For the past several months, I’ve been on a quest to make a veggie burger that had everything on our wish list. I’ve probably made over 100 veggie burgers and they all came up short, either by just a tiny bit or by a landslide.
I’m always asked what I do with failed recipes and my answer is usually the same- I eat them! An imperfect veggie burger crumbled over a salad is quite tasty. Same goes for a doughy muffin crumbled over a bowl of Vegan Overnight Oats. Unless something I make is really gross, I eat it.
However, I am picky about three things:
1) The recipes that I post on the blog
2) Homemade Veggie burgers
3) Tying my running shoes before a run (I always stop once to re-tie them, lol)
Now you know. :)
Eric and I put together a ‘must-have’ list of requirements during our mission. Veggie burgers are serious business around here and we have quite a checklist. ;)
Our veggie burger must haves:
- Can’t be mushy in the middle (the problem I have the most)
- Crispy outer shell
- Lots of flavour from fresh herbs & spices
- No tofu (not a fan)
- Crunchy, chewy texture is a must
- No cracking or falling apart (another common problem)
- Must cook well 3 ways: frying pan, oven, and BBQ
- Could make a grown man shed a tear of joy (ok, that was my requirement, heh)
If one of those elements is missing, the recipe is as dead to me as the burgers flippin’ on the McDonald’s grill!
After writing about my most recent Lemon Rosemary burger fail (that drove me to make PB Crunch Blizzards), I received an email from a lovely reader named Jenny who must have known that I was one failed veggie burger short of being buckled into a straitjacket.
Jenny writes, “After reading your post today, which has me day-dreaming about cookie dough blizzards by the way, I wanted to share with you the best veggie burger recipe our family has come across (even my meat-lovin’ husband requests them from time to time!). The recipe is from the Whitewater ski area in Nelson, BC and hasn’t failed us yet. It isn’t vegan but I’m sure you can work your magic to make it so.”
Isn’t Jenny great?
After reading Jenny’s email, I flew into the kitchen so fast my processor spun. I figured there was a 0.0002% chance they would work, so I was quite hopeful.
As luck would have it, magic did happen in my kitchen that fateful evening as Eric patiently awaited the outcome, fearing he’d be served yet another bowl of cereal.
He wasn’t. :)
Featuring all new, protein-packed salads, hearty toppers, flavour boosters, and dressings you'll want to drink, my new cookbook will transform the way you think about salads. Oh, and be sure to flip to the back for a surprise dessert chapter!
Our Perfect Veggie Burger
Yield
8 burgers
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Crunchy, chewy, with a crispy outer shell, these delicious veggie burgers have all the right elements we love in a veggie burger. Light on the beans, these burgers aren’t mushy in the middle, but have a nice mixture of veggies, bread crumbs, chopped oats, sunflower seeds, and spices to round them out. This recipe is inspired by Whitewater Cooks.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons ground flax
- 1/3 cup (80 mL) warm water
- 1 (14-ounce/398 mL) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
- 3/4 cup finely chopped red onion or yellow onion
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup grated carrots
- 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
- 1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 mL) tamari, to taste
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 cup rolled oats, processed into a coarse meal*
- 1/2 cup spelt bread crumbs (or bread crumbs of choice)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons oat flour (or flour of choice), as needed
- 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk the ground flax and water in a small bowl and set aside for about 5 minutes so it can thicken.
- Into a large mixing bowl, add the drained black beans. With a potato masher, mash the beans until 2/3 of the mixture is a bean "paste" while leaving about 1/3 of the beans mostly intact.
- In a medium skillet, add the oil and increase the heat to medium. Stir in the onion, garlic, and a pinch of salt. Sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, until the onion softens. Transfer the onion mixture into the bowl with the mashed beans.
- Stir in the flax egg, grated carrots, parsley (or cilantro), sunflower seeds, tamari, chili powder, oregano, and cumin until thoroughly combined.
