Beet Burgers {Vegan} -- You are really going to need a food processor for all these Vegan recipes!

 

I had to post so many pictures of these burgers because they were AMAZING! And...they look so much like real meat that it was kind of creepy. The had a mildly sweet, but yet savory flavor with great texture. (The rolls that we put them on, weren't vegan. Oops. We used what we had. But, you can put them on whatever bread or rolls that you like.)

I hope that with these posts, I am inspiring some one out there to eat healthier. It was pretty funny, because Adrian went to Sprouts for groceries, and 15 out of 20 items on the list were fruits/veggies/herbs. That's pretty awesome! And the bill was really inexpensive. My approach to eating vegan is to use sensible ingredients that you can buy at (pretty much) any grocery store. I don't want to spend money on crazy, out-there, ingredients that I wouldn't consider "everyday" food.

I planned our meals for the next week, and have some pretty exciting things to make. I'm thinking I might start sharing our weekly meal plan (with recipes) if anyone is interested.

(Recipe from here)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shredded beets (about 8oz or 4-5 medium sized beets) I used already cooked & peeled beets from Costco
• 1 cup cooked brown or green lentils, canned or fresh (a little less than a 15 oz can)
• 1 1/4 cups cooked brown rice   I used frozen from Trader Joes, it was a little less than a whole package
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme, rubbed between your fingers
• 1/2 tsp ground fennel, or finely crushed
• 1 tsp dried mustard (mustard powder)
• 2 tbsp smooth almond butter
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Shred your beets in the food processor. Does this look familiar?  

Then add the brown rice and lentils, and pulse until it starts to come together. Don't mix it too much, you still want it to have some texture.

 Isn't it crazy how much that actually looks like ground beef? Kind of creepy!

I decided to mince up the garlic and onions in the food processor as well. Less chopping! If you want bigger chunks of onions, go for it. Your preference.

Then mix the rest of the ingredients together. Including all of the spices.

Does that look just like hamburger meat or what??? Refrigerate the "meat" for about 20 minutes. It will make it easier to form patties.

Form patties. I made 5 patties, but it's up to you on the size.

Then, heat up some olive oil in a large pan on medium heat. Cook the patties for about 10-12 minutes , flipping occasionally. They should be heated through, and have a nice color & crispness.

We served them with vegan mayo and organic ketchup. The organic ketchup really does taste a million times better than regular ol' ketchup.