My Quest for the Perfect Veggie Burger (update)

I've been making veggie burgers and while they have been tastey, they've been really dry.

Last night I made some more, but this time thanks to a few suggestions given to me here, I did a few things differently, and they turned out great!

I added 2 tsp of olive oil to the mixture, and 6 or 7 tablespoons of tomato sauce. And instead of baking them on an open cookie sheet, I put them in a glass dish and covered it with foil until they were cooked, and then removed the foil and baked them for about 15 minutes until a nice thin crust formed.

They are moist inside and crispy outside.

Full recipe:

1 large can of black beans
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion
1 large carrot
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 or 3 egg whites (I used the real egg whites from a container)
approx 6 tablespoons tomato sauce

Finely chop the onion and carrot in a food processor. Move to a large bowl
Puree black beans with olive oil, tomato sauce and spices.

Combine veggies, bean mixture, eggs and bread crumbs. Mix well. Add more tomato sauce if the mixture is too dry, or more bread crumbs if it's too moist.

Form into patties. Place on a nonstick tray (spray bottom with pam). Cover completely with foil. Bake about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove foil and bake 10 to 15 minutes until a light crust forms. Don't over do it because they will get dry.

You can add whatever veggie and spices that you want. Those were just my choices.

Ohhh...I shall have to try!

Me and both of my sisters are vegetarian,but we just buy the pre-cooked veggie burgers! Sandra (sis) often adds olive oil to them while cooking and just yesterday she bought a veggie cookbook,saying she wanted to try new things.I am gonna copy this recipe (if thats okay) and give it to her...homemade burgers are the best!

You can actually buy vegetarian burgers from BocaBurger, as I'm sure you know. In addition, Loma Linda Foods makes a variety of vegetarian meat substitutes, and you can make your own fairly convincing vegeburgers out of wheat gluten.

Yeah,we used to get Boca burgers...but they no longer sell them around here.
There are other brands though which are good.

But I like homemade ones!

I just got a new cookbook; Mark Bittman's "How to cook everything vegetarian" (big book, with a green cover; the yellow one was just his previous monster cookbook edited down to just be the vegetarian recipes; from what I've heard it's not worth anyone's time, even at the used book store). I'm in love. I'm so much in love that this is the first time in my life that I have to watch the quantity of good food I'm eating, instead of just watching the quality of the food.

I haven't liked all of the recipies, but he has a section of veggie burgers. One of the vegetable burger recipes I tried didn't stay together well enough, but I've made a different burger something like three times already. It's his "Fast Nut Burger" and I like that it's fast!

1 med onion
1 cup walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, or other nuts, preferably raw
1 cup (raw) rolled oats or cook short-gran white or brown rice
2 T ketchup, miso, tomato paste, nut butter, or tahini
1t chili powder or any spice mix you like, orto taste
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 egg
2 T peanut oil, extra virgin olive oil, or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn

See why I like these recipes? It almost doesn't matter what you've got in your pantry, as long as you've got something, you can make these recipes. It makes me happy, but you all have probably already figured that out.

proccess onion. Add nuts and oats and pulse, but don't make them too small. Add ketchup spice mix, salt, pepper, and egg. Process again (but it if you overprocess it will be tough)

Form into patties. Heat oil in pan (I finally bought a large cast-iron pan, and it works like a charm; big enough to fry the whole recipe at once and a joy to use), and fry. cook for 5 minutes, more or less undisturbed, turn & lower heat. Cook about 3-4 minutes more, or until firm.

Above I've used some of Bitmann's words, some of my own. I left out "Add a little liquid-- water, stock, soy sauce, wine, whatever is handy-- if necessary; you want a mixture that is moist but not loose." But I obviously couldn't bear to leave those words out; aren't they hilarious?

I'm not a very creative person, but this cookbook has really allowed me to cook as if I am.

Originally Posted by mrblanche

You can actually buy vegetarian burgers from BocaBurger, as I'm sure you know. In addition, Loma Linda Foods makes a variety of vegetarian meat substitutes, and you can make your own fairly convincing vegeburgers out of wheat gluten.

Click to expand...

I LOVE Boca Burgers, My brother in law was a manager at a Resturaunt that closed around here recently & so we got a ton of nice plates & we took a HUGE box of Boca Burgers that are individually wrapped. I love them & the kids love them.. my husband... not so much

That recipe sounds great. I'll have to give it a shot

I'm certainly going to try out these suggestions! I haven't had a lot of time to experiment with cooking recently, so I'm happy to see this thread.

I've never seen Boca burgers. Have to keep an eye out for them.

Thanks for that! I'll have to try those!

Originally Posted by mrblanche

You can actually buy vegetarian burgers

Click to expand...

Homemade is so much better than bought because you can control what goes into it. Also homemade ones cost less.

For the price of a can of beans, 1 carrot, and a little oil and spices I ended up with 9 veggie burgers. Probably cost me less than $3.00 total.

Amy,s has them now. i tried them last night and they werent to bad.

I found a recipe for veggie burgers on Everyday Food. You can get the recipe on Martha Stewart's site. They were made with bulger wheat and pinto beans and a few other veggies and they turned out pretty tasty. They had a tahini mayo that was pretty good too. I think they needed a little more "zing" though, so next time I'll add some worchestershire sauce to them.

I like the Boca Burgers. Hubby isn't into the non-meat burgers, so I wouldn't be able to get him to cook vegan burgers like that. Besides, it'd just go to waste, because I can only eat one and I'm not that good with leftovers.
But I get Boca burgers, and Turkey hot dogs and I'm good to go. Just don't feed me pork or beef because it grosses me out. But give me a good salad or pasta over any meat, and I'm all over it!

That sounds yummy Linda! I think i might try that one the next time my vegetarian friend comes over for dinner!

I just made veggie burgers last night!

1 can of black beans
1 green bell pepper
3 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
1 egg or egg substitute
1/2 or 1 cup bread crumbs (as necessary)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon hot sauce

mash up your beans til they're thick and pasty, throw the pepper, onions, and garlic in a food processor and mix them with the beans; mix the egg, hot sauce, and seasonings in a bowl then mix them into the beans; add breadcrumbs until the whole mess sticks together, make patties, throw them on a baking sheet and bake them at 375 for 10-15 minutes per side. DELICIOUS.

i'll try your recipe next time... sounds yummy.

This thread is making me want some veggie burgers for supper!