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 made these for dinner today, and they are awesome!! I must admit that I was surprised how good they were. There’s this sweetness that really adds to the burger. Definitely passing this recipe around to friends and family!
These are the best burgers I have ever had. Absolutely perfect. They held together well, not mushy, which is a problem I have encountered with many homemade veggies burgers. I love these so much. So did my husband, who complains about beets, I would say the beet flavor is not super strong by the time it’s mixed with everything else.
A comment about the almond butter – I usually have almond butter around, but it’s sweetened/flavored. It might not have been bad in this, but rather than buy a whole new jar of unsweetened, I was able to find a single serving squeeze pack at the store, and the serving size is 2 Tablespoons as called for in this recipe.
After having bookmarked this recipe a long time ago, I finally tried it today. What a truly wonderful burger! It really highlights the beet in a non-sweet way and the rice and lentils are perfect accompaniments. The best veggie burger I have had hands down! Thank you!
So glad I finally made these. Fantastic! A hit with my omni parents, too. Thanks, Isa!
I think I will try these with farro. What do you think.
Since the idea of not harming animals is what makes a vegan a vegan, why would a vegan want to simulate meat eating?
You mean beet eating? That doesn’t harm animals so we’re good here!
I wonder if these could be made into a lentil beet loaf? Years ago, when I was lacto ovo, I had a really good lentil nut loaf and I’ve been fascinated with making a good vegan lentil loaf too.
Hmm. Hmmmmm. I think that it would!
I tease my carnivore co-worker all the time, when he asks me to bring him 3 crunchy beef tacos back from the local Mexican place, that I’m going to bring him beet tacos. Now I can! Thanks.
Made these last night. I doubled the recipe once I was done grating two beets since I ended up with just over 2 cups. I was sticking to the recipe pretty well until I decided to use frozen raw wheat germ instead of very fine bread crumbs. I would recommend against this because they are too strong. I tried to compensate by adding more black pepper and some liquid smoke, and while that helped I couldn’t help but wonder what taste I might’ve been missing underneath. I used the already steamed (and chilled) lentils from Trader Joe’s (package doesn’t say what kind they are) and they worked really well.
I made these burgers this week and I LOVED them! So happy I made a double batch. I used tahini instead of almond butter and gluten free breadcrumbs. I have a sister who cannot eat beets so I made a third batch with a sweet potato instead of the beet and they were delicious. Some of my family liked the sweet potato version better but I love the beets. I served the burgers with a homemade avocado mustard sauce. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Are the beets raw or cooked? Could just try the both ways to see which works better, but am just way too lazy!
Raw!
Wow,I just found your blog. Totally Groovy. I’ve been working on my veggie burgers. My mainstay now is plantains and lentils.I live on a rainforest island in Panama so I just pick my plantains right from the tree.Can’t wait to try your recipe! Beets,such a clever idea.
Hi Isa, I read all the comments, but didn’t see the answer to three questions:
1. Would canned lentils work as well, thoroughly drained?
2. Is it better to freeze them cooked or uncooked?
3. Do you use short or long-grained brown rice?
Can’t wait to try these — thanks so much for the recipe!!!
Disregard my previous post — made homemade lentils (instead of canned — yummy), used Lundberg yellow rose brown rice (a medium grain rice which we always have in the fridge), used roasted garlic instead of minced (always have roasted garlic on hand), left out the fennel because we didn’t have any.
Made 6 patties, baked half and fried half, and don’t have to worry about freezing because we ate all but one between the two of us…
The verdict (as if eating all but one didn’t say it all) — best veggie burger of all time, no contest!
Isa, you rock!!!
These are wonderful! Made them two nights in a row!
Just made a quadruple batch! ( I had a lot of rice, beets and lentlils) and they all came out amazing! I didn’t have a cast iron skillet so I actually used a regular pan so I didn’t really get the charred look for my burgers but I think they still taste really good! What a wonderful recipe! Thank you!