- Now, stir in the coarsely chopped oats, bread crumbs, and oat flour until the mixture comes together. It should be easy to shape the dough into patties. Stir in the salt and pepper, to taste.
- Shape the dough into 8 patties (roughly 1/3 cup of dough per patty). Pack the dough together tightly as this will help it stick together. Place onto the baking sheet.
- Bake patties for 15 minutes, gently flip, and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes until patties are firm and golden.
- Cool the patties on a cooling rack for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. This helps them firm up a bit.
- Serve in a bun or lettuce wrap with your desired toppings. Leftover burgers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days, or you can freeze cooled patties for up to 1 month. Simply wrap each patty in tinfoil and then place all of the wrapped burgers into a zip freezer bag.
Tip:
- * To coarsely chop the oats, add 1/2 cup rolled oats into a food processor. Process the oats until a coarse meal forms (the chopped pieces will be a mixture of powder and chopped oats just smaller than rice). Be sure not to process too long or the oats will turn into flour.
- Make it gluten-free: Use certified gluten-free oats, gluten-free Tamari, and gluten-free breadcrumbs.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
This veggie burger ‘dough’ is so good to eat straight from the bowl! Another thing I learned during my mission: if the ‘dough’ doesn’t wow you, the burgers won’t either. Don’t be afraid to adjust the seasonings to taste.
For my first trial, I didn’t process the oats into a flour and they didn’t hold together very well when frying. For my second trial, I used oat flour instead of whole oats and they held together very well!
Before baking in the oven:
I love my silpat, but you can also use parchment paper.
After baking for 20 mins. on each side…crispy and golden!
Our preferred method of cooking is on the skillet, fried in a bit of oil. The burgers get this crispy shell similar to a hash brown! We already have plans to fry the ‘dough’ in a skillet for breakfast.
We also tried them on the BBQ, which also worked well. Pre-cook them in the oven for about 15 minutes first to firm them up a bit.
Then I raided the garden…
On the side, kale chips and ketchup.
On the burgers, we had homemade BBQ sauce, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes. The second night, we had guacamole and pico de gallo on top- incredible!
I hope you love ‘em too!
I think this comment from Dawn says it all:
“Throw out any of your other veggie burger recipes! Seriously. This. Is. The. One! No weird ingredients. I’m no gourmet foodie, I’m just plain jane and have regular things in my pantry and fridge and I had all of these ingredients. I added about 1 Tbsp chopped jalapeno (from a jar of sliced jalapenos). Love the sunflower seeds!! Do not over chop the black beans. I recommend mixing by hand in a bowl. I used my kitchen aid and they were too mush-i-fied. Even with my mess ups, these were very, very good. I immediately ate one from pan fried. The others I baked and will freeze. Then I will give them a try on the barbecue. Truly. I am going to remove other recipes from my Pinterest, and toss the others from my recipe box.
Thank you for making the Perfect Veggie Burger recipe!”
I don’t think you can make a bad recipe. Every one I try is a winner. These are really good, and I think I might have even worked the dough a little too much. Next time, I’ll mash the beans by hand instead of in the processor. But they were still just delicious. Cannot wait for the next cookbook!
Hi Angela!
Let just say that I absolutely loooove your blog. I’m a soon to be nutritionist (3rd year at my bachelor degree), and I live in Puerto Rico :)! I’m doing this recipe for a class and i wanna know how many ounces does every patty weigh?
Thank you!
I made these last night and wound up dumping the batch. In my haste, I missed the part in the book where it said to saute the garlic and onions first, which you definitely want to do! I probably won’t try these again, but I will say to those who do, go light on the parsley! It’s powerful stuff! And also make sure to mash most of the black beans, and saute saute saute the onion and garlic first so you don’t wind up with a raw onion parsley burger like I did! My bad! I cannot, however, wait to try the chickpea salad sandwich, the glo bars, and much more from the book!
