If you make one veggie burger recipe, it has to be this one. These burgers have a wonderful savory flavor and hearty texture. They're grillable, too!
Say hello to the BEST veggie burger recipe! Of course, that’s just my opinion, but once you try it, I think you’ll agree. For one, these patties are grill-able! And if you’d rather be spending time in the sun than in the kitchen, you can even make them a day or two in advance.
But that’s not all. This veggie burger has an amazing meaty texture and savory, smoky flavor. It’ll keep its shape when it’s stuffed inside a bun, and it’s delicious with fancy fixings or with good old ketchup and mustard. Unlike many packaged veggie burgers, its incredible texture and flavor come from simple, plant-based ingredients, so it doesn’t just taste good – it’s good for you, too!
So many readers have made and loved this veggie burger recipe over the last few years. If it’s not already obvious, we’re also pretty obsessed with it. Jack and I are making it this weekend to celebrate the unofficial start of summer, and I hope you will too. Hearty, flavorful, and really darn fun, it’s not a recipe you want to miss!
Veggie Burger Recipe Ingredients
Instead of making a bean-based burger, I make this recipe with shiitake and portobello mushrooms! They give these meatless burgers a wonderful hearty texture and umami-rich flavor. Then, I round them out with these key ingredients:
- Tamari, balsamic vinegar, and mirin bring out the savory flavor of the mushrooms.
- Smoked paprika and sriracha make these burgers smoky and spicy.
- Finely chopped garlic and shallots add depth of flavor.
- Crushed walnuts give them a meaty bite.
- Short grain brown rice, panko bread crumbs, and ground flaxseed help these burgers hold together. DON’T use long-grain brown rice here. It’s not as sticky as short grain rice, so it doesn’t yield cohesive patties.
Even if you’re not a mushroom person, I think you’ll love this recipe. Smoky, savory, and meaty, it makes a darn good veggie burger.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Best Veggie Burger Recipe Tips
- Use rice that’s hot off the stove. The rice has to be sticky in order to bind these patties together. As a result, your rice must be freshly cooked, as leftover rice dries out in the fridge.
- Brush them with vegan Worcestershire sauce after cooking. These veggie burgers aren’t intended to imitate a beef burger by any means, but they do have a wonderful meaty texture and flavor. To add even more flavor and to make them slightly juicy, brush them with vegan Worcestershire sauce (I like Annie’s brand) when they come off the grill.
- Get ahead. You have a few options for prepping this veggie burger recipe ahead of time. The patties can be made up to a day in advance and stored on baking sheets in the fridge until ready to grill. You can also grill them in advance and store them in the fridge for 3 to 4 days – they reheat surprisingly well! If you have leftovers, freeze them in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Veggie Burger Serving Suggestions
Buns out (suns out)! Load your veggie burger up however you like – I like mine with avocado or guacamole, sliced red onion or pickled red onions, mustard, Sir Kensington’s Avocado Mayo (not vegan) or Fabanaise (vegan), sprouts, and a squirt of sriracha or chipotle sauce on a homemade bun. When I’m in the mood for extra heat, I’ll even add a few pickled jalapeños. If you simply like ketchup, mustard, and dill pickles, that’s fine too!
Since you’ll already have the grill going, I recommend serving these with grilled vegetables, grilled zucchini, or corn on the cob. They’d also be fantastic with sweet potato fries or any of these salad recipes:
- Best Broccoli Salad
- Easy Pasta Salad
- Greek Salad
- Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
- Watermelon Salad with Feta
- Cucumber Salad
For more salad ideas, check out these 37 best salad recipes!
More Favorite Cookout Recipes
If you love this veggie burger recipe, try one of these fun cookout recipes next:
- BBQ Jackfruit Sandwiches
- Portobello Mushroom Burgers
- Black Bean Burger
- Crispy Cauliflower Po’ Boy Sandwiches
- Easy Fajitas
- Vegetarian Tacos
Then, find 85 more delicious vegan recipes here!
Best Veggie Burger
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 2 shallots, chopped (⅔ cup)
- 16 ounces mushrooms, mix of shiitake + portobello, stemmed and diced
- 2 tablespoons tamari
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon mirin, or ½ teaspoon maple syrup
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons sriracha, more if desired
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- ¼ cup ground flaxseed
- 2 cups cooked short-grain brown rice, freshly cooked so that it’s sticky*
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs, divided
- Vegan Worcestershire sauce, for brushing
- Nonstick cooking spray, for grilling
- Hamburger buns and desired burger fixings
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot and sauté until soft, 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and a generous pinch of salt, and sauté until soft and browned, 6 to 9 minutes, turning down the heat slightly, as needed.
- Stir in the tamari, vinegar, and mirin. Stir, reduce the heat, then add the garlic, smoked paprika, and sriracha. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool slightly.
- In a food processor, combine the sautéed mushrooms, walnuts, flaxseed, brown rice, and ½ cup of the panko. Pulse until just combined. The mixture should hold together when pinched, but it should still have some texture.
- Transfer to a large bowl and fold in the remaining panko.
- Form into 8 patties, place them on a large plate and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
- If you're grilling the patties, preheat a grill to medium-high heat. Brush the patties with olive oil and spray the grill with cooking spray. Place the patties on the grill and use a spatula to press down lightly. Grill for 7 minutes on the first side, flip, and grill for 6 to 7 minutes on the second side, or until well-charred and cooked through.
