It’s time for the veggie burger. Not the weird, brown, ‘this tastes like meat’ veggie burger, made with every scary, processed thing except meat. I’m talking about the veggie burger made with LOTS of fresh vegetables, seeds/nuts, rolled oats and spices. The ingredients could make up a hearty salad, but we’re not feeling salad-y today, we want burgers. And, although veggie-packed, these burgers will not taste like salad. You are going to love them, your friends and family are going to love them and even your meat-eating, terrified-you-might-make-them-eat-something-healthy-and-change-their-life friends and family will.
The seeds in this burger help it to retain the crunchiness once baked, while the sweet and rich beets and carrots, sharp onions, fresh herbs and green onions, all work together to add punches of fresh flavour. You have to trust me on this, because if you taste the mixture before the baking happens, there won’t be a lot of magic just yet. The ingredients get to know each other much better during the baking process, resulting in enhanced flavour and texture.
Turmeric is a champion in the anti-inflammatory world, but because it is crazy amounts of yellow (so too is everything in my kitchen because of it, btw) and it’s distinct flavour, it’s tricky to sneak it in without going in a curry-ish direction. If you don’t add too much, it could go unnoticed in a busy recipe, but by adding the cumin too, we can add some extra turmeric, and act like that richly-spiced flavour is what we were going for all along. Unlike the turmeric, no one will taste the dulse (seaweed) in the recipe, but its health-promoting minerals will be very present.
These burgers are cooked at a low-ish 325*F. There is no BBQ-ing/grilling in the Crushing Cancer Kitchen and we try to keep temperatures on the low side in general. This means less damage is done to the fats and enzymes in our foods, and fewer carcinogenic, burnt culinary moments (ahem, grill marks). More food for the healthy cells, less food for the cancer cells. Summer = BBQ for so many of us, but if you enjoy these burgers outside in the evening sun with a glass of bubbly water kefir, it will still feel like Summer and your body will not believe it’s luck. Your frisbee-throwing skills may even improve (no promises).
Enjoy these burgers in a collard green leaf with guacamole, tomato & red onion slices -bonus marks for fermented sauerkraut and broccoli sprouts. They also taste awesome as a salad topper and freeze extremely well, once cooked. I want one right now.
- 1c Rolled Oats
- ¾ c Rolled Oats, ground roughly into FLOUR (using a food processor or blender)
- 2c Nuts or Seeds (I used pumpkin, black sesame, sunflower seeds. If using nuts, chop them up)
- ½ large Onion (or 1 whole small onion), diced
- 2-3 Carrots and/or Beets, grated (about 1½ c)
- 1 bunch of Green Onions, sliced
- ½ bunch of Parsley or Cilantro, chopped (about ¾ c)
- 4 Garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tbsp Cumin
- 3 Tbsp fresh Turmeric, grated (or 1½ Tbsp if dried)
- Freshly ground Black Pepper (to enhance turmeric absorption)
- 2 Tbsp Dulse (grind it up with the oat flour for convenience)
- 3 Tbsp Flax, freshly ground
- 1 c Peas, roughly pureed (frozen and thawed)
- 1 Lemon, juice and zest
- ½ c Water
- Sea(weed) Salt, to taste
- Preheat the oven to 325*F
- In a large bowl, mix the first 12 ingredients together (up to and including the dulse).
- In a separate bowl, mix the rest (pea purée, water, ground flax, lemon juice/zest) together and let sit for a minute while the flax thickens.
- Add the pea mixture to the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
- Taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed.
- Shape into patties, packing them tightly together with your hands (at this point, you can refrigerate them until you are ready to bake them)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and melt 2 Tbsp of coconut oil on it (if it's not already melted, stick the sheet in the oven for a minute to melt it).
- Bake for 40-50 minutes, flipping the burgers halfway through.
- They should be firm and crisp on the outside. If still soft, let them go a little longer.
Thanks for your feedback, Gabriella! I’m glad you’re enjoying them. I agree, they make a great freezer meal.
These veggie burgers are (a) completely delicious and (b) a total lifesaver since they freeze so well. I’ve made these a few times, and love them more each time I make them. Thanks for a great recipe!
Haha, thanks mer :)
Thanks so much for your helpful feedback Dana! I will try next time with the separate premix of those specific ingredients you suggested. And I definitely need to add more salt. Meanwhile I want to express to other readers that these are the best veggie burgers EVER when Dana makes them. Other people have also had great success making them as well! I am not the best cook so please do not be put off of this glorious recipe by my asking Dana for her teaching advice about my cooking.
Hi Mer! This sucks, I’m sorry. I make these all of the time and have had only positive feedback from others, but you piqued my interest so I made them yesterday from start to finish following the recipe exactly. So here’s what might have gone wrong: was the flax ground up? It is the binder, and there is definitely enough to bind them very well, they shouldn’t be crumbly at all, but if it’s not ground, it won’t ‘gel’ as much. Were the peas defrosted and puréed? They don’t have to be super smooth, but purée-ing them adds to the other liquids (lemon juice and water) which help the flax to gel. I have re-written the recipe instructions to make this very clear so that no one else has this problem. I have instructed to premix the water, lemon juice, pea purée and freshly ground flax together and leave for a few minutes before adding it to the rest of the ingredients. Did you grind part of the oats into a flour (as instructed)? This helps to bind them too. The blandness likely came from adding the sweet potato because as you said, these are usually flavour bombs. I do add salt (probably close to 1-2 tsp per recipe), which helps bring the flavours to life. I promise these are the exact burgers that I used to make for you guys! I’m pulling for you next time, let me know how they go. (And let me know sooner next time, I can help you out before things go too far south) xo Dana
I have had these veggie burgers when you made them and they were amazingly delicious!. My attempt to make them today wasn’t entirely successful. I couldn’t get them to stick together even to make a ball in my hand. I added a beaten egg and still couldn’t form balls or patties. So I steamed and mashed some yam and stirred that in. THey did stick together after that. Once cooked, the flavour was bland. When you make them they are powerballs of flavour. All of my ingredients looked like your photos. I used your suggested seed mix (not nuts) and a mix of carrots and beet. Clearly I did something ‘wrong’…any ideas what that might have been?
That’s a serious vb compliment, thanks Kate! They are a fave around here too. I finally had to actually write down the ingredients so that I could give the recipe to clients.
100% the absolute best veggie burgers I’ve ever made (and I’ve made a few). So many delicious flavours; such awesome texture, and the crispiness of the edges (even at the low temperature) was perfect. It was excellent idea to use coconut oil on the parchment paper for the added external crispy-crunch. I cannot recommend these highly enough. I shared these with 4 other women one night, and all the ladies were blown away. “Those burgers were ACE,” was one woman’s parting reply that evening.