Easy Veggie Burger Recipe | No Meat Athlete (2024)

By: Matt Frazier

After seeing how useful (and how popular) the Perfect Smoothie Formula and the Ultimate Energy Bar Formula were, my sister Christine and I set out to see what other foods could benefit from a good formula-izing. That’s a real word.

In case you haven’t seen our other formulas, the idea is simple: instead of creating just one recipe, to make just one smoothie or one energy bar (that your taste buds will surely tire of by next week), we come up with a template that can be used to create virtually limitless variations, leaving room for your ideas in the process.

Smoothies and energy bars were natural choices for formulas. These are foods we eat all the time, so we need endless variations. But what else would lend itself well to a formula?

Enter the veggie burger formula

It’s not that we eat veggie burgers every single day. Or even every week.

But what’s great about veggie burgers is that if you’ve got just a few standby recipes, on any given weeknight you’ve almost certainly got everything you need in your pantry or fridge to throw something edible together in 20 or 30 minutes.

They’re super healthy and a good protein source too. And most importantly, they’re substitution-friendly, making them a perfect fit for a formula — if you’ve got a can of beans and a few random veggies in the fridge, chances are you’ve got what you need.

About the formula

And so Christine got to work creating a new formula. What’s really interesting is that she started with the energy bar formula as the backbone, since the bars are based on beans as well and have a texture that’s befitting of a burger. Of course, she replaced sweet flavors with savory ones, and designed the burgers to be fried, not baked like the bars are.

These burgers work great for a weeknight meal, and they’re perfect for tucking into a pita for a lunch on the go. We like to make them slider-style, since smaller burgers tend to stay together better than large ones and have a better texture. You can also make a large batch on the weekend and freeze ahead of time, but keep in mind that they tend to defrost better in the refrigerator than in the microwave.

Alright, here we go! The master formula is below, and we’ve listed several options for each broad type of ingredient, which you can mix and match to come up with your perfect burger. We’ve also included, at the bottom, three of our favorite combinations in case you’re not in a creating mood.

Enjoy!

The veggie burger formula

Ingredients:

1 pound can of beans, drained and rinsed, or 1.5 cups cooked beans (suggestions: your favorite bean!)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups diced veggies (suggestions: carrots, celery, mushrooms, chopped spinach, chopped kale, corn, chopped artichokes, zucchini, squash, sweet potato)
2 teaspoons + 2 tablespoons oil for frying (suggestions: olive, coconut, grapeseed)
3 tablespoons liquid flavor (mix and match suggestions: mustard, ketchup, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, vegan worcestershire, buffalo sauce, balsamic vinegar, salsa, pasta sauce, marsala, water)
4 teaspoons spice (we recommend combining at least two: smoked paprika, cumin, chili powder, italian seasoning, poultry seasoning, montreal steak seasoning, black pepper, cayenne pepper, fennel, oregano, curry powder)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (omit or reduce if your liquid or spices contain salt)
1 cup dry base ingredient (suggestions: buckwheat, unsweetened protein powder, bread crumbs, cornmeal, oatmeal)
1/2 cup texture ingredient (suggestions: chopped walnuts, olives, avocado, sundried tomatoes, leftover cooked rice/quinoa/bulgur, parsley, cilantro, basil)

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a pan over medium heat. Fry the onion, veggies, and garlic until softened, about 5 minutes.

Transfer to a food processor and pulse with beans, liquid flavor, spice, salt until combined but still chunky. Pulse in the dry base and texture ingredient.

Form into golf ball size balls and flatten into patties.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Fry patties 2-3 minutes per side until browned and heated through.

Makes about 18 small patties.

Our favorite variations

Mexican Sliders

1 can pinto beans
1/2 cup onion
1 clove garlic
2 cups of veggies: 1 cup canned yellow corn, 2/3 cup sweet red pepper, 1/3 cup packed spinach
3 tablespoons liquid: 1 tablespoon lime juice (1/2 a lime), 2 tablespoons red prepared salsa
4 teaspoons spice: 2 tsp cumin, 2 tsp chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dry ingredient: cornmeal
1/2 cup texture ingredients: 1/4 cup cilantro, 1/4 cup white rice

Classic Sliders

1 can black beans
1/2 cup onion
1 clove garlic
2 cups of veggies: 1 cup mushrooms, 1/2 cup celery, 1/2 cup green pepper
3 tablespoons liquid: 1 tablespoon ketchup, 1 tablespoon mustard, 1 teaspoon liquid smoke, 2 teaspoons soy sauce or vegan worcershire
4 teaspoons spice: 3 teaspoons Montreal steak seasoning, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
~~½ tsp salt~~ (omit salt)
1 cup dry ingredient: panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup texture ingredients: 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Indian Patties

1 can chickpeas
1/2 cup onion
1 clove garlic
2 cups of veggies: 1 cup sweet potato, chopped fine, 1/2 cup sweet red pepper, 1/2 cup yellow corn
3 tablespoons liquid: 1 tablespoon lime juice (1/2 a lime), 2 tablespoons coconut milk
4 teaspoons spice: 3 tsp curry, 1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup dry ingredient: oats
1/2 cup texture ingredient: 1/4 cup cilantro, 1/4 cup chopped cashews

Great recipe base! Thanks! I highly recommend beets as part of the veggie component!

