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
I use ground oat flour in all my meatless “meat” type recipes. Oats are cheap, really good for you, they soak up any extra liquid, and they have a stickiness that helps with binding! I honestly don’t understand why more people aren’t using oats to help bind their burgers together instead of bread crumbs. I do want to say, the spices in this seem really great, and I like a lot of the ideas in this recipe. Thanks for sharing it!
It tasted great but didn’t firm up when cooking, which ended up reminding me of raw burger patties
Hi, I am very excited to try this recipe, but we have a nut allergy in our family. Do you have any suggestions for a substitute for the walnuts? Thanks so much!
Hi there. These burgers taste very good, but I did have a problem with crumbling. Forming and cooking in a cast iron pan when great. They formed perfectly. Cooking and flipping great. They started crumbling when I cut them with a fork (not on a bun). Any suggestions for something to add to help them hold together while eating? Thanks!
Where is the nutritional information?
I’m sorry, we don’t calculate nutrition facts but you could plug the ingredients into a site like my fitness pal.
Over the years. I’ve tried no fewer than 10 different veggie burger recipes. Some were ok… but I kept looking for a great one. WELL…. HERE IT IS! I didn’t change a thing and these are nothing short of fantastic! Printed the recipe, made extra copies because I know I’m gonna be asked to share. I would laminate it… but sonething tells me I’ll have it committed to memory before the summer is over. THANK YOU for one terrific recipe!
Ha ha ha, I’m so glad you loved it!
IS the 16 oz. of mushrooms by weight or volume? Thanks
I made this today and modified a lot due to allergies and missing ingredients, but it still turned out delicious! I am allergic to nuts and couldn’t find brown rice at the grocery so instead I ended up using jasmine rice (2 cups dry) – I didn’t use all of the cooked rice; I started with 1 cup cooked rice and added more as needed until texture was sticky. Note that I upped a lot of ingredients below to make up for the fact that I wasn’t using walnuts or Worchestershire sauce. Portobello mushrooms are expensive here so I used baby bella mushrooms instead. I can’t have alcohol so I used 1 tsp maple syrup, 1 tsp smoked paprika, a pinch of cayenne instead of sriracha, and 3-4 Tbsp soy sauce instead of the 2 Tbsp. I subbed red wine vinegar for the balsamic. At the end of it all, I brushed the burgers with soy sauce in the skillet while cooking. This recipe is very forgiving and I urge people to make this even if you have nut allergies! The recipe provides a great start and the burgers are still delicious!
Tips when forming the super sticky patties: wet your hands, wet the plate, form a giant disc on the plate, wet a sharp knife and divide the disc into 8 sections like a pizza. It’s a lot easier to form patties when it’s nice and divided already!
Hi Leah, I’m so glad these worked well for you, thank you for leaving your detailed modifications!
I was disappointed in these. They weren’t firm enough to hold together and completely fell apart when I tried to flip them on the grill., despite me being very careful. I followed the recipe except for the siracha.
The taste okay, but I bought a lot of special ingredients for these that I might not use again.
I had the same problem as Brian with the Pattie’s falling apart. They taste great though.
Anyone have a suggestion ? Yes, used Mushrooms too
Hi John, was your short grain brown rice freshly cooked so that it was still sticky? Did you leave them untouched on the grill for the first 5-6 minutes before flipping them?
What a great idea to incorporate mushroom, held my sticky rice! I love it!
Our family lives on a sailboat, and we always need some creative ideas of cooking with limited ingredients, mostly canned food!
Thank you!
I’m so glad you all loved them!
Do you have to use mushrooms or have an idea for a substitute? I am allergic to mushrooms.
Hi Susan, I would make these black bean burgers instead: https://www.loveandlemons.com/black-bean-burger-recipe/
Super! I have tried so many “best veggie burgers” I was ready to give up. These were terrific! No falling apart problems at all. Let them get nice and crisp on the bar b que. . I think the tip about the freshly cooked short grain rice is key. Mix it up while it’s warm and sticky. Thanks! My veggie relatives are going to enjoy these this summer.
I’m so happy to hear that they lived up!
Made these today,. Flavor is very nice but I too am finding them fall apart pretty quickly. Didn’t have panko and used matzo meal instead. Other than that followed to a T.
Hi Paul, you could try cooking them a little longer if they fell apart. Changing the panko could have affected things too.
These are absolutely marvelous!!! Turned out perfectly!! Will be making these again!!! Thank you for such a unique recipe!, bursting with flavor.
I’m glad you loved them!
Is it possible I over food processed? The burgers look like the do here and taste good, but the insides are incredibly soft like a rare burger would be. Is that how they’re supposed to be
I had the same issue. I tried to follow the instructions exactly.
I made the recipe exactly like it’s written and the burgers fell apart completely. Waste of ingredients.
It’s very disappointing!
I’m so sorry to hear – did you change anything about the recipe? Was your short grain brown rice freshly made and sticky?
Is it possible to substitute oatmeal for the short grain brown rice? Have an issue with digesting rice.
Thanks
Hi Suz, not for this one where the rice creates the structure of the burger. This black bean burger recipe doesn’t have rice, maybe you’ll like this one: https://www.loveandlemons.com/black-bean-burger-recipe/
Great recipe thank you for sharing! This was my first time trying this. I followed the instructions as stated and it turned out great for me. I definitely recommend!
I’m so glad you loved them!
Can I freeze the burgers before they are cooked?
Hi Marlene, yes, I freeze them on a parchment lined tray so they don’t stick together. Let them thaw overnight in the fridge and then follow the cooking instructions as written. I hope you enjoy!