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Home Vegetarian Recipes

Veggie Burgers

By:Nagi
Published:19 Apr '18Updated:22 May '20
273 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

This is a Veggie Burger recipe created by a carnivore, for carnivores. It is not a vegetarian burger pretending to be a meat burger, packed with obscure ingredients. This is just a flavour packed, juicy veggie patties that’s satisfyingly meaty with great texture!

A veggie burger with melted cheese, avocado, beetroot, tomato and lettuce on a soft golden bun.

Veggie Burger

A vegetarian burger will never taste like a beef burger. So forget trying to fake meat. Just make a tasty, meat free burger!

My idea of a perfect Veggie Burger is one that has less beans* and more veggies, a golden crust on the outside, moist on the inside but not soggy ( <– notorious problem with veggie burgers), with a nice meaty texture.

It only contains “normal” ingredients and most importantly, it has to be ultra tasty. I’m not willing to compromise on deliciousness just because this is meat free. It has to be just as tasty in its own right!!!

The BEST veggie burger gets a flavour boost from mushrooms and parmesan. It has a meaty texture and a golden crust!

* Most Veggie Burgers are quite high in beans, presumably because it’s the easy solution. But beans tend to have a dense mushy texture, rather than a meaty texture, and they make the flavour of the veggie pattie excessively “beany” which is not what I wanted.

Close up of veggie burgers in a black skillet.

The secret to a killer veggie burger Veggie Burger….

Bake the beans and vegetables to dry them out slightly. This serves three purposes:

  • removing excess water to eliminate the soggy patty issue
  • improving the burger texture
  • intensifying flavour.

For the vegetables, I use mushrooms and carrots.

  • Mushrooms add great savoury flavour and add to the “meatiness” of the patty;
  • Carrots – I use carrots because it’s a low water content veg plus I like that it adds little bits of colour to the burger.

As for the beans, I use cannellini beans mainly for colour purposes. Other beans will work just fine – I’ve made this with red kidney beans, black beans, butter beans and chickpeas.

When you pull them out of the oven, they will look thoroughly unappetising. Wrinkled and dry. And that’s exactly what you want!!!

Baked Beans and Carrots for Veggie Burgers

Baked Mushrooms for Veggie Burgers

↑↑↑ Always amazes me how much mushrooms shrink. 🙂

Veggie burgers are healthier than beef burgers because they’re loaded with more nutrition and have far less fat.

4 STAGE BLITZ

I think you’ve already got the gist that texture is key with Veggie Burgers. Biting into a glorious towering burger only to find the patty is so soft it oozes out the sides and has the texture of baby food is truly one of the saddest food experiences you’ll ever have.

So here’s my (other) rule for a killer Veggie Burger – a 4 Stage Blitz. It’s key to control texture.

Blitz 1: 

The cashews. Trust me, you need them. They add soft bits of texture into the Veggie Burger Mixture. Can’t separately identify it in the end result, but when you bite into it, you’ll notice if they’re absent. Blitz these first until they are chunky breadcrumbs.

Blitzing cashews in a food processor for Veggie Burgers

Blitz 2:

Add the wrinkly dried out beans, carrots and mushrooms. Blitz again until they are crumbs. Don’t blitz into powder otherwise you lose texture – and remember, there’s still 2 blitzes to go!

Veggie Burger mixture preparation steps

Blitz 3:

Add the Flavourings. Parmesan, garlic, paprika, mayo (bit of fat + flavour), salt and pepper, plus egg to bind and some breadcrumbs to reduce some of the moisture content of the Veggie Burger mixture. Blitz again until it’s all well combined and it has a texture like meat mince (ground beef).

There’s room to move on the amount of blitzing in this step, as long as you can still see “bits” in the mixture. In the burger photo at the top of the post, I blitzed the mixture more than pictured in the step photo below so the side of the burger looks smoother.

