Serves 6
Active time: 20 minutes || Total time: 45 minutes
I like veggie burgers. Well, duh, don’t all vegans like veggie burgers? What I mean is, I like veggie burgers that are veggie burgers. I’m not looking for a burger to mimic meat. I love the idea that we can take almost any flavor profile and fashion it into a delectable burger. In this case, lentils, olive and mushroom, with a few pinches of herbs.
This burger is baked not fried (but hey, go ahead and fry it if you like, about 10 to 12 minutes.) I’m kind of particular about my veggie burger shape – I really like for it to be neat, with perfectly round, smooth sides. A veggie burger that looks like it’s on America’s Next Top Veggie Burger. To get that shape, just pat your veggie burger into a 3 inch cookie cutter like so:
Don’t worry about finger prints in the burgers, they will flatten out when you flip them.
These would be great served as you would any burger – ketchup, pickles, onions and what not. But it would also be pretty good done up with Italian inspired fixins, like roasted red pepper and pesto. Maybe a little pesto mixed into some vegan mayo? Let your imagination run wild.
If you want to make a double batch and freeze them, cook first, then stack with squares of parchment paper to keep them separated. Freeze in ziplock bags.
One last thing, I use canned lentils here. You can use french or green lentils that you cook yourself, but you’ll need to play with consistency a bit, most likely adding a little bit more breadcrumbs to get them firm enough. Don’t use red lentils, they are too mushy.
Olive oil (from 1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons, your choice)
1 small yellow onion, diced medium
1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
Fresh black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives (really, use any pitted olive you like)
1 15 oz can cooked lentils, rinsed and drained (1 1/4 cups)
1 cup breadcrumbs, divided
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Preheat a large, heavy bottomed pan non-stick (preferably cast iron) over medium high heat. Saute onion for about 3 minutes with a pinch of salt. Add mushroom, garlic, black pepper, thyme and tarragon and saute for 7 to 10 minutes, until mushroom is cooked.
While mushroom is cooking, place olives in food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped (not pureed.) Remove from food processor and set aside. (No need to clean it out for the next step.)
When mushrooms have cooked, add mushroom mixture to the food processor. Add all other ingredients except for 1/2 a cup of the breadcrumbs. (Did you hear me? Reserve 1/2 cup of the breadcrumbs, this will give them better texture.) Pulse until mostly smooth, but there should still be a little texture. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining 1/2 cup breadcrumbs to the burger mixture, along with the chopped olives, and thoroughly combine.
Divide burger mix into 6 equal pieces. An easy way to do this is divide it in half, then cut each half into 3 basically equal portions. You can do that right in the bowl if it’s large enough.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Form mixture into patties, spray with a little more cooking spray and bake for 15 minutes. Flip burgers and bake for 12 to 15 more minutes, until nicely browned.
They taste great served immediately but they’re also excellent at room temperature so don’t be afraid to stuff into a sandwich and take as a lunch.
OMG. I must try these.
That is my New Year’s Eve dinner sorted yum!!
What could an olive hater sub? I really cannot get over the fact that olives taste & smell like dirty feet… Any ideas?
Not really a sub, but a roasted red pepper would taste great, I think. Add some salt, though. 1/4 teaspoon? And you must have tasted some delicious dirty feet in your time if you think they taste like olives!
Momo, i don’t like olives either.how about walnuts and red bell pepper?
Now I *must* get a burger cutter/shaper/thingy
These look amazing! Breadcrumbs: homemade or storebought or does it matter?
can’t wait to try them!
The olive/ lentil combo sounds so yummy, but I seriously don’t like mushrooms. (I know that I am probably the only vegan in the world who hates mushrooms.) I’m going to be a pain and ask if there is anything that I can use instead of the mushrooms.
How about zucchini? Eggplant doesn’t sound bad either.
Jessy – you are the second vegan in the world who hates mushrooms. I have always considered it something of a birth defect in myself… Maybe some diced up eggplant instead?
Where do you find canned lentils?
If not olives – how about sundried tomato? Then again, I bet sundried tomato AND olives would be amazing!
That’s a great idea!
This recipe looks wonderful but of more importance… Is amazon deceiving me? Are you and Terry really releasing another cookbook next year?
A dessert cookbook of some kind, to complete our trilogy! Then I’m gonna take a break.
Wow, those look tasty. I’ve been trying to coax my family into trying some veggie stuff. This sounds like something they would love! Thanks PPK!
They look tasty! 🙂
Yum yum yum! Great to know that there are fellow veggie-veggie burger vegan friends out there. Fake meat is wierd, lentils are the bestest 🙂
Mmmmm! I so love French lentils with mushrooms! I’m making these today! Thanks Isa! Laura, you can cut out the bottom of a kitty food can and use that if you have an obligate carnivore in residence.
Thanks for responding to your readers, first of all. Next, made these already and whoosh…gone (served at a small party last night); need I say more? Finally, you are such a good writer of creative non-fiction (eg your cookbooks, blog writing , etc), how about short stories involving the lives and carryings-on of a vegan person/s? There could be a niche market for this thus far non-existent genre. Just an idea for the new year.
Thank, Gina! I’m actually considering something that isn’t exactly a cookbook and your idea is not that far off.
Oh yeah! Those look great. Pesto and roasted red peppers.. I think I would die of happiness.