I made these last weekend and they turned out great! I used three eggs instead of flax eggs and whole wheat flour instead of oat flour, baked them for 15 min on each side, and froze them. I’ve reheated them in the toaster oven and they’re perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
What are the instructions for freezing if you want to grill them at a later date? Cook 15 minutes or fully? Then do you defrost before grilling? Thanks! We love them!
Just made these and they are delicious. Food processor made quick work of chopping the ingredients, most of which I already had on hand. Love how healthy these are, great texture and flavor. They remind me a bit of homemade falafel. Will try topping with hummus and sliced cucumbers. I also love that they can easily be made GF (I used Udi’s flax bread for bread crumbs, GF tamari and GF oats). Perfect for stocking my freezer before my baby arrives (I was looking for dairy and soy-free freezer recipes, as I was unable to eat both of those while nursing my first daughter). I pan fried them in a tiny bit of oil, cooled them at room temp and wrapped each in plastic wrap before putting them all in a freezer bag. Thanks for the great recipe!
I used to make a Sweet Potato and Black Bean burger from your site but the link to the recipe now leads me here, any chance I could get the Sweet Potato recipe? I LOVED that one!
Fantastic! Made these tonight for mother’s day and everyone loved them!
These were amazing!
Just made these. They are super tasty, and while they stayed together fairly well, there was some cracking and breaking. Not sure why. I used real eggs, and used two . I might use more next time? I was also not super precise in my measurements and maybe threw in more onion/nuts and thus it was a little out of proportion? Definitely will be making them again, so will have the opportunity to tweak!
Just wanted to follow up on the eating experience. They did smoosh and come out the bun. I’m not really convinced you can make a veggie bugger that doesn’t do that, at least a little.
But I loved the taste. So did my boyfriend, who definitely did not grow up eating this kind of food (aka vegetarian and flavour profiles from countries other than Italy!). I’ve been eating the leftovers for lunch, but instead of as a burger, I crumbled up the patty and ate it as a burrito. Super tasty with homemade flour tortillas, some avocado mixed with lime juice and cilantro, and chopped little tomatoes.
I love this recipe! It’s so great that it’s made with staples that I tend to have handy anyway! The only issue I had was that as I’m not fond of sunflower seeds, I found them very overpowering. I’ve since subbed corn for the sunflower seeds and added a touch of smoked paprika! Their now like delicious south west veggie burgers!
My husband is always up for trying new things and eating healthier, but he was hesitant when I told him that I was making veggie burgers for dinner. Of all the veggie burgers we’ve tried (both recipes and restaurants), none really impressed us. Many were edible. Some were decent. But this one… This one… is AMAZING!
My husband said it best “Best veggie burger ever. No, scratch that. Best burger ever!”
My 2 year old said it second best when he didn’t say anything at all and just scarfed down everything on his plate :)
OMG, so thankful for your tips and recipe for the kale chips, just finished making them and they are PERRRRFECT!!! Appreciate all your trial and errors so that mine could be so wonderful, love your site, may everything be returned to you in a thousand awesome ways!
I love these! Added extra garlic and some cumin and smoked paprika. A hit!! Tried pam and grill and worked great both ways!
HI – Made these yesterday and they taste great. However, they tended to break up and crumble a bit in the frying pan and they really soaked up the olive oil. I had to continually add olive oil to the frying pan. Maybe I didn’t add enough moisture somewhere? I followed the recipe in the blog to the T. What is the secret to ensuring there’s enough moisture or, conversely, how do you tell while forming the patties that there isn’t enough moisture and they’ll crumble in the pan? Should I have added more water? more oil? more something?
Thanks!
I need a substitute for the brown rice, and for Bread crumbs
I need a substitute for the brown rice, and for the bread crumbs..
I keep getting the Comment page back.. pls reply on my email.. thank you
I will be making these for toddlers , can u leave out the nuts nd seeds?
Hi Angela, I just made these last night and they were SOOO yum!!! I served on lettuce “buns” with homemade guac and caramelized onions and they really hit the spot for the perfect first-day-of-summer BBQ! Thanks!