Can we mimic this veggie burger?

April 6, 2023 12:13 PM

I am very fond of these veggie burgers, but they are Expensive. I would like to try to make my own.

The website says the burgers have only 6 ingredients: Onions, Black Beans, Panko Breadcrumbs, Spinach, Rice, and "Spices." I have searched around but pretty much all the recipes I find all have many more ingredients and all seem to say, this is really complicated but it's totally worth it!!!!, but I don't have the energy for complicated. I am not an intuitive cook at all -- can anyone here suggest a recipe with these ingredients (I get that "spices" will have to be guessed at and am willing to experiment with that bit but need help with ingredient proportions & prep.)

I did go through this thread from 2012 but didn't see anything with the same ingredient set.

posted by JanetLand to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

I think you could make this simple recipe into something pretty similar - it already has many of the same ingredients and you could swap the corn out for spinach, which I would do at the food processor stage (I would probably pre-steam the spinach and make sure it was quite dry before it was added so it won't mess up the moisture ratio). If you want rice in them too, you could swap like 1/4 or 1/3 cup of the bread crumbs out for pre-cooked rice that I would add after the food processing stage. I've made them in the original form and they freeze pretty well after being cooked.

An addition I would make to that recipe is suggesting that you brush the patties with olive or some other kind of oil before baking them on the sheet to help them crisp up a bit more.
posted by urbanlenny at 12:26 PM on April 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Fascinating challenge! I may spend time on this.

But for now. The ingredients should be listed according to their proportion of the final product. So onions are the most. I can believe this, onions give sweet flavor and also moisture, both of which are needed. I wonder why no oils are mentioned, but for now, let's go with it.
I think you should soak a cup of dried black beans overnight. Drain and rinse them, and then cook them gently in lightly salted water with 3 large (4 small) chopped onions, a couple of bayleaves, a half cup of rice, a teaspoon of cumin, a teaspoon of black pepper, a teaspoon of paprika and a teaspoon of dried oregano. When the beans are al dente, add half a cup of chopped frozen spinach, and bring back to the boil.
Now drain the beans through a fine mesh strainer, but reserve some of the cooking water.
In your food processer, pulse the beans and a cup of panko, perhaps ten times. Don't blend them, you want a bit of texture, and also for the panko to provide lightness. Add more cooking liquid if the mixture becomes too dry, but it should not be a mush either. Season to taste. Shape into patties. Rest in the fridge for at least an hour before frying/grilling, or freeze for later use.

I have no idea if this will work, I'm, just making an educated guess. Right now I'm 200 miles away from my food processor, so I can't test my hypothesis.
posted by mumimor at 1:20 PM on April 6, 2023 [4 favorites]

I make my own veggie burgers using chickpeas, black beans, corn, walnuts, a flaxseed “egg,” spices, and Panko. I think the trick with the Panko (at least, this is what I do) is to blend some Panko with the other ingredients in the food processor, but then also rolling the patties in the Panko to give them a nice texture. My patties are not very firm, but I wrap them and freeze them. When I’m ready to eat one, I throw it in the air fryer for about 20 minutes and then it’s firm enough to transfer onto a bun. Happy eating!
posted by dearwassily at 1:34 PM on April 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

You may get some insight reading this article about how J Kenji Lopez Alt developed his vegan burger recipe. (I like his recipe but it's more complicated than the one you're after.)
posted by supercres at 2:47 PM on April 6, 2023 [3 favorites]