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.
I just found your website. My roommate gave me one of your cookbooks for chanukkah 2 years ago and i remembered your book! I am so glad you have a website where you post all your amazing recipes. I want to go back to being vegetarian then hopefully vegan and your recipes are so inspiring. I know i have a big weekend of vegan cooking to look forward too!
Thanks for all the great inspiration!
These are awesome. They hold together well enough to grill!
Sometimes I read comments on food blogs where everyone is raving about how great a recipe is (like chickpea cookies) and then I make it exactly as the recipe says, and it tastes totally crap. Now Isa my dear, I love all your books and as a new vegan they’ve been my kitchen’s version of Inspiration Point. But I was still going in to this recipe all defeated-like, saying all this effort and I bet it will turn out crap, just like every other veg burger I’ve tried. OMG OMG these are AMAZING. They held together! They didn’t turn to mush! That little hint of fennel poking through! I’m gobsmacked at the superness of it all. I’m so glad I went and stole my mum’s food processor with the shredding blade.
Made these for the first time in April. Have made several times since but tonight is the first time I had fennel in the pantry to complete the recipe. The hubby, having just taken a bite of his second burger, proclaimed “Honey, I know they take a lot of time to make, but eating these, I don’t miss hamburgers one little bit!” We have been vegan for 8 months thanks to YOU, Isa! Every recipe I make that is your creation is a hit. It amazes us that people insist on thinking vegetables are boring. Our carnivore neighbors wonder how we survive off of this “weird vegetable stuff”…and then we deliver a plate of leftovers to try.
I am not a vegan, although my wife is a pescatarian, I will tell you meat eaters that I was extremely sceptical while making this recipe (I made it with peanut butter instead of almond butter and added about 1/2 cup black beans) cooked it using about a tblsp of Worchestershire sauce and put it on a wheat roll with a slice of white onion and tomato, relish and ketchup. I was FLOORED with how good this is. Still got leftover lentils and beetsl; this WILL get made again!
These are amazing! They hold together extremely well and taste amazing. Thank you!!
instead of rubbing the fresh thyme between your hands try to dip it in boiling water for 2 sec, or rinse with water from water cooker, brings the flaver up so mutch its great! it works with all those bushy herbs.
I am impressed! and surprised! Who would think I’d be on a Post Punk Kitchen anything! I’m going to share this A+ recipe tomorrow with people who are learning to cook vegan. You have raised the bar for good tasting vegan patties, believe me I’ve tried MANY. I’ll be back again!
I have made these many times now since the recipe was first posted and love them every time, they are so delicious! This time I had them wrapped in whole wheat naan with a sort of curry sauce (yogurt, curry spices, veganaisse, apple cider vinegar, honey) spread on top of it and it was out of this world. Definitely the best veggie burger I have ever had, thanks so much for this recipe!
Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness beetrooty goodness, these are divine. And I don’t even like beetroot! I made big batch FOR MYSELF and put it in a bun with tomato, salad greens, onion, vegan cheese, tomato sauce and mustard. Tomorrow will be the hummus, then a Mexican inspired burger. Then I have four more patties to get through, I’m sure I’ll think of something… here’s my rundown, yes the photo is cringey:
http://ruskindays.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/doctor-bryan-and-the-beet-burgers/
I’m a newbie vegan and Isa your books are recommended everywhere, and for good reason. I love them and the recipes I’ve tried are all awesomely super!
Great with a lemon-dill aioli! The waft from the mix reminded of borsch, which naturally got me thinking of lemon, sour cream, and dill.
My boyfie made these, and he never EVAR cooks, but it was great!!!! Even a newbie houseboyfie can do it….
YUM!!! These were absolutely delicious and my 4 year-old even gobbled them up!! Love everything you do, thank you for sharing your gift!
Really great looking burgers, will definitely try this. Thanks!
Just had to stop by and tell you that this is the best veggie burger ever! I HATE beets but tried it anyway because i’m yet to be disappointed by one of your lovely recipes. It was absolutely delicious and wallet friendly too! thanks Isa!
Yay! Thanks for letting me know, I appreciate it!
I just made these burgers, and wowzers! did they ever turn out fabulous! At first, I was feeling a little sketchy about the combo of beets, lentils, and rice, but I was way off base. These patties have a really nice, hearty texture, and the beet flavour isn’t overpowering (even though I love me some beets)… the result was a good, solid and satisfying veggie burger. They even stayed together really well in the pan (even after MULTIPLE flippings), which is an important criteria for veggie burgers in my books. Nothing is worse than crafting what you think will be a great patty and then having it crumble when try to flip it! The only minor downside to this recipe is that they take quite a bit of time to make if you don’t prep anything in advance, but the end result is well worth it! I definitely recommend this dish! So, kudos to you, Isa! Well done!
