We wanted to establish a solid base veggie burger recipe, so after consulting, trying, and combining several different online recipes (shout out to Chef John’s (not me!) Meatless Meatballs we came up with this one. It is infinitely adjustable: swap the lentils for black beans or another protein; use quinoa instead of oats, experiment with different vegetables, herbs, and spices. If you want to go full vegan you can also skip the eggs and use flax seed or another thickener, but the eggs do a pretty perfect job of binding everything together.
💡TIP: Make a bunch and freeze them; then you can just pull one or two out for a quick and easy dinner.
🥱 TL;DR (read on for the full recipe)
- Cook some green or brown lentils
- Lightly sautée some small-diced veggies
- Mix lentils, veggies, oats, bread crumbs, eggs, fresh herbs, spices, salt and pepper together in a bowl.
- Chill in fridge, then form patties and freeze.
Full recipe
Cooking time
- Prep: 45min
- Cooking the burgs: 10 min
Ingredients
Important
Nothing here was really measured, but approximate ratios would be:- equal parts lentils, oats, cooked veg mixture- 1/2 part bread crumbs (adjust for proper moisture so everything binds)- eggs, your call to make everything bind together well- herbs and spices as desired
| Amount | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| green (small french) lentils | |
| diced onion | |
| diced bell pepper | |
| shredded carrot | |
| diced mushrooms | |
| garlic | |
| quick cooking oats | |
| bread crumbs | |
| flat parsley | |
| 2 - 4 eggs | |
| herbs: oregano/de provence/etc. (as desired) | |
| spices: cayenne pepper/cumin/turmeric/etc. (as desired) | |
| salt and pepper | |
| olive oil |
Steps
- Earlier in the day cook the lentils until soft, but not overly mushy (around 20 min). Drain, rinse quickly, and let them cool
- Cook the veggies in a skillet w/ olive oil, in order:
- onion
- pepper
- mushrooms
- garlic
- salt & pepper
- (add any other things as desired)
- In a big bowl, mix:
- cooked veggies (cooled a bit)
- oats and bread crumbs
- eggs
- parsley and other herbs/spices
- salt & pepper
- (Optional) Put mixture in fridge for a while, as it cools it should firm up a bit
- Shape into patties and put in freezer. For best results separate them with parchment paper or something so they don’t stick together when you take them out.
To serve
When ready to cook, take them out of freezer a little before so they’re not frozen solid, but can still be pretty hard (will help them retain their shape!)