Makes 6 burgers
Total time: 1 hour || Active time: 30 minutes
There are plenty of ideas out there for what to do with Thanksgiving leftovers, and those creations are some of my favorites in the world. But what if it’s the beginning of November and you don’t yet have any Thanksgiving leftovers? Well, how about I transport you to the day after Thanksgiving; except without all those dishes, without all the travel and without all of those classic “jokes” where your great-uncle twice removed tries to make you eat turkeys?
Enter the from-scratch Thanksgiving Burger. It’s an unholy carbfest: think stuffing that’s stuffed in a roll! Lentils provide that proteiny burgerness, mushrooms add that earthy umaminess and hazelnuts aren’t only deliciously festive here, but they add great texture, too. And of course, you’ve got to have cranberries. Here, they are dried and studded throughout the burger like ruby jewels, providing little bursts of tart sweetness. All of the stuffing stand-bys — your celery, sage and thyme — are accounted for, too. You’re basically eating a beautiful Bob Ross landscape of the prettiest autumn foliage you ever did see. But in burger form. And believe me, you will give thanks with every bite!
Notes
~Canned lentils work super great here. But if you don’t have any, make sure to account for the time it will take to boil some up.
~I used kale as my green, but it wasn’t completely untouched. I rubbed it with a little olive oil and salt. I think, though, that arugula (plain and unadultereated) would be a fantastic green to use instead.
~Mayo was my spread of choice for sure. I think ketchup would be too overpowering with these babies.
~I can see some food processors not doing the best job of chopping hazelnuts. If yours is such a machine, chop them by hand, using a clean kitchen towel over the cutting board and your chef’s knife. PS don’t bother peeling the hazelnuts. The skin doesn’t disturb anything here.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Small yellow onion, diced medium
2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
8 oz cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Fresh black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dry rubbed sage
4 cups baguette sliced into cubes
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup hazelnuts [see note above]
I cup cooked lentils (brown or green)
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup dried cranberries
To serve:
6 sourdough rolls
Kale [or your preferred greens, see note above]
Vegan mayo (storebought or homemade)
Directions
Preheat a large, heavy bottomed pan non-stick (preferably cast iron) over medium high heat. Saute onion in one tablespoon olive oil for about 3 minutes with a pinch of salt, until translucent. Add mushroom, celery, garlic, black pepper, thyme and sage and saute for 7 to 10 minutes, until mushrooms have released most of their moisture.
Add baguette cubes, and drizzle in the other tablespoon of oil. Toss bread to coat in the mixture and cook for 5 minutes or so, tossing often, to lightly brown the bread.
Add the vegetable broth and use your spatula to really mush the bread up in the broth, so that it absorbs all the liquid and resembles stuffing. Let it cook about 3 more minutes, to sop up all the flavor.
While everything is cooking in the pan, place hazelnuts in food processor and pulse until they are chopped (not pureed.) Pieces should range from itty bitty to pea sized. Transfer nuts to a large mixing bowl. (No need to clean it out for the next step.)
Add the lentils to the food processor and puree until relatively smooth. Now add the bread mixture from the pan into the processor and pulse 10 to 15 times. You want the mixture to hold together, but there should still be mushroom and celery visible, it shouldn’t be a puree.
Transfer this to the mixing bowl with the hazelnuts. Add in the cranberries and salt. The cranberries like to stick together so make sure you separate them. Combine thoroughly, using your hands if need be, to form a firm but still malleable mixture. Taste for salt and pepper.
Let the mixture cool completely. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or so, just to help it firm up and let the flavors meld a bit.
Rinse out your cast iron, and preheat on medium-high. Roll the burgers into 6 equal sized tennis balls. Wash your hands often and keep them a little damp during this process for that the burgers don’t stick to your hands. Flatten into 1 1/2 inch thick patties.
Cook in a thin layer of oil for about 4 minutes on each side. Serve on buns with greens and mayo. Die of happiness!
2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
You really have to stop this celery thing, it is the nastiest semi-edible plant in the world.
x
Haha, I became a convert in my old age!