I just tried the veggie burger recipe. It worked out well! The next time I will make more modifications to the taste but the consistency was perfect this time around. My blog post gives photos and details if you are interested. Thanks! Blog Link: http://kb1awv.com/?p=862
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I tried it thanks so much. I really like knowing what i am eating.
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I make soy and almond milk with a specially designed appliance (Soyajoy G3 – search on Amazon). It works great (I had the old model which didn’t work well and recently gave it another try) – saves money and saves cartons.
But I end up with a lot of soy and almond mash – I’ll have to try adding some of that to these recipes…
Mike

Just made these today and used almond mash. worked awesome
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1. Great idea to reuse leftovers in vege. patties.
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Hi
Did it worked with the soy mash?
How much did you use with a pound of beans?
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Terrific — thanks! I’m determined to get away from the processed soy burgers on the market and so many recipes don’t work for us because they contain something my picky omnivore husband won’t eat. But you give choices and explain the purpose of the various ingredients. Thank you, thank you!

Oh, it’s my dream come true! I love these formulas. I already love the energy bar formulaizer. I can’t wait to try this one!

Love this!! Can’t wait to try them!

Awesome formula! I should print this out and put it on our fridge. I am always looking for straightforward, whole-foods-based recipes that have the potential to become weekly staples.

Awesome! I can hardly wait to try making some when I get home! The best part is that I’ve already got all of these ingredients in my kitchen. Thanks for this post!

These sound awesome! I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 6 years old, and veggie burgers are still one of my favorite meals of all time. I get excited just thinking about them!
Healthy, protein-packed, and satisfying—what more could you ask for? Can’t wait to try these recipes!

In the past, I’ve tried so many veggie burger recipes and been disappointed, so when I tried these last night, I cautiously used half measures as I wasn’t sure how they would turn out. I tried the Indian burger and oh my goodness, it is soooooooo good! I’m kicking myself that I didn’t use full measures and make more! 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing!

This is wonderful. I can’t wait to try them out… thinking of all the delicious possibilities!

I love your typical soy burger, but this recipe looks great. Plus, soy isn’t good for people with thyroid issues so this is a great alternative. Making meals from scratch is a lost art. It makes you really think about what you’re putting inside your body. A good thing. Thanks Matt.

Good timing! Trying them all at tonights bbq 🙂 The Scott Jurek’s are great but takes a bit of time to prepare, so kudos for the get-them-on-the-grill-in-almost-no-time-version!

How about Old Bay seasoning?

Old Bay is great! Just remember that Old Bay contains salt, so you may need to reduce or omit the other added salt.
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Matt, thank you for posting this veggie burger formula and including some specific variations! This is amazing. I have already shared this with a few of my veggie friends and we all agree this is stellar! Recipes/formulas are great, so keep them coming!

Thank you so much for posting a great formula! My husband and I made the Mexican Sliders and they were so tasty! Can’t wait to try your others and create new ones!

Thanks we have been eating meat free since Nov. Its hard to think of new ways of cooking but this is great. Thanks this will definitely be a weekly on our menu.

Tried these with a whole bunch of ingredients but they turned out like pancakes. Still pretty tasty though 🙂

Made a batch with chickpeas — fantastic! Gonna try them all! Thank you!!!

wow these are fantastic! thanks for another great recipe!! just made them tonight!

The best veggie burger recipe ever!!!

Can you give me the nutritional facts on these burgers, particularly protein, carbs and fat? I am trying to keep my carbs up, so I need to know how much each one would be.
Thanks
PS Can’t wait to try them!

Thank you so much, this is just what I was looking for.

This recipe is SO delish and I love the mix and match component. I’ve even had non-vegans LOVE this. My only issue is getting them to stay together. They are slightly crumbly, which isn’t the end of the world when they taste so good, but any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Made these for dinner with what I had on hand. Black beans, corn,green pepper and cauliflower. Oatmeal for my dry base salsa as my liquid. Taco seasoning and chipotle as my spices. Loved loved loved them! I actually cooked them up then put them in tortilla shells w vegan cheese because It seemed appropriate. I look forward to trying many different combos. beans and veggies and sauces oh my!