Whoa! I tried it at least 3 times and finally shared in my blog too. I added some extra spice powders. Plus, I added a cup of sprouted beans in the place of lentils. Awesome result and it will be in my permanent recipe. Thanks Isa for wonderful recipe!
Here is mine: http://www.7spice.net/vegan-recipes/quarter-pounder-beet-burger-recipe/
I would like to know if someone was attempted to cook the burgers on a bbq grill
I can’t eat gluten, and didn’t have a breadcrumbs substitute on hand, so I made this without putting it in a blender and I pre- roasted the beets. I cooked it on the stove in a cast iron skillet. I used it as a taco filler in corn tortilla shells and added guacamole and a napa cabbage slaw. It was delicious. Thanks for a great recipe!
I doubled this recipe and got 11 good size burgers. Cook one up for dinner and it was dilicious! Now I have enough frozen for 10 more meals! Thanks, I wont be buying vege burgers from the store anymore!
These are fabulous. Thank you for the great recipe. I made a big ole batch. I’m wondering if I can freeze them. Hummm. Only one way to find out. 🙂
The the poster below, I don’t really think they taste very “beety,” and I really like beets.
Finally got around to making these with the bounty of beets from our CSA. my husband loves beets, me nit so much… but I finished the leftovers! Yum! I’ll be turning the rest of our beets into burgers very soon. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve made these 3or 4 times. they are amazing! delicious to vegan and omnivore alike. i use crushed fennel seeds and i think that half a teaspoon is a bit much. i use around 1/4 tsp maybe a bit less. i also use dried thyme so i use a bit less there too. but they are great. would definitely recommend, and have. a nice char on the outside puts them over the top!
thank you so much for posting
I substituted kidney beans for the lentils, and added cumin to the spicing (as I think it really has an affinity with beetroot). We cooked them on a barbecue and they held together really well! They went down a storm with veggies and omnis alike. Best veggie burgers ever. The iron-rich beetroot taste makes it a good substitute for a meaty burger as it’d go with all the same strong seasonings (e.g. mustard, horseradish, garlic).
allergic to rice, do you think quinoa would work? or another grain?
Where is the orange scone recipe? I would love to try that one!
This looks just like the veggie burgers at the Cheesecake factory! They were delicious, and I can’t wait to make these ones at home! Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Best veggie burgers I have ever tasted! Only had peanut butter on hand, so I made them with that, and they turned out GREAT! This recipe is going into my weekly rotation for sure!!! So happy with them 🙂
Just found this website thru the new Forks over Knives cookcook & boy am I thrilled! This recipe is making my mouth water. One of my daughter’s favorite veggie burgers is from Pinon Grill & uses beets. I think she’ll just love these! Can’t wait to start making your recipes which are making my mouth water! These will make eating plant based a breeze!
Awesome beet burgers! Been wanting to try these ever since i saw the recipe posted by a friend on facebook. So very very good! 4 stars! Even my meat lover hubby liked them, so much so he had to have seconds. WoW! And he hates beets! ‘Twas a success, will most definitely do this one again! Used poultry seasoning and curry for spices. Superb!
Just made them for dinner tonight with some garlic fries. I think this might be my favorite vegan burgers so far! So delicious. Thanks!
Made these exactly as instructed along with the curry fries and they got rave reviews, even from a die-hard meat-eater. We were all impressed at how well they held together. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a slice of tomato.
They were beautiful, and even worked in my burger press. I was excited to try it out (even though it was made for meat), and it worked perfectly!
Excellent recipe, Isa!
I made these last night on the grill. I followed the recipe perfectly as I do for all new recipes to decide how to tweak them the next time. They grilled beautifull. I made sure the grill was super hot before putting them on and only flipped them once. They were not goopy or tempted to fall apart at all! THe first two I grilled I put in the freezer for 10 minutes as I had just finished preparing them about 30 minutes before grill time. I grilled the rest after they chilled in the fridge for an hour. Next time the only thing I will change is I will add more spices. And a miso sauce! Oh, and I used tahini instead of almond butter and it was amazing!
I tried these (without fennel) and they were so yummy! I brought some in to work and my skeptical non-vegan coworkers loved them and asked for the recipe. It was a hit! Thanks IsaChandra.