Hi, just wondering what I could substitute for breadcrumbs…. I’m avoiding wheat etc… it makes life difficult when you need to bind ingredients.. is there any type of flour (don’t use gluten free mixes, is seems so processed) that wouldn’t overwhelm the taste and texture… great book by the way!! Thanks
I like to use gluten free pretzels as bread crumbs. Just whiz em into crumbs in the food processor.
I do believe I’ll be making these. According to my calculations, pre-oil spray for baking, these are about 180 calories each. Not bad!
http://paste.pocoo.org/show/312811/
yum. I am going to make these today!
thank you for continuing to post recipes…i’ve made so many of your things lately (including stuff from ‘vegan w/a vengeance’) that i feel like i should be sending you a thank you card or something : )
Holy cremini, I didn’t even see this and just made something similar using the vcon chickpea cutlet as inspiration. http://www.vegandance.blogspot.com I’ll totally try these veggie burgers. Great tip with the molds. They look fantastic!
I made these last night. Love ’em! Thanks for the recipe Isa. …and you’re right about the red lentils. Mushy is an understatement. Oops. As for canned lentils… no such thing in my neck of the woods, unless you are ok with canned lentil soup. So, my husband cooked up a small batch of regular brown lentils, nothing fancy with a bay leaf, pinch of salt and a clove of garlic (I think). I use a wide-mouth mason jar as my cookie cutter. The patties came out smaller than your average, but it’s funner to snack on them…
Thanks for the recipe. I didn’t have mushrooms (!!!), so I used about a cup of leftover rice. They turned out great and I will try them again with mushrooms.
Thank you for all the work you do. I have used my Veganomican book to the point that some pages are on the verge of needing replacements. Keep up the work!
@Laura in Taos, I used a canning ring from a wide mouth jar. Worked great! These were a little bland to me when I put them on a bun. I’ll spice them up and bit next time and give them another try.
Oh wow! These sounds yummy! I’m not huge on mushrooms, but I’d still love to try these just the way they are. I like the recipe because it seems like it would be very versatile.
I also am going to add that I totally agree with you I like to have a veggie burger that isn’t made to be like meat!
use a hot banana,chili sauce instead of tomato sauce
YUM! I made these last weekend (with portobellos and boil-your-own-beans: got to work with what I got). Just ate another of the batch for my lunch at work and it was so good I had to thank you. If anything the texture improved from hanging out in the fridge for a few days. I wish I had more . . I only made a batch of 5 instead of 6 because I am a little piggy!
Y’know, putting aside the amazing things you’ve managed to do with food, there are some really nicely shot pictures on this site. I love taking a picture or two before we sit down to eat at home. It’s always satisfying to make the non-vegans in our lives jealous. We have the Veganomicon at home and it’s been super-useful, especially when my boyfriend and I first got started vegan cooking. But I gotta say, love this site for the pictures. I want to make everything! Starting with these burgers….
Thank you so much! I love taking the pictures but really don’t like the technical part of photography.
When you say a half-pound of mushrooms, is that half-pound with the stems on, at the store, or half-pound with the stems off, in the kitchen?
It’s a half pound at the store…however, I use the stems in this recipe. I only slice of a tiny nub if it seems particularly woodsy.
THANK YOU i really feel like this is a recipe i will use for the rest of my life!!! please please please come to england and make dumb british people more accepting to vegans, which they might be if they got to know you and your awesome food!
I’m also a vegan who doesn’t like mushrooms! Mushrooms taste like dirt to me. I hate the texture of portobello mushrooms. Thanks for this veggie burger recipe that doesn’t mimic meat…. thank you and thank you!
I just made this an loved it! Perfect veggie burger recipe: no falling apart and very versatile!
I made these yesterday and they are the best ever! I just wish I’d doubled the recipe since they will be gone in no time. Thank you!
I went with frying them and eating them with selfmade naan bread like a kebap/ burger hybrid. Extremely tasty. I cooked the lentils and used canned mushrooms. The olives add plenty of taste to the burgers. Great!
ok i just made these burgers but i also added parsley and i substituted the lemon with some vinegar and the olives with carrots! yummy! (tip: when boiling the lentils i added some orange zest, vitmain c helps absorb the iron and also gives a great taste!)
yay! i love it when people have vegan recipes for things that dont involve fake meat. I dont like meat, why would i want fake meat?
I’m cooking them up right now, and they look and smell so delicious. The best thing about these vegan burgers is that you can munch on the patty mixture before it goes in the oven! yummy!
I made the burgers three times already and I love them! Last time, I cooked half lentils, half quinoa (I added the quinoa after 20 minutes of cooking the lentils and cooked them together for another 20 minutes) and really enjoyed it.
It never came to my mind to bake burgers. Great suggestion!
I just got two of your books, they are wonderful. A big thank you from Germany.
Pesto is seconded.
Although adding pepper is nice too, I might even go daring and add something even sweeter…chopped dried apricot. Don’t knock it ’til ya try it.
I’m living in Beijing sans oven, so baking’s not an option. Perchance I’ll try these stove-top though!
Thanks,
Joanna
Oh wow! All my favourite things rolled up at pattied. I’m so making these tomorrow. Think my mushroom hating husband will be able to detect my treachery?
This has become one of my new favorite recipes! Thank you for sharing it with the masses.