- Alternately, cook the patties on the stove. Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Coat the bottom of the skillet with oil and cook the patties for 5 to 6 minutes per side, or until well-charred and cooked through.
- Remove from the heat, brush with Worcestershire sauce, and serve with desired fixings.
Notes
I’d love to try these but a food processor is out of my price range. Is there any way to make these without a food processor?
Hi Maria, I’d go make our black bean burgers which don’t require a food processor: https://www.loveandlemons.com/black-bean-burger-recipe/
I have been looking for a delicious vegan burger that holds together, forever. This one not only stayed together when grilled, but was delicious!
Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Lynn, I’m so glad you loved it!
Hello! For this recipe, I know it says you can freeze the cooked burgers, but can you also freeze the uncooked burgers and then thaw and grill?
10/10 delicious!!! Thank you for this recipe!
I’m glad you enjoyed them!
I love there so much that I make a double batch and freeze them!! Best veggie burgers I’ve ever had!! Yum!
I’m so glad you loved them!
These veggie burgers are the bomb! I love a good veggie burger and this is the best one I’ve had in a long time. This is the second time I’ve made these for myself and my family. Finally a burger that’s delicious and healthy. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
I cooked this recipe twice to compare the taste with and without the brown rice. Don’t get me wrong, I love rice. I eat it 2-3 times a day. It’s what gives me my daily power as a vegan. However, my son and I preferred this burger without the rice. It tastes better. We can savor the delicious mushrooms, nuts, and sauce more. Instead of rice, I doubled up on the flaxseed to bind the patties, also doubled the sauce especially the Tamari to give more moisture since we love to broil our food. Yup, broiled the patties for abut 8 minutes. So delicious! Thank you
Hi
What can i use if i don’t have flax seeds
HI Marianne, since it’s used as a binder, I would replace it with an egg.
Can I use quinoa instead of brown rice? I’m not a fan of brown rice.
Hi Katrice, The rice helps bind these burgers together. I don’t recommend substituting quinoa because it’s not as sticky. For a rice-free veggie burger, I’d make these black bean burgers or these quinoa burgers instead.
Allergic to nuts here. Substitutes?
Hi Ana, I’d suggest making these black bean burgers instead. They’re nut-free!
I also have nut allergy and decided to experiment and substitute with sunflower seeds and they turned out great!
I’m so happy to hear that!
This recipe is a keeper for sure!! It was easy peasy to make. I can see myself making it in the morning in the summer so the kitchen doesn’t get super hot while the rice is cooking.. We had a cookout in early March, since it was unseasonably warm here today. I subbed soy sauce for the tamari and maple syrup for the mirin, and left out the sriracha completely since I don’t like spicy foods. It was sooooo good! I can’t wait to reheat the leftovers for round 2 tomorrow night!
Hi Carol, I’m so glad you loved the veggie burgers!
These were really tasty! My husband and I aren’t vegetarian or anything but we like to try new things and I was pleasantly surprised with the flavor of these. They weren’t the same texture as hamburgers but still good. My only complaint is the recipe prep/cook time is misleading because you have to cook the brown rice which takes 45 minutes and then you have to refrigerate the patties for an hour before you can cook them.
Hi Carissa, I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Good catch on the prep/cook time. I just updated it to reflect the chilling time and rice prep.
Can these be successfully made without nuts?
I grow my own organic mushrooms and am always looking for new flavor profiles. I used oyster and shiitake mushrooms but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. The flavors are fantastic but one of the things I really like about this is that the mix is perfectly great without making it into a burger. You can put it on a salad or as a baked potato topping. or even just a side dish. I served the burgers with a zucchini, fire roasted tomato thing that I do with sauteed onions as a topping. We don’t eat a lot of bread so I left that out. Really really good. Thank you.
It frustrates me when they say the total time is waaayyy less than the real time. The cooking of rice was 45 min plus the resting in the fridge was an hour. That’s not a 40 min recipe
Can I freeze these without cooking first? Would like to know if I can do that, and then when ready to eat, I will cook them in the airfryer.
Hi Ryli, You can freeze these without cooking first. I recommend letting them thaw in the fridge overnight and then cooking them instead of cooking them straight from frozen. Hope this helps!
These squish out of the bun. I want a sturdy burger that holds its shape and I’m not sure what I am doing wrong or if I should add an egg. Any tips?
I’ve put all the ingredients together and they are super sticky and I can’t form them into a patty. I am pretty sure I followed the recipe exactly. For now I will let them cool and maybe add more breadcrumbs. Any suggestions? I tasted them raw, and they are going to be great if I can form them into a patty!
Hi Sandy, yes, I’d let them chill and add more panko until they’re easier to form.
I was looking for a new vegetarian staple to add to the roster and these are the perfect thing! I’ve made them several times now, except I use crimini mushrooms and 1/2 a shitake one since the others are very expensive. I also use soy sauce instead of tamari and onions instead of shallots because that’s what I keep on hand. These are delicious and not as hard to make as I feared they would be. The most time-consuming part is cutting the veggies, and as long as you time the rice correctly (40 minutes before you start cooking) you’ll be fine.
So Ive made these exactly and haven’t ate them yet BUT I did plug the ingredients into my loseit app for those who track macros!
1 burger is 133 CALORIES
7.3g FAT
14g CARB
1.9g FIBRE
4.7g PROTEIN
Thanks for this! I don’t get at all why nutritional info is not part of the original recipe!