Making My Own Veggie Burgers

A few weeks ago I went to a free cooking demo at the brand new Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany. It is a gorgeous new store that just opened, with a big kitchen space for cooking classes!

I saw they were holding a free veggie burger cooking class and jumped on the opportunity to check it out.

We learned the basics of veggie burger making. Buying store bought veggie burgers are convenient, but a lot of the times they contain many many ingredients and are sometimes very processed. They can get expensive, too. Lately I have been making my own and they taste great and are a lot cheaper. Plus, I know exactly what goes in each one!

It was so interesting to see the different combos of ingredients they used for each recipe.  The best part was trying them!

Here is one of the recipes we tried for a sweet potato and black bean burger.

This burger came out tasting amazing!

At home I experimented with making my own and this is what I came up with:

• 1.5 cups of lentils, cooked
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of breadcrumbs or processed raw oats (or a mixture of both)
• 1/4 c of sunflower seeds processed in food processor
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp of whatever seasonings you desire

I just mixed all the ingredients together and BAM, I had a soft veggie burger “dough”.

The above photo was the first batch I made using a lentil and tomato mixture leftover from dinner the previous night.

The “recipe” above made enough to make about 10 patties, which I freeze individually for easy access when I pack my lunch.

I just heat about 1 tbsp of grapeseed oil in my cast iron skillet and cook each the patties until they are brown and crispy on each side. I find it takes about 10 minutes and flip them over a few times to make sure they get cooked.

In the past when I’ve made veggie burgers I found them to be a bit annoying and time consuming but with this fool-proof recipe it is pretty easy and now home made burgers are a staple in my diet!