Veggie Burger mixture preparation steps in food processor

Blitz 4:

Add brown rice and shallots / green onions, then blitz very quickly just to disperse. Don’t over blitz – if the rice gets mushed up, it turns gummy and gluey.

The brown rice adds more texture and oomph to the Veggie Burger. I tried it with and without, and it really makes a difference to make the Veggie Burger more “meaty”.

The shallots add freshness – you could sub this with chives or parsley, but don’t sub with onion or leek (they’re too watery).

Veggie Burger mixture preparation steps in food processor

The mixture should be wet enough so it holds together when you make patties, but it shouldn’t get stuck on your hands. If the mixture is too wet, add a touch of extra breadcrumbs and blitz quickly to disperse.

Not too thick, not too thin

I know, I know, you want gigantic, super thick Veggie Burgers. I’ve been there, and discovered the hard way that you can’t be greedy when it comes to Veggie Burgers.

Anything thicker than 2cm / 0.8″, and you’ll started experiencing soggy insides.

Any thinner than 1.3 cm, and it starts becoming more like crisp fritters.

So use this mixture to make between 4 to 6 patties that are about 10cm / 4″ rounds and no thicker than 1.8 cm / 0/7″ thick. Sensible size (6 patties), Standard (5 patties) or Mega (4 patties).

Thickness of Veggie Patties

Golden crust

With beef burgers, it’s all about cooking hard and fast, and ensuring the inside isn’t overcooked. With Veggie burgers, it’s the opposite – ensuring the heat is low enough so it cooks all the way through without burning the outside.

Also – no skimping on oil! You need it, to ensure you get a nice golden crust on the burgers. Veggie Burgers have very little fat compared to beef burgers. So you need it!

Veggie Burgers being cooked in a skillet

And here it is! Hopefully you can see from the photo that the inside looks firm but still moist, with plenty of texture. It’s by no means crunchy at all, all those “bits” you see give the patty meatiness so you feel like you’re biting into something substantial rather that something soft and wimpy.

Just like a meaty beef burger! 😂

Stack of Veggie Burgers with one patty cut open to show the inside

Worth the effort

There’s no denying it. Veggie Burgers take more effort than making beef burgers.

Is it worth it?

YES. No question about it.

It is actually really hard to buy a good veggie burger, at least here in my area. The ones at the supermarket are just offensive. And every time I’ve taken the plunge and chosen a veggie over a meat burger when I’m eating out, I’ve always been disappointed.

And it was one such disappointing experience that kicked me into action to make a killer homemade Veggie Burger.

It’s everything a burger should be – it’s satisfying, it’s juicy, it’s “meaty” and most importantly of all, it’s so darn tasty! – Nagi x


More really great recipes that just happen to be Vegetarian

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  • Browse Vegetarian recipes

Veggie Burger with rocket, lettuce and tomato on a golden brioche bun

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

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A veggie burger with melted cheese, avocado, beetroot, tomato and lettuce on a soft golden bun.

Veggie Burgers

Author: Nagi
Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 35 mins
Total: 30 mins
BBQ, Mains
Western
4.99 from 81 votes
Servings4 -6
Tap or hover to scale
Print
Recipe video above. A Veggie Burger created by a carnivore, for carnivores. It is not a vegetarian burger pretending to be a meat burger, packed with obscure ingredients. This is just a flavour packed, juicy vegetarian burger that's satisfyingly meaty! Chilling time: 1 hour

Ingredients

Beans and Veggies:

  • 250g/8oz mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 400g / 14 oz can cannellini beans, drained (Note 1)
  • 1 large carrot , grated

Patties:

  • 1/2 cup (70g) cashews, raw unsalted (Note 2)
  • 1/2 cup (55g) panko breadcrumbs (Note 3)
  • 1/2 cup (50g) grated parmesan
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 garlic clove , minced
  • 1/2 tsp each paprika, salt and pepper
  • 3/4 cup (150g) cooked brown rice (Note 4)
  • 3/4 cup green onions , sliced

