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.
Oh wow!!! Insanely good burgers!! Just finished and they were so delicious, I’m contemplating stealing 2 l left for my son! :S
This was completely amazing. one of my favorites for sure! I used golden beets so didn’t get the raw beefy looking mixture or awesome color but the flavor is amazing! I’m eating them re-heated and they’re perfect. I used a burger shaper to make them burger shaped and that worked out great. These burgers held together better than most other vegan burgers i’ve tried!
These were fantastic! Just got done grilling them up. I chose to use coconut flour instead of bread crumbs. Also didn’t have thyme or fennel. Substituted nutritional yeast, some mustard and a little bit of ketchup. Topped them with avocado and alfalfa sprouts. Thanks for the recipe!
Can you make these with pickled beets?
They look great,….but God,…how I hate beets. It’s gotta be like eating dirt!
Great nomming, would nom again!
These didn’t stick together well enough to make burgers, but I mixed everything together and made a kind of taco filling that I made sloppy joes with. I thought it was excellent, even though I didn’t get exactly what I was expecting!
Hi! I know you posted this a couple years ago, but I just came across your recipe b/c I’m looking to change up the one I already make. These sound delicious! I want to make a batch to freeze for after my baby is born so we have an easy meal to throw together while half awake from all the feedings! 🙂 Should I pan fry them first before freezing, or form into patties then freeze uncooked? Thank you!
I absolutely love this recipe – and I’m a meat eater.
I’ve made these babes quite a few times now, great for work lunches! Just thought I’d add – in the middle of cooking the beet burgers today I realised I was out of bread crumbs. I substituted quinoa flakes the last minute and they turned out great! Also hand shredded everything this time around (just moved house and food processor is burried in a box somewhere), tedious but also turned out great 🙂
Wuh wuh wait a minute. Royale with cheese? You just won some major cool points. That is one my fave movies like evah. I am making these the next time I go grocery shopping. Incidentally, the chocolate chocolate chip cookies are one the most requested cookies I have ever made. You rock. My husband also likes this quote, “My girlfriend’s a vegetarian which pretty much makes me a vegetarian.”
Isa I made these and my husband and I love them. He is a meat eater and he says these are the best veggie burger ever. I will make them often (and I even hate lentils but you can’t taste them in the recipe). Thank you so much.
I’m a recent convert. I tried this! It was soo great! Few things different though. Just used what I had on hand…red and white striped beet, one whole onion. dill instead of fennel and grounded oats instead of breadcrumbs! I would like to try with fennel one day. I think this is a great recipe to switch ingredients around and it’ll still work. Thank you so much!
Ian – red and white beets are not as sweet so there was no over-sweetness. They look like christmas candycane flakes when shredded up too-crazy!
I made this last week with the vegan mac and cheese..Delish!!! Even melted vegan cheese on it..My boyfriend gobbled it down..ur the best
I have made them but with out beets, going to try them with beets, and will let u know the results…..
Isa, can I bake the mix as a loaf? If yes, what temperature and time would you recommend?
I’m making these now for the third time. I always make a double batch and freeze them and then they’re my favourite thing in the freezer. Thank you for rocking my vegan world for so many years!
I’m eating one of these cold right now at my office! its my fave recipe!