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. :)
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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 have to thank you so much. I am going through my fifth day of bulimia recovery after a bad relapse. I decided that this recovery I wanted to focus on a plant based diet. I tried these tonight with my husband and we couldn’t believe how amazing they are!! Your website is helping me so much!
xo Amanda
Made these 4 days ago for a weekend away with 4 adults and 5 kids, they went down an absolute treat, everyone loved them… like really truely LURVED them. 5 year old boys do not lie about food, other things yes, but not food :-)
Used egg instead of flax
beetroot leaves instead of parsley
doubled recipe across all ingredients
didn’t toast nuts
will be doing this again and freezing for a weekly ‘hamburger’ night.
thanks heaps
Love your blog xx
Of all the veggie burger recipes I’ve tried, my meat-eating husband likes yours the best. Thanks!
As for the middle-mushiness factor of many veggie burger recipes, I tend to bake homemade veggie burgers, but then turn off the oven after they’re done baking, to sort of let them “dry out.” I keep them in there until the oven is almost cool. The texture tends to be more meat-like this way and does away with the mushiness on all but the fattest pattiest. Not that this recipe needs this extra step, however. It’s great as soon as it’s done cooking. Thanks for a great recipe!
Hello! Do you think you can make these with borlotti beans (cranberry beans) instead? That’s all I have at the moment. :)
I read food blogs all the time, but this is only the second recipe I’ve ever commented on because these burgers are SO DELICIOUS. I’ve made them twice now, and both times my non-vegetarian guests loved them. My only deviations from the recipe were to swap white beans for black beans (black beans are hard to find in Belgium) and use less chili powder since the chili powder here in Belgium is basically cayenne pepper.
I love these burgers. It’s a fabulous recipe. This is definitely my go-to burger and it’s fun to play off of it with some slight variations. I use coconut aminos instead of the tamari, and I actually prefer not to precook the onions and garlic. I like the flavour when it just cooks a bit with the rest of the burger. It’s also delicious with roasted sweet potato in place of the carrots. Thanks for all the great recipes.
Could I subs the beans for anything non-leguminous?
Pretty knew to being vegan. Absolutely love your cook book. I haven’t found the answer to: how do I substitute nuts in a recipe? My wife is anaphylactic allergic to all nuts tree or otherwise. I can use seeds but no nuts. As you might imagine it is difficult to make many recipes without nuts. I am a rabid ingredient reader which helps. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Hey guys–love this burger! If you are wanting the nutritional breakdown of the patty, here are the numbers for ya! I used caloriecount.com to find out all the numbers.
Per patty:
Calories: 272 cal.
Fat: 15 g.
Carbs: 25 g.
Protein: 10.89 g.
Enjoy!
I love your book every recipe I have tried has been a winner. Today I tried the veggie burgers and my family loves them. Thanks so much for the great recipes.
Hi
I asked a vegan friend to suggest a “good” veggie burger. I tried Our Perfect Veggie Burger recipe today. You are certainly correct about the comments you made in your blog. Delicious and the right firmness…..and it’s not crumbly. I fried mine. Perfect.
Thanks for the awesome recipe.
I would love to read know the nutritional facts. Could you please either email them to me or provide a link?
Take care
I am now scouring you facebook and pinterest for more yummy recipes. Next to try will be walnut lentil wraps.
Cool
Beverley
The recipe calls for processing the oats but the photos of the burgers have whole oats in them. Did you add additional oats?
Thank you <3 <3's I'll certanily try this one .I'll be using the Sedona Dehydrator instead if Baking or frying And Sprouted Sunflowers. DO MAKE SURE everything is ORGANIC.
Hi! These look amazing! I’m going to make them! I’m just curious what ‘oats processed into flour’ is…?? Just add some flour to the oats? Sorry and thank you!?
Hi Mackenzie, great question! To process the oats into flour, just measure them out, then pop them into your food processor and pulse until they reach a powdery, flour-like consistency. I hope this helps, and that you enjoy the burgers!
I love that this was inspired by Whitewater cooks! I’m reading this going whitewater? I could REALLY go for their glory wrap right now. That is awesome :) I just bought your book at Chako Mika Mall in Nelson :)
Thanks Ashley! I hope you enjoy the book. :)
I’ve just made these from the book (revised version, I would guess–no almonds suggested in ingredients). I have to avoid sunflower seeds, so I substituted 1/4 cup walnuts and 1/4 cup sesame seeds (both toasted). I was careful to measure out everything (so tempting just to guesstimate–4 heirloom carrots were actually about 1/4 cup more than the recipe called for, so measuring is key!). I had to use white kidney beans, as I was out of black beans–went a little easier on the chili powder and cumin because I’d like to see if the 5 year old will eat it. I also used Panko for my bread crumbs, as that’s what I’ve got to hand. The ingredients combined together beautifully–as moist as I’d like or expect it to be. No crumbling whatsoever. They actually looked like real turkey burgers as I was getting ready to pop them in the oven! The verdict? I think the taste and texture are excellent. Moist, yet crunchy and very “meaty” in the mouth feel. I can’t believe that I just made the best veggie burger I’ve ever had. Thanks, Angela!
Hi Elizabeth, so so happy to hear you loved the burgers! Thanks for sharing your substitutions – it’s always so interesting and inspirational to hear how recipes have been adapted. :)
Just made these tonight and they were awesome! Pretty much made them exactly as written with the exception of adding more onions and parsley, just cause I wanted to use up what I had. Didn’t blend up the oats cause they were a small flake anyway. Also added smoked paprika cause I add it to just about everything! They held together perfectly. My meat and potato loving son said they were the best ones yet! Yay! Thank you for all the time and energy you put into these recipes! <3
Hi Tonnae, so happy to hear you and your family enjoyed the recipe! And thank YOU for leaving such a great comment. :)
Oh my goodness! These burgers are fantastic. We all loved them , even the die hard carnivores. Thank you.
I’m glad the recipe was a hit, Nora! It’s definitely one of my personal favs, so it’s always great to hear when others have enjoyed it. :)
Hi! Last time I made these I’m pretty sure they had almonds. Did you change the recipe? Thanks!
-Elissa
Ditto! I LOVED these last time and noticed the almonds were gone. I’m sure they will still be delicious, but it’s driving me nuts to know where they went. Pun intended :)
I’ve tried several veggie burger recipes and some turned out terrible and others were good, but not good enough for the work thats put into them. I decided to give this recipe a try and Wow! i was really impressed. I love these veggie burgers. I plan to make some more today. thank you so much :)
I’m so glad the recipe was a hit, Misha!