Burger:

  • 2 - 3 tbsp olive oil (or other)
  • Soft buns, lettuce, tomato, cheese, pickles, sauces, avocado, beetroot

Instructions

Beans and Veggies:

  • Preheat oven to 180C/350F (standard) or 160C/320F (fan/convection).
  • Pile mushrooms on a baking tray. Drizzle over oil, toss, then spread on the tray.
  • Spread beans on another tray, sprinkle carrots all over.
  • Put beans on top shelf and mushrooms on the shelf underneath. 
  • Bake for 15 minutes or until surface of beans is dried out and splitting and they look thoroughly unappetising, and the carrots around the edge of the tray are a bit golden. (Note 5) Remove tray with beans from oven.
  • Move mushrooms to top shelf, bake for further 10 minutes until dried out and wrinkly. Remove from oven, cool.

Patties:

  • Place cashews in food processor. Blitz until they are breadcrumb size, don't blitz to powder.
  • Add beans, mushrooms and carrot. Blitz on high for 10 seconds or until chopped to large crumb size (see video and photos).
  • Add breadcrumbs, egg, parmesan, garlic, paprika, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Blitz for 15 - 30 seconds until it comes together like meat burger mixture but you can still see bits in it. (Note 6)
  • Add rice and shallots, blitz for 2 seconds until just dispersed (over blitzed rice = gluey).
  • Mixture should hold together well to form patties, but not stick to hands. If too wet, add breadcrumbs. If too crumbly, blitz more.
  • Shape into 4 - 6 patties, between 1.5 - 1.8cm / 0.6 - 0.7" thick and 10cm / 4" wide (Note 7). Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

To Cook - Stove:

  • Cook burgers cold, straight from the fridge. 
  • Heat 2 - 3 tbsp olive oil skillet on the stove over medium to medium-high heat. 
  • Add 3 - 4 patties and cook until deep golden and crispy, 4 minutes. Carefully flip then cook the other side for 4 minutes until golden, then transfer to paper towel lined plate to drain.

BBQ:

  • Cook cold, straight from fridge. Brush BBQ and Veggie patties with oil. Heat BBQ to medium high. Cook 4 minutes each side until a nice dark crust forms.

Assemble:

  • Toast buns, spread top bun with relish or sauce of choice. Top with your choice of burger fillings and the Veggie Burger, then more sauce if desired.

Recipe Notes:

1. Other beans work great with this recipe. I've tried red kidney beans, black beans, butter beans and chickpeas. The bean you choose will affect the colour and you may need to adjust the bake time - look for the same wrinkly dry, splitting skin. The chickpeas give it a slight Falafel-type flavour.
2. Roasted unsalted cashews are also ok. Other nut subs - the best is macadamia nuts, similar in texture to cashews. Almonds and walnuts are also great. For people with nut allergies, sunflower seeds is the best option I can think on.
3. Normal breadcrumbs will also work here. For a Gluten Free option, use crushed rice crackers.
4. Any other cooked rice can also be used, or other rice-like grains like quinoa, bulgur and buckwheat.
5. Don't let the carrots and beans get too golden because this will dry them out too much and you'll get crunchy bits in the burgers. Just a tiny tinge of golden is ok, but the main thing is to look for is dried splitting skin on the beans. See photos and video.
6. Chunkiness of mixture: There's flex here - you can make it smoother (see first photo in post where the side of the burger has less visible chunks in it) or leave it chunky (video and remaining photos in post). In fact, most of the photos in the post are from different batches and you can see some are far chunkier than others. They are all great, and work fine so don't stress here.
Just blitz enough so the mixture holds together easily when you form the patties, but don't blitz so it becomes a uniform single colour.
7. Don't make the burgers much thicker than 1.8cm / 0.7" thick otherwise the inside ends up too soft. You need the right ration of golden crust to meat insides!
8. Cheese option: Top the patties with cheese as soon as you flip, then cover loosely with a sheet of foil or lid until the cheese melts. Swiss cheese is especially delish (pictured in post)
9. Burger Sauces: Use your favourite, whether it be ketchup, mustard, relish, BBQ sauce or chutney. 
For a quick homemade one, the pink sauce pictured in the video is my Pink Burger Sauce, made as follows: Mix sour cream or yoghurt or mayo with finely chopped dill pickles and a dash of sriracha or other hot sauce, plus salt and pepper to taste.
10. STORAGE: Refrigerate raw up to 24 hours, cook cold straight from fridge. For freezing or storing longer in the fridge, cook the patties, cool then refrigerate or freeze. To reheat, thaw fully (in fridge or out on counter, don't microwave) then reheat in the pan or bake at 180C/350F for 10 minutes until crisp (don't microwave, it steams = soggy).
Reason: I found that storing raw burgers for longer than 24 hours made them a bit more moist than ideal on the inside, presumably because of the salt making the veggies sweat. This problem was most extreme with the frozen raw burgers.  48 hours in the fridge was marginally not as good as freshly made to 24 hours in the fridge (but I was being very fussy!). However, storing and reheating cooked burgers was absolutely fine, no loss of quality (both fridge and freezer).
11. I learned the technique of baking the veggies and beans from this Ultimate Veggie Burger from New York Times and have since seen it used by other cooking authorities including Serious Eats and Cooks Illustrated.
12. Nutrition per serving, veggie burger patty only because I cannot be held responsible for how much you cram into your burger!

