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
Would these freeze as well?
Hi Karen, I’ve frozen them after cooking them – I just reheat them in the oven. They’re not quite as cohesive as just storing them in the fridge, but they were still delicious. (You can store them in the fridge up to about 5 days). Hope that helps!
Substitute for walnuts, pecans??
Hi Jeanine Donofrio,
I love your Veggie Burger recipe, Really wanna try at my kitchen, but I have a question for you, can we use white rice instead of short grain brown rice and can we use any other oil instead of olive oil because I don’t have right now. please reply.
Hi Lucy, I think brown rice is necessary – short grain brown rice is really sticky so it’s necessary to hold the burgers together. You can use any oil you have on hand! Hope that helps!
Wow, its look so yummy that i can’t hold myself. Can we use other oil other than olive oil?
These REALLY are the BEST darn veggie burgers! Highly recommend!
so glad you loved them!!!
Have made these several times, both for my family and for parties. Always a huge hit. Just the right combo of flavors. Would love to try as a loaf. Any suggestions?
Hi Linda, I’m so glad you’ve been loving them! Hmm, I don’t think I’ve ever made a veggie loaf so it’s hard to say how it would go without tinkering around with it…
These are very delicious! I made them as small
‘meatballs’ to add to pasta, I broiled them to add crunch to the outside and then baked them for about 15 minutes to firm up the wet texture. They didn’t stay round but it didn’t matter, the taste and texture are really good! Great recipe!
Hi Mary, I love the idea of making them into meatballs! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
These are very delicious! I made them as small
‘meatballs’ to add to pasta, I broiled them to add crunch to the outside and then baked them for about 15 minutes to firm up the wet texture. They didn’t stay round but it didn’t matter, the taste and texture are really good! Great recipe!
Best tasting ever! Mine were a bit mushy, so will add more panko or try cooking them longer next time. However, I just picked up a fork and finished what didn’t hold together…delish!
Hi Lisa, I’m glad you loved them! Let me know how it goest next time!
Just made these tonight and they were awesome! The patties held together just fine and charred up adding that bbq char flavor. I’m so glad I found this recipe! No weird ingredients that require a special trip to a specialty store. With the added fixings, this was the best vegan burger I’ve ever had, and I’ve had a few restaurant vegan burgers that don’t even compare to this. The mushroom mix was so good I had to stop eating it so I could make the burgers.
can i substitute the tamari sauce to a regular soy souce?
yep, you can!
Hi Jeanine!
I would love to make these but I just moved into a new apartment and am, sadly, grill-less. Do you think they would turn out/hold up if baked?
Thank you!!
Aiden
Hi Aiden, they can be made in a skillet on the stove!
Good idea! Thanks!! 🙂
Hi Andy, ha, I’m glad they were a hit with everyone including your 4 year old! :). Next time, try adding a little more panko if they were too wet, and also be sure your brown rice started out really sticky to begin with.
Loved these. I’ve tried several veggie burger recipes before but this is now my favorite because it actually IS grillable! My kids even liked them (ages 8 and under), and two of them even went for seconds. They claim to be mushroom-averse so I hid the pan when I cooked them, and they were none the wiser. Changes I made due to what I had on hand: 8oz mushrooms and used baby bellas only, no sriracha/worcestershire, a bit of honey instead of mirin, and grilled on our George Foreman grill. This is the first recipe I’ve made from your site so thank you for sharing it!
Hi Trina,
Really looking forward to making this recipe. My husband has an allergy to walnuts. Do you have a substitute nut that you think might work-all others good for him! 🙂
Cheers!
Rebecca
Your veggie burgers look delicious! Would long grain brown rice work? It was the only kind I could find in our grocery store. I’m sure another store may carry some but not sure which brand name would be the best to use.
Hi Trina – I’m not sure, I’ve only had (grill-able) success with short grain rice because it’s typically the most sticky. That stickyiness is what holds them together. I usually get Whole Foods’ 365 Brand or Lundberg Family Farms (usually available at most stores).
Hope that helps!
Hi Jeanine, Thank you for letting me know. I will try a few stores located in the next town from me. One of them has to carry that rice…lol
I also had trouble finding short grain, but used a sprouted medium grain, and they held together well and were tasty!
I made these for my family because my daughter is vegan and it doesn’t hurt us eat like she does. Let me start by saying, everyone said they were delicious, but I am suspicious because I wasn’t blown away, but I rarely am when I cook. I feel like a video would be a great help with this recipe because I had a few questions. 1. How much fluid should be left in the pan with the mushroom/shallot step? 2. Should my mixture be sticky? 3. Should I dip the sticky patties in panko to make them more managable? I felt the patties were too wet to grill so I did add extra panko to the mixture and rolled the patties in panko to make them easier to handle on the bbq. What should I have done differently?
Hi Tamara, thanks for your feedback, maybe one day we’ll start doing videos! There is a little bit of liquid left after the mushrooms, I find that it gets absorbed once mixed with the brown rice and panko. Adding extra panko is exactly what I would have done. I’m sorry that you weren’t blown away – maybe a bit more seasonings (sriracha, tamari, to taste) to the mixture would have helped?
Hi Christina,
For this particular recipe, the sticky brown rice is what holds these together. But you could make this quinoa burger recipe instead: https://www.loveandlemons.com/black-bean-quinoa-burgers/ They’ll just need to be baked in the oven, they’re not cohesive enough to hold up on the grill. Hope that helps!
Could you use quinoa instead of brown rice?
Definitely the best darn veggie burgers ever!! Flavor was amazing. They held together perfectly. I cooked some in a frying pan with oil which were lovely. The rest I grilled. They came out looking rather dry, but the vegan worcestershire sauce remedied that and actually added a nice carmelized texture when it cooled. Delicious as you say with avo, red onion, lettuce and tomato. Will definitely repeat!
Hi Josie,
I’m so glad you loved them! Happy the worcestershire added a nice touch 🙂
I would like to make those! Do you know the macros per patty (protein, carbs, fat, calories)?
Hi Marie, I don’t count calories so I’m not sure.