Whoa. I might whip these up for myself on Thanksgiving to make all the turkey-eaters jealous!
Can you imagine these without the roll covered in mushroom gravy!!!
Can the mixture be left in the refrigerator for longer before shaping and frying, to accommodate typical Thanksgiving mayhem?
Yep!
I’m going to try this opened faced with mashed taters and mushroom gravy. The whole freaking dinner on a sammy. Why yes, please and thank you
You are a hero.
These look fantastic, can’t wait to make them. I am a celery convert too, didn’t like it as a child, but now I even juice it!
These look incredible and will be perfect for my family’s soup and sandwich themed Thanksgiving celebration! Any possible substitution for the mushrooms? Or do you think it’s possible my mushroom hating husband won’t even realize they are there?
Any idea for a nut substitution? Nut/ seed allergy sufferer…
The first thing that came to mind was edamame. But you could totally also leave out the nuts and be a-ok.
I’m so excited about this! Mere hours ago I got “Veganomicon” as an engagement gift. Life is good.
Since going vegan, I’ve been a tad Thanksgiving-averse, but what a GREAT recipe to make anyone love the holiday again! Can’t wait to make this, and I’m SO not waiting for the end of November!
Crazydeliciousness! All the savory goodness of T-day magically swirled into humble burgers…you are the vegan sorcerer’s apprentice! Cranberries kinda give me the willies when their cooked into things though so I might try olives or…capers? Chopped artichoke hearts?
These would be yumful next to a breakfast scramble too. Many thanks for the recipe! 🙂
I would try something sweet. Like raisins. Just give it a shot!
I am so super excited to make these!!! The hazelnuts and the dried cranberries really seal the deal!
I too am curious if there’s a recommendation for a mushroom substitute? I am a sad veggie mama who cannot tolerate mushrooms. :/
Seriously, Isa? This is one of the most amazing-looking recipes I’ve ever seen. You’re really interfering with my plans to only cook from “Isa Does It” for the next month.
OK imma delete this.
These look amazing! I’m not allergic to nuts but don’t want to use hazelnuts because I’ll buy them for this recipe and they won’t get used again until 2017. So is there another nut that would be a good sub?
Can you just buy exactly enough from the bulkbins? If not, then pecans or walnuts.
I have always wanted to eat a Bob Ross painting!
OMG! This LOOKS AMAZING!! I can’t wait to make this! Stuffing is hands down my favourite part of Thanksgiving!! 😀
Question – what would be your recommendation on baking time if I shaped this into a turkey meatloaf?
Hmm. I would worry it would dry out, so perhaps use tinfoil at first, bake at 350 F, and uncover after 20 minutes just to brown the outside a bit. Brush with oil, too.
This looks wonderful ! Thank you for sharing it
Oh yum!
This is sexy… I cant wait for it to be in my meowth
<3
Can anyone think of a way to make these patties gluten free??? I NEED to make these for Thanksgiving to take to my Mother in laws house because I need to have something to eat 🙂
I meaaaannnnnn….you’re favorite gluten-free bread?
Yeahhhhh so I ate like half the burger mixture before any made it into the pan. Delicious.
I want this… Reminds me of the Tofurkey-stuffing-cranberry-mashed potato-veganaise sandwiches I make after Thanksgiving. But it sounds less messy… Thanks!
This recipe has wonderful flavors! I made the recipe into a pilaf by substituting rice for the bread and not blending anything but the hazelnuts. It was great. Thanks Isa!
Thanks, Isa. I’ll surely die of happiness. Can’t even wait to ! Got one last package of Lentilles du Puy who crave to be at my side.
I haven’t found a gluten free bread that is vegan. They all have egg in them. 🙁
Whoa! I just found my Christmas meal! You are a genius!
Schär (not 100% sure of the spelling) makes a gluten free bread that is also egg free. Their dinner rolls would work nicely as “hamburger” buns, also gluten and egg free.
We have a Thanksgiving guest who can’t eat mushrooms; so I’m saving this for another occasion. Super Bowl comes to mind. Never to early to think up something for that occasion.
can you freeze those patties?