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 170gCalories: 358cal (18%)
Keywords: Vegetarian burger, Veggie Burger
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @RecipeTinEats.

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273 Comments

  1. Harpreet says

    July 17, 2020 at 12:07 am

    Hi Nagi! Loveeee all your recipes. I am keen on trying this one too. I don’t have an oven right now, can I use grill to take the moisture out of the veggies and beans? If yes, on what heat setting: low, medium or high and for how long? Thank you 😊

    Reply
  2. Lyd says

    July 13, 2020 at 2:28 am

    5 stars
    These are delicious! I used pinto beans and omitted the paprika because I try to limit nightshades and the flavor was still great! Thank you for the very detailed, easy to follow recipe! I will be making these again!

    Reply
  3. sarah howe says

    July 12, 2020 at 4:51 am

    Amazing burgers. Didnt have any mayo so used chilli jam. Also added a cheese stuffed field mushroom on the top with spinach and sliced tomatoes 😋 👌

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      July 13, 2020 at 3:08 pm

      Oh I love this idea Sarah – I’ll have to try it! N x

      Reply
  4. Carly says

    July 10, 2020 at 12:32 pm

    We don’t eat mushrooms, any ideas on a sub we could try? Do you taste the mushroom or feel its texture in these?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      July 11, 2020 at 6:57 pm

      Hi Carly, you probably wouldn’t even notice the mushrooms if you were served these burgers – I haven’t tried with another sub though sorry! N x

      Reply
  5. Maryanna says

    July 9, 2020 at 4:02 pm

    Just wondering whether you use brioche for these or just normal buns??

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      July 10, 2020 at 8:21 am

      Hi Maryanna, either will work perfectly! N x

      Reply
  6. Kelly Brownbill says

    July 3, 2020 at 12:26 pm

    these were amazing burgers!!! recipe seemed daunting but was really rather fun. so pleased to be able to offer my vegetarian guests a tasty treat.

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      July 3, 2020 at 4:48 pm

      I’m so glad you gave it a go Kelly! N x

      Reply
  7. romi says

    June 28, 2020 at 1:27 pm

    Hi Nagi,
    wondering if these burgers can be frozen?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 29, 2020 at 7:25 pm

      Hi Romi, they sure can. Just freeze before cooking, I like to place them between layers of baking paper. N x

      Reply
  8. wendy says

    June 22, 2020 at 11:45 am

    5 stars
    Best veggie burgers I have ever had, bought or home made!

