Best. Veggie. Burgers. Ever.
April 1st, 2007 by eater
tags: burger, recipe, vegetarian, veggieThe other day, the foodie decided to dig through some of my vegetarian cookbooks for veggie burger recipes. After perusing a few he asked me “TVP or Walnut Oatmeal?” Although I do often really like the way textured vegetable protein works in recipes, walnut oatmeal just sounded too good to turn down. I hadn’t tried either recipe before, because despite my many recipe books, I really have never been much of a cook.
After a quick trip to the store for a few needed ingredients, the burger assembly began. When he got to the browning of the patties, I was amazed at how meaty the burgers smelled. The house filled up with their irresistible aroma and I couldn’t wait to try them.
I was definitely not disappointed when they were complete with these very flavorful burger and their nice meaty texture. They were nutty and delicious and the best veggie burgers I’ve had the pleasure to eat, which is saying quite a lot considering the many many varieties of veggie burgers I’ve eaten in the past. I hope to see this recipe again soon.
The leftover mixture got to make a second appearance as surprisingly convincing meatballs in a spaghetti and meatball dish a few days later.
Walnut Oatmeal Burgers
Adapted from The New Laurel’s Kitchen: A Handbook for Vegetarian Cookery and Nutritionburger mixture:
1½-3 cups walnut pieces
2 cups rolled oats
½ cup breadcrumbs
3 or 4 eggs, slightly beaten
½ cup skim milk
1 large onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sage
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to tastefor cooking burgers:
oil to brown patties
3 cups vegetable stockfor serving:
hamburger buns and any desired burger fixingsGrind walnuts in blender and combine with the rest of the burger mixture ingredients.
Let the mixture rest in refrigerator for about an hour to let the flavors meld together.
Form the mixture into patties. The entire mixture will make 8-12 burgers depending on the size patty formed. It is recommended to use half of the mixture now, and reserve the rest for use in another recipe or for more burgers later.
Brown patties on both sides in a lightly oiled skillet, then pour the stock into the skillet and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.
Serve on buns with all your burger fixings.
This entry was posted on Sunday, April 1st, 2007 at 1:11 am and is filed under savory. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 3rd, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Did you do the boiling thing with the stock in the skillet? It sounds to me like something that would give me a load of porridge at the end unless I read the recipe wrong, or did they stay intact? I’d love to give them a go, they look yummy!
April 4th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Hi Jenny,
Jef did do the boiling part of the recipe. The texture of the mixture is quite thick and includes eggs as a binder, so once the burgers were browned, they held together just fine to the simmering.
I hope you find them as yummy as I did!
April 5th, 2007 at 5:18 am
As long as you get them good and browned on both sides BEFORE you add the water, everything works out fine. Really, these things were quite dense, there was no real fear of them falling apart.
I did the same thing for the meatballs, too, and they came out just fine. I think the recipe is quite foolproof.
April 6th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Hi Your food blog looks great and you have some
lovely recipes, I will be back to visit you.
from
Jeena xx
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updated daily !
April 11th, 2007 at 10:06 am
You’re right, these were really scrummy! Even meaty hubby didnt mind them! I did end up with them a bit too salty as I used better than boullion instead of stock, which is something I’ll keep in mind for the future…
June 25th, 2007 at 10:22 am
I have a quick question, the recipe says to add 1 1/2 to 3 cups of chopped walnuts, how do you know how many to add because that is quite the difference in the amount of walnuts being added to the burgers
June 26th, 2007 at 12:10 am
The amount of nuts added is a personal decision. Less nuts, less crunch, more nuts, more crunch. I think I settled for somewhere in the middle, around two cups of nuts.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:45 am
i made these burgers and loved them! i dare say they are the best veggie burgers ever
August 19th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
These burgers are so good. I’ve made them 3 times now. The last time, I added a heaping Tablespoon of nutritional yeast for a cheezy flavor, and I replaced 2 Tablespoons of the milk with soy sauce, and I eliminated the salt. They were even better than the first 2 times. I’m making these again and again!
November 19th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
I tried these tonight and they were excellent. I’m not sure I did it right but they still tasted good… so I have a quick question…
Do you also place the other ingredients in the blender along with the Walnuts or do you add the chopped Walnuts to the un-chopped Oats, eggs, etc. and mix accordingly?
When I made my burgers, I only chopped the walnuts and added to the other ingredients then followed the rest of the recipe. Made one of the best Veg Burgers I’ve ever had.
Note: These would even be good without the Burger condiments and bun.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Dennis
January 26th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I made these years ago and noted in the cookbook that they felt apart when simmered. Tried it again and same thing. I used 1/4 flax/water mix to substitute for egg and soymilk in place of milk. Used lesser amount of walnuts and more like 1/2 tsp salt. Instead of frying and simmering, I made patties and put them on a greased metal tray with holes and steamed them in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes. Works great–very firm. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you could just steam them a bit longer in a regular pot.
February 5th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
This is the first time I’ve made veggie burgers from scratch and I absolutely LOVED them! Sooo much better than the frozen ones. I served them with sauteed mushrooms on whole wheat buns, and my hubby and housemate both really liked them too! I can’t wait to make them again!
February 8th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
These are very, VERY good, I was skeptical but no more, amazing!
March 28th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I agree you with the consensus that these burgers are the bomb! I’ve been looking for convincing veggie burgers to feed my kids and my daughter loved these. They don’t even fall apart which is the flaw in almost all veggie burgers I’ve ever made! Thanks
April 17th, 2008 at 10:22 am
I gotta try this recipe, everyone seems to like it. My fiancee and I eat veggie burgers every now and then. We eat them on english muffins which we toast first and then we add tomato, lettuce and taco sauce. Try the taco sauce (or salsa) - it really works!
May 10th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I have not yet tried the veggie burgers, put plan on making them in a day or two. What I was wondering, is there any breakdown of the calories, fat grams, etc? This would be really helpful. Thanks!!