Makes 4 big burgers
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes || Active time: 30 minutes
You know the song, two all-beet patties, special sauce, lettuce, “cheeze”…har har.
Well, everyone loves burgers and this is a fine, upstanding, burger-citizen made with some of my favorite ingredients. Brown rice, lentils and beets! They all combine to form the perfect storm of vegan burgerness.
It’s not that they taste exactly like hamburgers or anything, but they do taste exactly like awesome veggie burgers. Rice provides awesome texture, to give you a substantial bite. Lentils are my go-to ground meat so they were a natural addition. And beets are the veggie burger hotness right now! I’ve tried beet burgers at many a restaurant, and I’ve been itching to come up with my own recipe. They give the burger an intense (vaguely disturbing) meat-like appearance, but they also add a lot of flavor, earthy and slightly sweet. Just something that takes your VB to the next level.
I like to make these burgers BIG. Ya’ know, dinner sized. In reading the Wikipedia about the history of the Quarter Pounder (or Royale With Cheese, for you Pulp Fiction fans), the inventor of the burger says he “felt there was a void in our menu vis-à-vis the adult who wanted a higher ratio of beet to bun.” OK, he said meat not beet, but whatever. And I have to agree. There’s a certain satisfaction to eating your way around the burger before digging in to a full-on bun bite.
To make these more fast-foody, top with shredded lettuce, sliced dill pickles, finely diced onion and ketchup. I would add a layer of avocado instead of a vegan cheese, but that’s just me. They really don’t even need it.
One very important part of this recipe is the cooking method. You want to get the burger charred. Not burnt, but charred, which really just means, uh, burnt only in some places. The best way to achieve this is with a very hot cast iron pan. Other pans may react different to high heat, and may not give you that perfect char. So if you’re not using a cast iron pan, the next best thing would be to transfer them to a baking pan after cooking, brush with oil and stick them under the broiler for a few minutes.
Recipe notes: If you’d like to make these gluten-free, just use gluten-free breadcrumbs – ground up gluten-free pretzels would be ideal. And if you’d like to bake them instead, do so at 375 F, 8 to 10 minutes each side, then stick under the broiler to brown them. If you’d like to use a different nut butter, I would recommend cashew or sunbutter. I think PB will be too strong, but who knows? I use a food processor to make these happen quickly, so you’ll have to do some finagling if you don’t have one. And one last tip: I keep a package of frozen brown rice handy at all times. It’s perfect for occasions like this when you just need a little bit for an ingredient.
And don’t forget the fries! Garlic Curry Fries are perfect with these. OK, it’s burgertime!
1 1/4 cups cooked, cooled brown rice (see recipe notes above)
1 cup cooked brown or green lentils, cooled, drained well
1 cup shredded beets
1/2 teaspoon salt
Fresh black pepper
1 teaspoon thyme, rubbed between your fingers
1/2 teaspoon ground fennel (or finely crushed fennel seed)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons very finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons smooth almond butter
1/2 cup very fine breadcrumbs
Olive oil for the pan
Peel beets and shred with the shredder attachment of your food processor, then set aside. Change the attachment to a metal blade. Pulse the brown rice, shredded beets and lentils about 15 to 20 times, until the mixture comes together, but still has texture. It should look a lot like ground meat:
Now transfer to a mixing bowl and add all the remaining ingredients. Use your hands to mix very well. Everything should be well incorporated, so get in there and take your time, it could take a minute or two.
Place the mixture in the fridge for a half hour to chill.
Preheat a cast iron pan over medium-high. Now form the patties. Each patty will be a heaping 1/2 cup of mixture. To get perfectly shaped patties, use a 3 1/2 inch cookie cutter or ring mold (I have pics of how to do it here.) Otherwise, just shape them into burgers with your hands.
Pour a very thin layer of oil into the pan and cook patties for about 12 minutes, flipping occasionally. Do two at a time if you’re pan isn’t big enough. Drizzle in a little more oil or use a bottle of organic cooking spray as needed. Burgers should be charred at the edges and heated through.
