I’ve realized that one of life’s greatest disappointments is walking into a nice restaurant, perusing their menu, discovering they have a veggie burger as an option, and upon inquiry, learning that said veggie burger isn’t house-made; it’s from the frozen foods section of the supermarket, and therefore chock full of additives, preservatives and tastes like cardboard. This is an especially disappointing discovery since I know how easy and inexpensive it is to make a delicious veggie burger!
Today we remedy this by starting your personal arsenal of go-to veggie burger recipes to satisfy even the pickiest of eaters around your table.
I like easy. I know I repeat myself often, but if you’ve read it once here on yumveg, you’ve read it a dozen times: I really love nominal prep time recipes because I don’t have a lot of time to spare. But I insist on flavorful meals, so there must be a combination of the two. This sweet potato veggie burger recipe satisfies all my requirements!
Let’s discuss veggie burgers as a general topic before we get to the recipe.
- Dismiss any notion you are somehow “replacing” a beef burger with something healthier that your family won’t notice. News Flash: You’re smashing together vegetables and crossing your fingers they don’t fall apart on the bun because their substance is crumbly, at best, mushy most of the time. I just want to manage your expectations, especially if you’re a food texture person.
- Veggie burgers come in all different varieties. If you try one and don’t like it, please try another two or three recipes. I’ve never actually made a veggie burger I didn’t like, but I suppose it could happen.
- Many (if not most) veggie burger recipes call for either egg or vital wheat gluten as the food glue that holds it all together, minimizing the crumbly nature of veggie burgers. I don’t use either. I use
1 T ground flax seed + 3 T water = 1 egg
and my burgers have been just fine. I absolutely do not like vital wheat gluten, but that’s a texture issue for me.
Okay – I know you’re excited about this recipe, and you should be. It’s really fast to put together, and you have some flexibility on its ingredients. You’ll need a baked sweet potato, but I threw one in the microwave (I know, mutant potato) since I didn’t have any leftovers from a previous meal.
I used the beans in the cupboard, and combined one can of white beans with one can of adzuki beans. Mix it up; use what you’ve got without purchasing anything.
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- One large potato yields the 2 cups needed
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- measure your mush
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- break out the potato masher
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- add your choice of beans
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- mash some more
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- select your spice combo
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- mash some more
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- stir in flour
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- roll burger balls, flatten & coat w/panko
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- dance, sing & take video of silliness
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- throw it in the skillet
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- flip it
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- top it with yumminess
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- drizzle some olive oil
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- add fresh pepper
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- devour
Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers
You'll need a baked sweet potato and you're ready to run with these deliciously simple veggie burgers!
Ingredients:
- Canned Beans (I used adzuki & white) - 2 cans, drained & rinsed
- Baked Sweet Potato - 1 large (about 2 cups), peeled & mashed
- Tahini - 2 T
- Maple Syrup or Agave Syrup - 2 tsp
- Smoked Paprika (or another favorite spice) - 1 tsp
- Chili Powder (or another favorite spice) - 1 tsp
- Wheat Flour - 1/4 cup
- Ground Flax Seed - 1 T
- Water - 3 T
- Additional Spices (optional) - to taste
- Nutritional Yeast (optional) - 1 generous scoop
- Salt & Pepper - to taste
- Panko Breadcrumbs - sufficient for coating burgers
Instructions:
Directions:
1. Bake sweet potato. Peel, place in large mixing bowl.
2. Add drained beans to mixing bowl. Mash beans and potato together.
3. Mash in seasoning, flour and any additional seasoning. Your mixture will be quite soft and moist. But you should be able to form a patty. Add more flour or a scoop of breadcrumbs - or dry rice to thicken the mixture if needed.
4. Heat 1 Tbsp safflower oil in a pan over high heat.
5. Form a patty from mixture and coat in Panko crumbs. Thick coating. Then drop the patty in the pan. Repeat until the pan is filled. Cook until browned on both sides. You could also bake. If baking, use less Panko.
6. Transfer cooked patties to paper towel. Cool for a few minutes.
7. Serve with your favorite toppings.
Note: yes this patty does fall kind of apart as you eat it. But that is OK because it tastes yummy.
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