Whole Food Plant-based Burger Recipe (Vegan)

This recipe for whole food plant-based burgers is packed with flavor and nutritious ingredients. It’s simple to make, can be customized to your taste preferences and offers plenty of plant-based protein and fiber to keep you feeling full!

You’ll need to bake these patties because of their softer starting texture, but once ready to eat, they hold up quite well. This plant-based hamburger recipe is super versatile; there’s endless ways to serve it!

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Are Plant-based Burgers Vegan?

While many people use the term “plant-based” to refer to vegan food (or veganism), it doesn’t have a specific definition. Sometimes, “plant-based” recipes could contain animal derived ingredients so it’s always best to be on the lookout!

If purchasing burgers or any “plant-based” product, read the label because it’s a popular marketing term and plant-based products may not always be vegan.

Luckily, this burger recipe is completely vegan and made from nutritious, whole food ingredients plus plenty of spices for a delicious patty!

Whole Food Plant-based Burger Ingredients

This recipe uses simple ingredients to create a satisfying and versatile burger patty. You can use these patties in many unique ways and change the spices for endless customizations! For this recipe, you’ll need:

• Cooked brown rice: As one of the base ingredients, pre-cooked brown rice offers a subtle flavor and plenty of tasty carbohydrates with fiber. Its starch helps holds the burgers together! This recipe assumes you have cooked rice on hand and it’s a great way to use leftovers.
• Cooked sweet potato: For a boost of color, nutrition and mildly sweet flavor, some pre-cooked (steamed) sweet potato is a tasty addition to these plant-based burgers.
• Black beans: To boost the plant-based protein in these burgers and provide a darker color that better replicates “traditional” burgers, black beans are a great choice. I drain and rinse canned beans but you can use home-cooked beans too.
• Tofu: While not technically a “whole food” ingredient, tofu is packed with nutrition and boosts the plant-based protein, healthy fats and calcium content in these burgers. If you aren’t a fan of tofu, you can replace them with an additional cup of mushrooms (however, that creates a softer burger patty). A firm tofu helps create firmer burger patties.
• Mushrooms: This vegetable has a great flavor and is often used in meat alternatives for that earthy flavor.
• Onions: Onion is an essential ingredient that provides a great boost of flavor. Use any variety you like!
• Chickpea flour: This key ingredient creates a firmer plant-based burger texture. Chickpea flour absorbs liquid from other ingredients and makes for a burger patty that holds together when eating. Just let the burgers cool somewhat before serving since this time allows the chickpea flour to work its magic!
• Spices: I use nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. This combo of spices creates a tasty burger that still has a neutral flavor, making it extremely versatile. You can use any spice combos you like!

How to Make Plant-based Hamburgers

This recipe is easy to make with a food processor, but they do take some time. Follow step-by-step instructions below, or if you want a quicker plant-based burger recipe, check out these chickpea burgers!

Step 1: Prep Ingredients

This recipe is easiest to make with leftover cooked rice and sweet potato. The preparation time assumes these two ingredients are already cooked.

Start cooking brown rice and steam sweet potato if not done already. A half cup of dry rice should yield the 1 cup of cooked rice needed for this recipe. You’ll need 1 cup of peeled and cubed sweet potato too.

I also use canned beans for this recipe, so they need to be drained and rinsed. You could also use home-cooked black beans if you have some on hand.

Roughly chop onion and mushroom.

Lastly, you’ll need to crumble tofu. The extra firm tofu I buy doesn’t need to be pressed (no liquid is released if it’s pressed). If your tofu releases liquid when pressed, press it before using in the burgers.

I love the texture the tofu adds, but if you don’t want to use tofu, replace it with an additional 1 cup of roughly chopped mushrooms. If you do this, the burgers will have a softer texture and lower protein content.

Step 2: Prepare Burgers

Next, use a food processor to combine all these ingredients. I typically do this in two parts.

First, I process the rice, sweet potato and tofu. Pulse until everything is well-combined and there are small flecks of rice, sweet potato and tofu. Don’t blend into a full puree since this creates softer burgers; some texture is makes for a better burger consistency.

Transfer these processed ingredients into a large mixing bowl then add black beans, mushroom and onion to the food processor. Pulse until well combined, with only small flecks of ingredients left.

Scrape this mixture into your mixing bowl.

Add the remaining ingredients (chickpea flour and spices) to your mixing bowl and stir until everything is evenly combined.

Prepare a baking tray lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, then form 8 burger patties. I use a ½ cup measuring cup to scoop out evenly sized patties.

Flatten the burgers to about ½ inch (1.5 cm) thickness.

Step 3: Bake, Cool and Serve

Place the burgers into a 350 °F preheated oven and cook for 25-30 minutes, flipping halfway through. The burgers will still be soft when flipping, so flip carefully.

Once you’ve finished baking the whole food plant-based burgers, let sit on the baking tray for a few minutes. Then, transfer them to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool for at least 10-15 minutes.

This cool time is essential for the burgers to become firm and hold together well!

Serve with all your favorite vegan hamburger toppings! Tomato, onion, leaf lettuce and pickles are a must for me!

There are also endless ways to serve these plant-based burger patties. A bun or wrap is a delicious choice, but I also love crumbling these burgers over a large garden salad! Along with some honey mustard dressing, you have a tasty meal.

Plant-based Burger Patty Tips and Variations

The biggest challenge with whole food plant-based burgers is a soft texture that leads to burgers falling apart when eating. Allowing the burgers to cool after baking is essential for them to firm fully.

It’s also helpful to use leftover brown rice and sweet potato that is fully cooled before creating the patties. When these ingredients are hot and freshly cooked, the heat tends to create extra moisture.

If using mushrooms in place of tofu, the burgers will be softer due to its water content. I prefer adding tofu for a firmer burger.

The best part about this recipe is how versatile it is. Get creative with the spices you use to create any type of plant-based burger you like!

You can also switch the black beans for pretty much any other type of bean. Chickpeas are a delicious base ingredient for plant-based burgers; if you want to try this, check out my recipe for vegan chickpea burgers!

If you'd rather try a meatier burger that more closely resembles a hamburger with very little work involved, I recommend trying my TVP burger recipe!

How to Refrigerate and Freeze these Burgers

Let leftover burgers cool completely before refrigerating in an airtight container. They should keep well for up to a week in the fridge.

You can also freeze cooked burgers in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months.

If you make this recipe, please rate and comment below to help others benefit from your experience!

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