Thanks Isa! these are really good! Not only do they actually stay together when cooked they are really flavourful too.
I added some sesame seeds and some nooch as well.
I always have good success with your recipes!
wow. its`s great!
Made these today for the 4th. Delicious! I had big and mini star cookie cutters. My toddler loved his “star burger nuggets.” Only thing I changed was using prepackaged gluten free bread crumbs. Sometimes GF subs can go tragically wrong…not this time!
I really need to try these! Thanks for sharing!
These were delicious. I used quinoa instead
of brown rice because I had a load already cooked,
but otherwise followed the recipe exactly.
YUM – so substantial and satisfying. Thank you, will be making these again.
These are awesome – we made the burgers for dinner this evening. We did a fancy presentation and served them on top of polenta in a stack (am allergic to wheat anyhow) and topped ’em with a bit of home made plum chutney to tart them up ! The burgers are delish. Thanks for the recipe – this finally got my husband to join me in eating a vegan meal 🙂
These are amazing! The only thing I changed in the ingredients was to use 1/3 cup mix of protein powder/chickpea flour in place of the breadcrumbs. I also baked them instead of pan-cooking. Lined a cookie sheet with parchment, put the ring mold down, filled with beet mixture. Cooked at 400 degrees for about 10-15 minutes, flipped the burgers (use a wide spatula and another one on top so they won’t fall apart), and then cooked at 350 for 20-25 mins. Thank you!
These were a hit…my teen daughter said like falafel, but with more interesting flavors. I made one batch w/almond butter, one w/tahini, also good. The only thing…a lot more work & time than I was expecting, especially on a hot day…I did cook the lentils and rice early in the day. I also found I needed to pulse/process a lot more than 15-20 times, but it was amazing how much it looked like ground beef. Great recipe.
just made these tonight, we LOVED them! great recipe. one of very few vegan burger recipes I’ve ever made (and I feel like I’ve tried them all) that doesn’t fall apart AND is still vegetabley:) We will definitely be making these again and again, they’re ideal for variations too. Thanks Isa, you’ve done it again, a new classic!
I replaced brown rice with quinoa and it works great! Amazing recipie. I’ve been searching for a good veggie patty and this is it!
Yells yes!!! I like to keep a 6 pack of these in the freezer for when my honey has cow burgers. So good.
Just ate them. AMAZING! (BTW, instead of spending a million dollars on almond butter, I bought a quarter pound and mini-processed them until they became butter. Worked great!)
This is my culinary challenge for today… been craving a good veggie burger! Can I freeze them?
You can! I usually cook first, then freeze.
I had a lot of beets and had already made 16 beet burgers, so I decided to use this recipe to do something different. I made beetloaf! I added mushrooms, celery, more sizable onion pieces, and tons of fresh herbs. I also added a tiny bit of soy sauce, liquid smoke, and chipotle hot sauce. I glazed it with a puree of sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil. Baked at 350 for 40 minutes (glazed in the last half only). I served it with a mushroom zinfandel gravy that I also enhanced with fresh herbs. I highly recommend! On the side I did a baby beet green salad with fingerling potatoes, blanched green beans, and a creamy toasted walnut dressing (a recipe I got off my CSA sheet), I enjoyed them together.
What a fun idea!!!
I made this the other day and the burgers were great! Used my gluten free bread for the crumbs and it still turned out ok. I also made sure to cook the sides of the burger, like Gordon Ramsay! Unfortunately I couldn’t find almond butter in my Thai stores, so had to do without.
These were so great I put them on my blog: http://glutenfreethailand.wordpress.com
Thanks for another great recipe!
Thus us THE BEST vegan burger I have had!!! You cannot taste the beets at all. The texture and flavour are wonderful. Thanks for this!!
Hi
Are the amounts of rice and lentils before or after cooking?
If after, then how much would it be before?
Thanks a lot!