Hi Matt,
I really like your idea of the flexible recipe, of using what you prefer. I just wanted to let you know about another similar type of flexible recipe called the Magical Loaf Studio, which is located here: http://www.veganlunchbox.com/loaf_studio.html. Jennifer McCann created the Vegan Dinner Loaf recipe page. I’d recommend that you and her possibly get together and make a similar recipe page that she has for loaf, but made for your burger recipe instead. Have a look at what she had done, it’s great!
Best Wishes,
Stephen

Absolutely horrible. Such a disappointed. I followed the directions and used the correct amount of dry ingredients, beans, everything. It came out the consistency of dog food. Never making again. Would not recommend to anyone

Bummer! That does seem to be the common complaint — the consistency sometimes turns out badly. But sometimes the texture turns out well, considering it’s a formula … I wish I could figure out what ingredient makes the difference.
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1. I imagine you have to be careful about how much you process the beans. Don’t process them too much, make sure they’re chunkier, and it should be okay.
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You sir, are a genius. I was looking for a good vegan burger and haven’t had much luck. This formula work fabulously for me! I have found my perfect veggie burger! Thank you so much for this. I’m sharing it with everyone I know!

Great Recipe. I love the versatility of it. Only thing I added was ground flax meal to act as a binder. Tripled my batch and now I have cooked burgers in the freezer for quick meals for the family and BBQ’s this summer.
Thanks!

Love this formula — thank you!! What a nice, simple way to approach this. Can’t wait to try it.

These look fantastic and I can’t wait to try them out! Any suggestions for combinations using white/cannellini beans?

I’m sorry, this didn’t work for me. I used flaxseed instead of the other dry ingredients and it’s all messed up. they fried nicely on each side with coconut oil but the insides never quite formed. They all just mushed down into a giant fried blob. I’m gonna try to put in a big meatloaf pan and just bake the whole thing.

I think this recipe will make a little too much for what I need, does anyone know if these are ok to freeze and cook later?

Love your simple version for the burgers. I have tried soy nuggets in this recipe too and has beautiful texture.

Sounds like a great patty recipe. I have been absolutely obsessed with the concept of vegetarian burgers lately so I order them at every restaurant to get some inspiration.

This is probably the best veggie burger I have ever tried. I used your Mexican sliders as inspiration and added different ingredients from your suggested ingredients like mushrooms,balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, liquid aminos, paprika, cayenne pepper, herbes de provence,tomato paste and mustard. They are amazing and so much so that I ate a lot without forming them into burgers and cooking them. The only slight problem is the texture. I think this may have been my fault as I may have processed the beans,veggies and seasonings too much before added the rice and oats. I always find it very hard not to over process and to know when to stop processing. And maybe it’s the size of my food processor but it was hard to incorporate the rice and oats into the mix without turning the rest of the mix to mush. So what I did was a take a bit of the mix out so my food processor could incorporate all the other ingredients. I then mixed everything together in a bowl. I added some rice flour because it seemed to mushy. It could stick together but I thought it had to be a little more doughy. The rice flour worked well and I suggest using that if you have a similar problem. But overall that wasn’t a major problem. The burgers didn’t fall apart on the pan or anything and they wouldn’t have even if I hadn’t added the extra flour. The burgers are full of flavour and I love them and definitely will make them again. The recipe definitely didn’t make enough haha. I will also experiment with other flavour since there is so much room in this formula to make any veggie burger your heart desires. Thank you so much for posting this and sorry if my comment is all over the place.

Wow. I love the Indian patty – I just made it and it’s delicious. I also made little flattened ‘meatballs’ which I added on top of a butter chicken sauce. Probably not super great for the waistline, but DANG! You can also break up the patties (or just save the ones you ruined when you tried to flip them…) and wrap them up in lettuce and eat them. So good. So, so good.

Yum, thanks for this. I tried a slightly Thai version last night, with soy sauce and some Thai seasoning. Very tasty! Might try the Indian one next. 🙂

[…] https://www.nomeatathlete.com/veggie-burger-recipe/ […]

This is BRILLIANT! I just made a batch tonight and they were delicious. I don’t have a food processor so I mashed the beans in a bowl using a potato masher, then added the veggies/liquid and mixed again, and then added the rest and mixed again. It held together very well.

Simply delicious, thanks!

I made these burgers this weekend, and they are SO DELICIOUS! Just amazing. I do feel, though, that my burger mix needed more of a binder so I did mix 2T of flaxmeal with 8T of warm water and added it to the mix after 20 seconds, and it worked very well. I am so thankful for this veggie burger formula because it is so versatile and you can make tasty veggie burgers a million different ways! Thank you!!