    Reply
  9. Gwenda says

    June 20, 2020 at 11:16 pm

    Made the veggie burgers, kick ass!! I added one small green chilli, could have added 3 only because I was sharing. Definitely recommend.,

    Reply
  10. Victoria says

    June 14, 2020 at 9:42 am

    5 stars
    Delicious! My meat eating husband and I loved them. Had to add extra panko as my mix was quite wet (did not dry mushrooms enough I think), but they held together perfectly even during cooking. Will make again!

    Reply
  11. Janette Clowes says

    May 15, 2020 at 9:11 am

    Hi Nagi, Can I substitue the egg in this recipe for something else?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      May 15, 2020 at 9:57 am

      I haven’t tried sorry Janette – I’m sure a flax or chia egg would work though. N x

      Reply
  12. Fazia says

    May 15, 2020 at 8:57 am

    Is there anything that I can substitute for the mushrooms?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      May 15, 2020 at 9:59 am

      I haven’t tried with any subs here sorry Fazia 🙂 N x

      Reply
  13. Melissa says

    May 9, 2020 at 11:28 am

    I really want to make these but is it shallots or scallions??? Or either one?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      May 11, 2020 at 12:13 pm

      Hi Melissa, they are the same thing – we call them shallots here 🙂 N x

      Reply
      • Kerri says

        May 22, 2020 at 6:34 am

        Shallots and scallions are not the same thing in the US. Scallions and green onions are the same thing.

        Reply
    • Kerri says

      May 22, 2020 at 6:37 am

      It looks like green onions (scallions) in the picture with the food processor.

      Reply
  14. Emma says

    May 8, 2020 at 7:03 pm

    5 stars
    Wow! My son who is a self confessed carnivore prefers these to regular meat burgers. The smell, all the way through from the raw mixture to the cooked product is divine. These are a family fav!!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      May 9, 2020 at 10:10 am

      Wahoo, that’s awesome to hear Emma! N x

      Reply
  15. Simone says

    April 23, 2020 at 4:06 pm

    I’ve made these many times, with different beans and often add a chilli. They’re amazing. Sensational. My favourite recipe as a vegetarian. Well done!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      April 23, 2020 at 7:42 pm

      Perfect Simone! N x

      Reply
  16. Thulasi says

    April 21, 2020 at 10:58 pm

    Hi Nagi, tried these tonight and they were so good! Only question though – I found when I pan fried them, they absorbed a LOT of oil. Any tips on how to minimise the level of oil absorption? Thanks!

    Reply
  17. Lynn says

    April 15, 2020 at 11:23 am

    5 stars
    I am making these tomorrow night… I quick question… Looks like the beans should not be rinsed, only drained?

    LOVE the details/notes!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      April 15, 2020 at 3:24 pm

      Hi Lynn, I usually just drain off the excess liquid – no need to rinse. N x

      Reply
  18. Dennis Toth says

    March 29, 2020 at 12:23 pm

    5 stars
    Hi Nagi
    I enjoyed your veggie burger and still experimenting with different flavors. Will keep you posted on anything I discover.
    Please give dozer a hug for me.
    Your friend from Canada
    Dennis

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      March 29, 2020 at 8:53 pm

      Great to hear Dennis!

      Reply
  19. Diana says

    March 28, 2020 at 1:16 am

    5 stars
    Mmmmm. Great flavour and texture! My family calls it the “wrinkly bean burger”! We all love it. Thanks for the notes, so helpful.

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      March 28, 2020 at 6:16 pm

      I LOVE this 😂 I’ll never look at veggie burgers the same again!

      Reply
  20. Jessica Flory says

    March 26, 2020 at 6:56 am

    5 stars
    We make a lot of veggie burgers around here (and meat burgers!) and these are the best of the best!! So so good.

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      March 26, 2020 at 7:49 am

      That’s great to hear Jessica!! N x

      Reply
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