don’t have a food processor!” First of all: Calm down, it’s going to be okay. We can get through this. Do you have a blender? If so: Blend all the ingredients except oats in there. Then add the weird smoothie you just made to the oats in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Add a few minutes to the rest time. There will be a more noticeable oat texture present in the final patties, but you won’t suffer for it.
Patties of all shapes and sizes... You get to decide how big to make your patties! Since you’re forming them yourself, this recipe is highly adaptable to different preferences or applications.
This recipe makes approximately 1¾ lbs of burgers. “Classic-burger-sized” ends up being ~4.5oz, giving you about 6 patties. Sliders weigh in between 2.5 and 3oz, so this recipe makes 10. Love a square burger to fill out sliced rye for a patty melt? Want to form it into balls for making smash burgers with grilled onions? Go for it!
Don’t go too thick. Mushy middles can happen if you form very thick patties. Try to shoot for 1-1½” thickness for even cooking. (We’re fans of mushy middles, just not on burgers.)
Rest that dough! It allows the oats in the dough to hydrate a bit. This makes the dough firmer, easier to work with, and gives it the correct texture once it’s cooked. If you skip this step, you’ll end up with softer burgers than the recipe intends.
We use a 12” cast-iron skillet to cook the patties. Since it fits 3 standard patties, that means there are only 2 rounds of cooking for a full recipe! Any large skillet will do, and if you have a griddle you’re in luck.
Nut free? Ditch walnuts and use pepitas or sunflower seeds instead.
These burgers reheat well! Save them for a few days and reheat by returning to a hot pan with a bit of oil and a sprinkle of water.
Can I make the dough ahead of time? We’ve tested this out to 2 days and here’s what we’ve found: It works alright, but the dough is more crumbly and hard to work with after resting that long and being refrigerated. If you choose to do this, try to pull your dough out so it can come up to room temp about an hour prior to forming patties.
Homemade Vegan Burgers
Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | March 7th, 2020
Time: ~1hr total (25-35 minutes of active cooking & 20-30 minutes resting the dough)
Makes: 1¾ lb worth ~6 standard burgers or 10 sliders
Equipment:
Ingredients:
Dry:
Liquid:
Instructions:
1) Preheat a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add mushrooms with 2 tbsp of oil and a pinch of salt. Cook until browned and reduced in size, about 5-8 mins. In the meantime, measure all other ingredients except for oats into your food processor, beginning with liquids to aid blending.2) Once the mushrooms are done cooking, add them to the food processor and process until smooth. Scrape down sides as necessary. Add the oats and pulse until thoroughly combined. Transfer to a mixing bowl or other vessel, cover, and let rest for 20-30 minutes. This is a great chance to tidy the kitchen and prep burger toppings! This step is important for the dough firming up—If you skip it you can end up with mushy burgers.
3) Form patties to your desired size (see tips for… you know, tips). Heat a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add enough oil to coat the pan lightly. Cook each patty for about 5 minutes per side until it is firmed and well-browned. If the pan starts smoking, it’s too hot! Serve however you like your burger!