I don’t cook hamburgers at home, but every so often I like to make veggie burgers. My recipe doesn’t contain eggs, because while I love them, I eat plenty of them in other dishes. I’ve adapted this dish from Moosewood’s Low-Fat Favorites. I prefer them with cannellini (white kidney) beans, but you can also use pinto beans. All quantities are approximate; I don’t measure carefully, and this recipe is flexible.
Veggie burgers (suitable for vegans)
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon mustard (I like coarse-ground, but dijon or other smooth kinds work well too)
1 tablespoon tomato paste (or ketchup)
1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
1 medium or two small onions
1 large or two regular cloves garlic
1 carrot, shredded
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
about 3/4 cup rolled oats
In medium bowl, mash beans with potato masher. Add mustard, tomato paste or ketchup, and soy sauce and mash together.
Chop onion and saute in vegetable or olive oil. After a few minutes, add the shredded carrot. When onion and carrot are soft, add cumin, chili powder and pressed garlic cloves. Stir for another two minutes or so, adding a tablespoon or two of water if you need to prevent sticking. Stir sauteed vegetables into bowl with bean mixture. Add rolled oats and mix well. I like to leave this to sit in the refrigerator for a while to let the oats soften.
At dinner time, heat a little oil in a frying pan and cook on both sides for 5-8 minutes.
Share your own favorite burger recipes–vegan, vegetarian or carnivore–in this thread.
5 Comments
I'd have to go with...
Grass Run Farms 90% lean grass-fed beef (from New Pioneer) cooked rare in cast iron, served with Lemonaise, crispy shallots, and mushrooms sauteed in way too much red wine on sliced whole-wheat sourdough bread. A little salt, a little pepper.
The bean thing looks pretty tasty. I’ll give it a try!
hei Fri 22 Jan 10:05 PM
do you need to add anything
to the ground beef to bind it together? I’ve been told grass-fed beef is too lean to hold together well as a hamburger alone.
Also, do you cook it at a lower temp than corn-fed beef?
desmoinesdem Sat 23 Jan 3:32 PM
No, I don't add anything
The hamburger I get holds together pretty well. I don’t think its texture is much different from conventional/corn-fed meat I (used to) buy, but I tended to opt for pretty lean meat anyway. I cook my burgers at mediumish heat. It never occurred to me that grass-fed beef might want a different temperature. Hmmmm!
hei Tue 26 Jan 5:32 PM
that might be for steaks
I know I’ve read that grass-fed beef sometimes needs to be cooked at a lower temperature, but I can’t remember the context.
desmoinesdem Tue 26 Jan 6:00 PM