Serve immediately. But they taste pretty great heated up as well, so if you want to cook them in advance, refrigerate, then gently heat in the pan later on, then that is cool, too.
it looks nasty Mrs. Mary Lubrano said it does too
It’s unbelievably delicious
So freaking good!!!
Would you swap out out flour, chick pea flour for bread crumbs and get a good consistency, flavor..etc or something else to remove gluten etc?
Would you swap out out flour, chick pea flour for bread crumbs and get a good consistency, flavor..etc or something else to remove gluten etc?
Hi Isa, I love these burgers and have made them several times over the years. Earlier this week I made the recipe as 16 petite burgers and I think I overcooked them because they came out a bit dry when compared to the larger burgers. Do you think I should I cut the cooking time in half?
yum! can you freeze them?
I have frozen these so many times over the years. Cook all the burgers, place the extras on an oiled sheet pan and freeze. Once frozen, pop the patties into freezer bags. When ready to eat, warm in a pan on stovetop with a little oil.
LOVE THESE! I just made them! They’re my first homemade veggie burgers and I honestly don’t think I’ll even try another recipe. They’re that good! I grilled them on the BBQ and it worked really well. (Our BBQ slats are a little wider than the basic wire type.) I brushed some olive oil on them before putting them on the grill so they wouldn’t stick. They held together better than I expected. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
(I made 6 patties too.)
OH! I forgot to mention… I added 1/2 tsp liquid smoke for added flavor and an extra tbsp nut-butter for BBQ hold-together power. Worked great!
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Thank you so much. They look great but I have a couple of problems.
1. We can hardly ever get beets here. Can you think of a substitute please?
2. We don’t have almond butter in Britain – again, can you suggest a substitute please?
With many thanks.
Sarah.
Any nut butter or toasted sesame seeds.
Instead of beet you could try grated zucchini and potatoe but make sure you squeeze all the liquid out
Thank you so much. They look great but I have a couple of problems.
1. We can hardly ever get beets here. Can you think of a substitute please?
2. We don’t have almond butter in Britain – again, can you suggest a substitute please?
With many thanks.
Sarah.
looks good
Yay! Do these freeze/defrost well?
Has anyone tried freezing these? I am looking for plant based freezer meals. Thanks!
TTHANNKSS MATE?!!!!!!!!!!!
These are my favorite veggie burgers. I made them tonight, with a couple changes I hadn’t previously tried. First, I used bulgur instead of brown rice. I was already making bulgur, so I figured I’d try it I the burgers. I’ll definitely use bulgur again. Also, I received chioggia beets in my CSA share this week. Chioggia beets are a lovely swirl of white and red yumminess. As a result, my burgers were not “beet red” but they still had the beet taste.
The only thing that would make these burgers better, would be to figure out an oil-free cooking method that does not sick. I try different burger recipes, but I keep coming back to these. YUM!
A friend who lives in Omaha pointed me to your web site as I’ve started vegan eating in 2016. He raves about everything you make and now I know why. I made these beet burgers tonight and they are absolutely delicious!! I actually made two batches since I was doing all the work anyway. Will freeze half of them … if i don’t devour them in the next few days. Thank you for sharing your recipes. I’m a huge fan now and can’t wait to try another of your recipes very soon I’m sure.
Are these grill-able?
Oh man. These rocked. Your recipes never let me down.
I’ve tried making a lot of veggie burgers and this has become my go-to one! Love it. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
hmm…. need to make one tomorrow 🙂
I have no idea who Mrs. Mary Lubrano is but my guess is she’s no authority on food. This burger is fantastic. My meat eating girlfriend just ate one topped with ketchup and without a bun. Said it was great. I like them with wasabi mayo. Thanks for sharing
I’ve made these so many times because they are THE BEST healthy homemade burgers I have ever eaten. They are my definite go-to, especially before a trip and I want to bring something on the plane cuz they travel well. I make big batches because they also freeze really well. Last time I didn’t have a beet so I shredded a carrot and used some beet powder and they were still great. Truly one of my favorite recipes that’s easy, healthy and tastes amazing.