Being an au natural gluten-free soy-free kind of gal, I’ve never been attracted to imitation meat burgers with or without the fake blood. Their ingredients tend to be highly processed, with too much fat and sodium. On the other hand, homemade veggie burgers – containing real ingredients – rock my world. Recently I took my burger passion to a new level and created these bunless grillable veggie burgers. Be still my heart!
These grillable veggie burgers are made with brown rice, brown lentils, mushrooms, onions, carrots, and pumpkin seeds. The secret ingredient is tomatillo salsa! Since tomatillos contain a lot of pectin, tomatillo salsa has a gel-like consistency which, as it turns out, is perfect for holding veggie burgers together 🙂 They easily form into sturdy patties that can be cooked and flipped on the grill! Crispy on the outside, slightly moist (not soggy) on the inside, and full of flavor – grillable veggie burgers – who knew it could be so easy!?
Method Overview
- Briefly saute onions, mushrooms, and carrots
- Cook lentils and rice together in veggie broth/tomatillo salsa
- Combine the veggies, lentils, rice, pumpkins seeds, garbanzo bean flour, and spices
- Form into patties and grill
Serving Bunless Veggie Burgers
I usually go gluten-free and skip the typical bun, so over the years I’ve created other novel ways to serve veggie burgers. Presentation is so important! Today I arranged them over a generous bed of sautéed mushrooms, onions, and peppers. I dolloped Creamy Dill Sauce and Dressing on top, a bit of sweet pepper relish, then garnished with sprouts.
Here are some other ideas for going bunless
- Serve on a lavish bed of sautéed shredded Brussels sprouts.
- Coleslaw with Orange Ginger Vinaigrette also makes a yummy tuffet to set the burgers upon.
- Grill two large portobello mushrooms and use them as mock buns.
- Two romaine lettuce leaves can also be used as mock buns; choose inner leaves so they are burger-sized.
- Create a generous bed of mixed greens, baby spinach, arugula, or crisp lettuce. Drizzle the greens with creamy dressing then arrange the veggie burger on top.
- Serve on a burger-sized thick slab of tomato; heirloom varieties are my favorites for this use such as Paul Robeson, Cherokee Purple, and Black Krim.
Veggie Burger Toppings
- Drape a roasted pepper slice over top (sweet or hot) or garnish with chopped roasted peppers.
- Arrange sliced avocado, pickled red onions, and/or sliced tomato on top.
- Garnish with olive salad or pepper relish.
- And of course, slather or drizzle them with your favorite dressings! We still have dill growing in one of our Earth Boxes, so lately I’ve been making a lot of Creamy Dill Sauce and Dressing – it’s soooo goood on everything! Also consider serving grillable veggie burgers with Romesco sauce, Buffalo Sauce, Guacamole, Pico de Gallo, Saucy Sriracha Tahini, Spicy Peanut Dressing, Cucumber Dressing, or Mock Mayo; all of these recipes are in my cookbook.
Grillable Veggie Burgers
Equipment
- mesh strainer
- large stainless steel covered skillet
- potato masher
- gas grill
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup dry brown lentils
- 3/4 cup dry brown basmati rice
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 cup diced baby bella mushrooms
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1-1/2 cups vegetable broth, low sodium
- 1-1/4 cups tomatillo salsa, homemade or store bought such as Kitchen Garden brand
- 1/4 cup pumpkins seeds (pepitas)
- 1/3 cup garbanzo bean flour (chickpea flour)
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- pinch (or two) of cayenne pepper
Instructions
Preparing the Veggie Burgers
- Measure the lentils and then sprinkle them slowly into a mesh strainer; watch carefully for dirt, pebbles, or other debris. Once you’ve added all of the lentils to the strainer, pick through them making sure you didn’t miss anything.
- Add the measured rice to the same strainer and rinse the lentils and rice well under cold running water. Drain while you continue with the recipe.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat with a bit of onion. When it begins to gently sizzle, add the remaining onion and mushrooms. Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until softened. Add the carrots and cook while stirring for about 30 more seconds. Scrape everything from the skillet into a large bowl and set aside.
- Put the lentils/rice, broth, and tomatillo salsa into the same skillet over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat and cover. Adjust the heat, if necessary, to keep at a simmer.
- Cook the lentils/rice for 25 minutes. Stir, shake the pan so the contents even out, and recover. Cook for another 25 minutes.
- Uncover the pan and mash well using a potato masher; some of the lentils and rice will remain intact and that's just fine. Continue to cook, while stirring, for about 5 more minutes or until the excess liquid is evaporated.
- Remove from heat and stir for a few minutes so the steam evaporates and the lentils/rice cool down. The idea is to end up with a cooked, mashed, and fairly dry lentil/rice mixture.
- Transfer the lentil/rice mixture to the bowl with the cooked veggies; add the pumpkin seeds, flour and spices. Stir well with a large spoon; the batter should be fairly stiff (if necessary, add more garbanzo bean flour, one Tablespoon at a time). Transfer the batter to a cutting board.
- Using your hands, shape the batter into an even mound. Cut the mound in half, then cut each half into three equal-sized pieces. Shape each of these six pieces into a thick patty. Secure the edges of the patties by pressing them with the flat edge of a large butter knife.
To Grill the Veggie Burgers
- Preheat the grill for 10 minutes on high heat.
- Brush a bit of refined avocado oil onto each side of the patties so they don't stick to the grates when grilling. If you don't have a pastry brush, use your fingers.
- Cook the burgers directly over the heat, with the lid closed, for 5 minutes or until grill marks form. Flip and cook, with the lid closed, for about 5 more minutes or until grill marks form on the second side.
Notes
- Kitchen Garden’s tomatillo salsa is quite spicy. So if you use their brand you can skip the added paprika and pinches of cayenne!
- Baby bella and cremini are different names for the same brown button mushrooms.
Nutrition
Freezing Veggie Burgers
These veggie burgers freeze well; thaw briefly then cook per normal. It’s so convenient to have them waiting in the freezer for those nights when you want to throw a meal together quickly!
- Place the burgers single layer on a baking sheet; cover with a layer of parchment and put the tray in the freezer. As soon as they are frozen move on to the next step. Don’t forget about them! They’ll get freezer burn if left like this for too long.
- The next step is to seal the frozen burgers. Do this quickly otherwise they’ll thaw out.
- Place the frozen burgers – single layer or stacked – into a BPA-free freezer bag with a zip lock seal. If stacking, place a piece of parchment paper in between each burger.
- Squeeze out as much of the air from the bag with your hands as possible before zip locking. Then open just enough of the seal to slide in a straw. Suck out more of the remaining air through the straw and seal really well. If the bag isn’t sealed really well, air may slowly leak back into the bag causing ice crystals and freezer burn (some brands of freezer bags have double seals).
I originally froze the burgers in a stack. I found they take longer to freeze this way (compared to on a tray). For this reason, I suggest freezing them single layer as described above.
Grillable veggie burgers are delicious served with herb roasted Vegan Potato Wedges!
If you enjoy this recipe you should also try my White Bean and Rutabaga Burgers. The Quinoa Garbanzo Burgers recipe in my cookbook is also quite tasty!
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