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, 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 & 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
Can I used toasted gluten-free bread instead of panko bread crumbs? If this is the 3rd time this was posted , I’m sorry. It looked like the first 2 didn’t go through.
Hi Lolly, I haven’t tried it, so I’m not exactly sure if they’ll hold together the same.
I have not made this recipe yet but I’m getting ready to make it. It sounds wonderful but I wanted a veggie burger with black beans. If I put black beans in mixture how much should I put and should I eliminate or increase any of the other ingredients.
Look forward to your response.
Hi Dinnia, I’d go make our black bean burger recipe instead, we love it! https://www.loveandlemons.com/black-bean-burger-recipe/
Thank you.
Absolutely the BEST veggie burger I’ve ever had. I cooked them inside on a skillet. The color and the way they crisp up on the outside is just like a real burger, but the taste is even better! I didn’t have short grain brown rice, but I was able to make it sticky by pre-boiling water in my electric kettle, then combining the hot water with the rice and a small bit of olive oil and letting the combo boil- it came out perfectly sticky and worked beautifully for this recipe.
Hi Melanie, I’m so glad you enjoyed these so much!
I just put these together and they are in the fridge for an hour. They taste great right out of the bowl! I’m curious why they have to be cooked prior to freezing. Thanks for this recipe!
These were delicious, but we had trouble keeping them together on the grill. Could the problem have been that the grill wasn’t hot enough? It registered at 400 F. Maybe we should preheat it to 450 next time.
Hi Jan, that’s possible – it’s hard to say because all grills are different. I’d make sure the grill is hot and that it’s sprayed well before you set the patties down. I also might try keeping them the first side a bit longer before flipping.
Is there a non-nut substitute for the walnuts?
Came here ask this too!
Hi Debbie, I’d make these black bean burgers instead, no nuts: https://www.loveandlemons.com/black-bean-burger-recipe/
We really enjoyed these burgers! The seasoning are great! But they did want to fall apart in the skillet and on the bun. Wondering if adding black beans could help them stay together better?
Hi, was your short grain brown rice freshly cooked? I find that’s the key to getting them to stick together.
You also might like our black bean burger, this one is super cohesive: https://www.loveandlemons.com/black-bean-burger-recipe/
Looks really good! Can you use quinoa or another grain instead of brown rice? Also, can you use short grain white rice? (White rice has less arsenic than brown.)
Hi Julia, here’s our Quinoa Burger recipe: https://www.loveandlemons.com/quinoa-burger/
I’m obsessed with this recipe and can’t wait to make it for friends. Made a lot of mistakes due to multitasking, and they still came out exactly as described – deliciously flavorful with terrific texture. Here’s what happened while cooking and still yielded wonderful results:
– forgot to buy shallots so used roughly equivalent amount of red onion
– don’t keep tamari on hand so used low-so soy sauce
– forgot to add the panko before processing, so the whole cup was folded in at the end
– didn’t see the “pulse until just combined” bit until I pulsed way past that point!
– started forming patties and heating the skillet before seeing the chill step so the ones I cooked tonight were not chilled. they held together remarkably well!
– don’t have a cast iron, just used nonstick and avocado oil and they browned beautifully and are rather crispy on the outside!
generally I like to follow recipes by the book since the developer painstakingly tested and optimized every part, but I do love a forgiving recipe like this! absolute 10/10!
I’m so glad you loved the burgers! So fun to hear how your cooking process went 🙂
Hello,
These sound delicious!
We have a family member that’s allergic to walnuts. What can we use as an alternate that would have a similar texture; pecans or almonds?
Thanks in advance for your guidance!
Hi, pecans would be a great sub because they have a similar texture to walnuts. Hope you enjoy!
I made these and had such high hopes. Could have used more flavour and the burgers were mushy. Maybe over processed?? I did chill the mixture.
Holy cow! This is delicious!
I made the recipe for my vegan daughter, and decided to keep half of the burgers for my husband and me!
I don’t have a food processor, so I cut everything up finely and smooshed it all together with my hands.
Worked fine!
Thank you for sharing this wonderful dish!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
I’ve made these twice now and although the flavors are amazing they always come out mushy. I even barely pulsed them the 2nd time. Any tips?
Hi Brian, Have you been chilling them for the 1 hour? I might try chilling them longer so that they have more time to firm up in the fridge. Hope this helps!