Dear Matt,
I am Indian and have been making simple potato patties all my life. I made these last night and they are super awesome! My kids loved them. I used canned chickpeas, zucchini , a mushroom ,sweet potatoes and bread crumbs and measured everything for the first time in my life.
Great recipe! Thanks a lot
Cheers!
Radha

This is absolutely genius. The formula works great, I made my burgers with some corn, taco chips and Mexican spice but you can easily substitute with any other ingredients to make it your taste. Amazing, is all I can say 🙂

Thank you for this recipe and variations. I live overseas and have to make everything from scratch. These burgers are awesome.

[…] animal). You can make amazing bean burgers to replace old burgers with. Check out this perfect Veggie Burger formula! You can also try experimenting with seitan or tofu! If you live in an area that sells […]

I’ve been making these burgers for a long time and each time they turn out different but delicious. I usually make a giant batch and freeze them. They are a lifesaver on those days when i’m too busy or stressed out to make anything. Thanks for the recipe.

Amazing things here. I’m very satisfied to see your post.
Thank you a lot and I’m looking ahead to touch you. Will you kindly drop me a mail?

This is a fabulous recipe. I love the concept of using whatever is around in the kitchen and garden to suit the seasons. So versatile. I had a great texture, consistency and flavour was fantastic. The leftovers the following day were even greater in flavour. This will be made over again in my household. I was wondering what it means in the dry ingredients suggestions and it mentions buckwheat as a first option. I assume this is precooked buckwheat? Is this raw or cooked? Looking forward to your response.

I second this question! I am making veggie burgers right now and just realized I don’t have a “dry” ingredient other than raw buckwheat and steel cut oats… I will probably figure something out before anyone responds to this, but a response would still be appreciated! Thanks!!
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This formula is amazing! I made it tonight and it tasted amazing and was also just really easy to make. By far the best veggie burger I’ve made in terms of consistency too.

Yummy homemade burgers are the best and this is great recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Simon

Are there any vegan burgers on this planet that does not involve mushrooms, cauliflower or lentils????
I really need a good vegan burger 🙂

Thank you so much for this recipe. This was so delicious! My picky boyfriend loved it. We cut our food budget to $20/wk and this recipe is the perfect healthy and cheap meal for a small budget.

I like the idea of a “formula” from which you can create your own recipes, and just adapt to whatever you have in. Nice one! I am keeping this for future use. I might paste it inside the foodie cupboard door! Thanks.

Too sticky… how do you form the patties when they stick on your hands so much?

I’ve tried so many different vegan recipes and I just couldn’t get it right. Weather the ingredients weren’t just right or the recipe was just too complicated/missing something that the patties kept coming out super dry, super wet or just crumble apart.
This is by far the BEST recipe I’ve come across! I just made the regular patties – I can’t wait to try the rest of the variations! Super excited! Thank you!!! 🙂

OHHH boy yummy!!! Just now learning about meat free life!! Thanks to my now cancer free teenager, we are all taking anything that is processed out of our lives! These recipes are sooo helpful and delicious!! Thank you

I red it today, made it immediatelly (as I had everything in my kitchen) and these burgers are aamaaaziinngg!!!! My 13yrs old who usualy eat 1, this time he ate 2 burgers! He said they are 10 out of 10- believe me that means aaaa lot! The only thing I did is adding little bit more spices to have better and richer taste, and more onions and garlic. THANK YOU!!!

Just made the Indian patties w/beets and corn. I don’t even like beets but after the garlic, onions and spices, it is like they aren’t even there! Love your site – thank you!

My burger kept falling apart and had a hard time cooking through

This looks great, I love that you provide such flexibility in ingredients. Will be trying this for sure!

These burgers sound great. It’s hard to find meat these days since the Corvid-19 virus. Told my husband we will just eat veggie based. Healthier anyway! Thanks!

Made these today sans oil and turned out great! I went with a meatloaf theme.

i skip the inflammation effect of oils. thank you proportions! I use a small or medium sized scoop from Pampered Chef and silicone baking sheets made for macaroons. I bake then freeze “Neat Balls”. They reheat easily in microwave. They can be crumbled easily for texture like hamburger. Favorite bean is the meatiest I found : chana beans found in sacks at east Indian Markets – are smaller brown garbanzo beans. I discovered them at fav vegan restaurant Zest Kitchens in Rocklin CA. My mix has been 1/3 cooked beans, 1/3 grains, 1/3 veggies like carrots onion celery etc. This looks quicker. Smashing beans w potato masher gives best texture but quick pulsing works now for me

Great idea, a template. What’s with the kosher salt though, is it a better salt and will gentile salt do?

Seasoning the mix with fennel, pepper, and Italian seasoning gives it a sausage-type taste. I like to pair it with sweet potato hash.

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Easy Veggie Burger Recipe | No Meat Athlete (2024)

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