My Best Veggie Burger Recipe

Vegetarian based burgers are tricky if the ratios aren’t right because they can easily fall apart when you’re flipping them. I have tried many versions and made many batches trying to get the texture right. This recipe has worked several times for me and doesn’t crumble!

My Best Veggie Burger Recipe

Ingredients

Veggie Burger

• 1 Tbs coconut oil
• 1 medium onion, small dice
• 1 medium celery stick, small dice
• 1 small carrot, grated (I use a cheese grater)
• 1 can black eyed peas (or chick peas)
• 1 can beans in tomato sauce
• 1 can black beans
• 1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1 Tbs pickled jalapeños, minced
• ½ cup organic cornmeal
• 1 Tbs organic cornstarch
• 1 egg
• S&P + any other spices

Instructions

• Sautée the onion, celery and carrot in the coconut oil until soft, approximately 2-3 minutes.
• While sautéing the vegetables (or after if you aren’t a multi-tasker) the beans need to be mashed. I use my food processor, but you could just mash with a potato masher because they don’t need to be totally smooth.
• Mix the sautéed veggies, and mashed beans together in a large bowl. Incorporate the bread crumbs, jalapeños, cornmeal and cornstarch thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper, and any other spice that you like (I use cumin often, or turmeric for an anti-inflammatory kick).
• Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Let stand in fridge for at least 30 minutes to let it settle and come together.
• I use the bottom 1 inch of a cottage cheese container (or yogurt, or feta cheese etc.) which I use to portion out and mold the burgers. Use a piece of cling wrap large enough to cover the whole burger, place over the mold and then scoop enough of the mix into the mold. Pat down and wrap the cling wrap around the burger, creating a air tight seal. Continue to do that for the remainder of the burger mix. When you are done, place them on some sort of tray that will fit into your freezer.

This recipe will yield 10-12 veggie burger patties.

I find cooking these from frozen is the easiest, but you could certainly get them straight to the pan after molding them. When it comes to cooking them, I preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and heat a pan (with a little oil) that can go into the oven after – I use a cast iron pan. Pull out the frozen patties and place in the pan. Let them brown on one side (2-5 mins depending on how hot your pan is), flip them and place them in the oven. Let them cook for about 30-40 mins until they are firm, but still moist. Serve on a whole wheat bun, with all your favourite fixings, OR for an even healthier version serve on lettuce and your favourite fixings instead.

This recipe is full of hearty vegetarian protein and lots of fibre, potassium, folate and vitamin B6. Combined with the low fat content this all leads to a much healthier heart then a regular beef or pork burger. Additionally, what you add as fixings can greatly impact the overall health of this dish – try different combinations of pickled or fermented vegetables for good gut bacteria or different fresh greens or sprouts for added vitamins. Dried, soaked and cooked beans could also work but I personally have not perfected the texture in veggie burger form, so try at your own risk.

Try it out and let me know what you think!