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There are still plenty of sunny months ahead of us, and I have found myself really needing a good, reliable veggie burger recipe that travels well and will hold together at a back yard cookout – especially when the host is one of my beloved omnivore friends.
Let’s face it, our friends are often mystified by a fragile homemade veggie burger that needs a delicate touch when turning. Sure, you could always just bring a frozen, store-bought vegan burger, but where’s the fun in that?
My favorite store-bought veggie burger to bring to a cookout used to be Morningstar’s Grillers Prime. But unfortunately it contains egg, and is no longer suitable for my vegan diet. Morningstar does make a vegan version of this burger, but it doesn’t really taste the same as the original. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great store-bought veggie burgers on the market these days, but again, they’re often difficult to find in conventional grocery stores, and they’re expensive! Plus, there are so many additives and flavor enhancers in both burgers that I’d really rather remove the store-bought burger from my repertoire altogether and create a whole-foods equivalent that I can keep frozen and ready to grab at a moments notice for a last-minute “veggie option” at a cookout.
This recipe is a great starting point for other seitan-based veggie burgers. Next time, I will try substituting adobo sauce for tomato paste for a smokier veggie burger. I also highly recommend adding some diced and sautéed shiitake mushrooms at the end along with the caramelized onions for an extra punch of umami.
The Best Homemade Veggie Burger to Bring to a BBQ
Ingredients
- 1 large onion chopped or 6 shallots chopped
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 beet peeled and cubed
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
- 3 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 cup tomato paste can substitute ketchup, or adobo sauce here as well
- 1 tsp liquid Smoke
- 3 tbsp Bragg’s Liquid Aminos you can substitute soy sauce or tamari
- 1 tsp veggie bullion I like “Better Than Boullion” veggie base, or non-chicken base
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 cups vital wheat gluten
- 1/3 cup chick pea flour
- 2 quarts water for boiling
Instructions
- Sautee the onion in a pan with a few tablespoons of water. Cook until the bottoms begin to brown and then deglaze the pan with a bit more water and repeat until the onion is nicely caramelized.
- Add water into blender. Then add beet, garlic, sunflower seeds, onion powder, corn starch, Black Pepper, Nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, ketchup, liquid smoke, liquid aminos, bullion and maple syrup. Blend until smooth. You can leave a little bit of texture if you like.
- Begin boiling water to steam the seitan.
- Combine the vital wheat gluten in a bowl with the chick pea flour, then make a well, and pour in the blender mixture. Stir until a dough begins to form. Knead in the bowl for 2-3 minutes, until the gluten fibers begin to form.
- Mix the caramelized onions into the “meat” mixture. Line your steamer basket with parchment paper. Use a measuring cup to scoop out 1/3 cup of the mixture and form it into a patty. Place it on the parchment paper and repeat until a single layer is formed. Try to keep a little bit of space between the patties. Add another layer of parchment paper on top of the patties, and continue the process until the patties are all formed and loaded into the steamer basket, separated by parchment paper on each layer.
- Steam the patties for 45 minutes to 1 hour over boiling water until they become firm.
- Finish your burger on the grill or skillet, browning each side.
- When patties are fully cooled, they can be frozen in ziplock bags for over a month, and re-heated or re-thawed over the grill or in a skillet.