I used to spend hours on this website when my husband was deployed last fall. The last few months I’ve been busy and forgotten about it, but then I saw your new book and returned to see what had transpired on the blog… LOVE your videos, so inspiring. LOVE this recipe, will probably make them for my voyage to the deep south for my husband’s family thanksgiving (where people will attempt to feed me green beans cooked with bacon, because the meat isn’t visible so its obviously vegan). Your blog and website helped fill the lonely deployment months, and once again I am so grateful to find such a great community online with amazing, mouth watering recipes from someone so comfortable in their skin.
I ate this sans bun because it was too much with the bun. But OMG SO SO SO GOOD! Topped it off with an orange cranberry glaze and served with a side of chilli coconut sweet potatoes. MMMmm!!!
So great! I just bought veganomicon, two weeks after transitioning to a vegan household for our family of four, and it is a lifesaver. Thank you SO MUCH for all you’ve done to make vegan cooking accessible to more and more people. To know that I don’t need to give up baking, or figure it all out on my own, has made this transition a fun and exciting challenge rather than a depressing one. How can I feel deprived when you’re here showing me how much I CAN eat and leaving me no time to even think about the things I gave up? Who cares about cheese when they have your amazing recipes that taste so good and don’t ever make you feel sick after you eat them… because they’re plant based? I’m very grateful – thank you 🙂
I am so freaking excited to make this!!! OMG!! I, too, was only going to cook from Isa Does It, but I guess this really is still OK…..after all, it’s still Isa!!!! You are BRILLIANT!!!! And my own personal superhero!!!! OK, I’ll share…………..if i have to………..
I’m not sure why but I couldn’t keep the burgers from falling apart in a sticky break-y mess while i tried to cook them =( We ate them as kinda…a pile of brown mush. And it was a delicious pile of brown mush, if nothing else.
Do you think these could be grilled? I’m going camping on Thanksgiving.
We made a batch of these last night, and they were quite delicious – the flavor is even similar to Caadian Thanksgiving, so that’s reassuring. We fared better than another commenter, as ours stayed together in the pan, however, they were still quite mushy and as such doesn’t really qualify as a burger if you ask me. Is there some way to fix that, Isa? The only change we made was we used whole grain bread rather than baguettes, because the wife is all about whole grains only and our shops are limited here. Maybe if we toast the bread first? I also had a couple for lunch today and they were a little more mushy after the mixture sat in the fridge overnight, but I sorta expected that. Maybe baking the patties instead? I liked dry stuffing when I still ate it.
Made these tonight-fantastic! We happened to have some Hickory Farms Cranberry Mustard-it was perfect for these!
Thank you, Isa.
This was insanely good. Blogged about it today:
http://www.aluminarium.com/blog/lake-mead-sunrise/
Just made these yummy burgers for lunch and a pre-thanksgiving trial. You can bet I will be making them again! I loved the flavors!
Whassup with the comment here dissin’ celery??
So hood! Made these twice in the last week!
So good! Made these twice in the last week!
Are the four cups of baguettes a pushed down 4 cups, or a loose 4 cups?
Fantabulous! Made these and served with your mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes. Thanksgiving heaven! My carnivorous husband was stealing food off my plate! I froze the extras and have been defrosting as needed. Works great!
Thank you so much for this amazing looking recipe! I love healthy recipes and I will look forward to trying it out and sharing it with my followers at TianaGustafson.com. As Arnold says “I’ll be back” 🙂 Thanks again!
I made these for my dinner tonight, yum! I’ve never made stuffing before and I’m still not crazy about celery and sage but these burgers were great. But I’m still wearing a sad face cos Isa isn’t coming to Australia for a book tour stopover. We have ANZAC biscuits down here!
I had never even thought of transforming a roast into a finger food, but it looks and sounds delicious! My brother, however, HATES mushrooms; he will refuse to eat anything that has even a single mushroom in it. What may I use instead, or may I leave it out? Walnuts? Seitan?
My gosh this looks SO amazing! I always make lentils for the holidays, I’ll have to put some aside for these. Wow!