Vegan Butter Burger Plant-Based Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What binds a vegan burger together? ›

Common binding agents include flax eggs (a mixture of ground flaxseed and water), chia seeds, mashed potatoes, tapioca flour, or even your favorite nut butter. These ingredients help hold everything together and prevent your burger from crumbling.

Common veggie burger binders include eggs, flax egg, wheat germ, breadcrumbs, oats, miso paste, or even water.

Adding flour or oats can help the burgers stick together, without using eggs. Mash everything together well. The more pulverized the veggie burger mixture gets, the better the patties will stick together. (But don't puree them, or the final texture will be off.)

If you're making your vegan burger patty from scratch some common burger mix ingredients include plant-based proteins like black beans, chickpeas, other legumes, cooked quinoa or brown rice, rolled oats, certain vegetables like bell peppers, red onions, caramelized onions, shiitake mushrooms, cashews, and coconut ...

If you're vegan, there's a great alternative: flaxseed meal. This substitution often appears in vegan baking recipes but works just as much magic here. To replicate 1 large egg, mix 1 tablespoon flaxseed with 2 to 3 tablespoons water and let sit for a few minutes. Add to the veggie burger mix just as you would an egg.

If you want to use a binder in your meat, but don't want to use egg, other alternatives are flour such as wheat flour, cracker crumbs, or even oatmeal. I do not use anything to bind ground meat for burgers. They are moist enough to stick together on their own.

Spices and tomato paste: Smoked paprika, chili powder, salt, and pepper combine to make these burgers a little smoky and incredibly delicious. Tomato paste adds color, sweetness, and an umami flavor to the burgers (highly recommended!). Cooked rice: Adds more texture to the veggie burgers.

Ground flax – for binding, like a vegan egg! Flour – also for binding, but use GF flour if you wish. Breadcrumbs – another binder! Or use oats for gluten free! Start with about 1 cups worth and add more until the mixture comes together.

Flax: ground flaxseed is our egg substitute to help the patties stick together so they don't fall apart when you cook them.

Ground flax seeds

One of the most popular egg substitutes in vegan baking is a flax egg. This is made by combining ground (not whole) flax seeds with water and leaving to sit for 15 minutes until the mixture becomes thick, almost the same consistency as a regular egg.

What can I use instead of breadcrumbs in veggie burgers? ›

Rice. While cooked rice won't work for fried foods since it can't get crispy, both cooked and uncooked rice is great as a binding agent for things like meatloaf, meatballs, or veggie burgers.

I often season my meat with Worcester sauce mixed in. Even with this extra liquid the meat will hold together just fine. No egg required.

If you want a veggie burger that holds together, use binding agents like cooked grains (rice, quinoa, millet), eggs, flax eggs, bread crumbs, oats, flour or nut/seed flours like almond flour. The amount of grains or flour will depend on the recipe, but it's usually anywhere from ¼ to 1 cup.

Chia seeds

Similar to flax seeds, chia seeds can be mixed with water and left to thicken, creating what is commonly called a chia egg. The gel-like texture of a chia egg makes this a brilliant binder.

Flaxseed (aka linseed)

Combine a tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of water, stir to combine, and let stand for 5 minutes to thicken. Ground flaxseed emulates eggs' binding qualities in breads, cakes, muffins, cookies, burgers, and vegan meatballs.

The most common burger binding agent is egg. This makes your ground beef stick together and is the most readily available ingredient. You can also use potato starch as a burger binding agent depending on your allergies or general availability.