I had never made veggie burgers before, true story. I’ve prepared tuna patties, chicken meatballs, but never actual veggie burgers ! My dear friend Mimi was the very first one to have dinner with me in my new place, so I wanted to make something new and delicious!
I came across a recipe on Avoca Pesto – a nice clean eating website – so I decided to use it as a base. I reproduced almost all the steps, but I changed some ingredients to have different flavours.
20 minutes of preparation + another 20 minutes to cook.
6 burgers (depending on how big you like them – mine were pretty big so I could only make 4 – I reckon smaller would have been better)
Ingredients
Garlic, 3 cloves, minced
Onion, 1 small, chopped thinly
Courgette, 200 grams, grated thickly
Sunflower seeds, 70 grams
Chickpeas, 250 grams
Cooked quinoa, 200 grams
Dijon mustard, 2 tablespoons
Lemon juice, 2 tablespoons
Fresh coriander, 2 tablespoons, chopped (you can also use fresh basil or dille)
Cumin, 1/2 teaspoon
Paprika or cayenne pepper,1/2 teaspoon (something to give it a little kick)
Pumpkin seed protein powder, optional. (Remi, if you’re reading this, thanks for the tip)
Almond flour or quinoa flour, 1 tablespoon, optional – maybe you’ll need it, maybe you won’t.
Instructions
Pre-heat oven at 180°C.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pan. Cook the onion and garlic on low heat until they soften (not burn, soften!).
In the meantime, you can squeeze dry the courgette using a paper towel or cheesecloth (make sure to remove all moisture – you’d be surprise the water you get out of it doing that ). Add the grated courgette to the onion and garlic in the pan and stir regularly until cooked through. Season with salt and pepper. Leave the mixture aside for now.
In a food process (or in a blender), put the sunflower seeds, salt and pepper, and mix for a few seconds. Add the quinoa (don’t forget to cook it), chickpeas, dijon mustard, lemon, coriander, cumin, and paprika, to the mixture. (Now is the time to add the pumpkin seed protein, if any). Run the food processor but make sure the mixture doesn’t lose its texture.
Place the mixture in a mixing bowl, add the courgette, onion, and garlic, and mix until well-combined.
Shape patties with your hands; you should get about 6, but you decide what size you want to give them.
Quick tip – If your mixture is a bit dry, add a little water. And if somehow it’s moist, add some almond or quinoa flour (or breadcrumbs), and mix until the mixture holds well together.
Heat some olive oil in a pan on medium heat and cook the burgers on each side until golden brown. Then, you can put them in the oven for another 10-15 minutes.
Side dish
Knock yourself out, the sky is the limit! We had a bit of salad and I made some homemade sweet potato wedges – deliciously healthy and easy to prepare (recipe soon).
Have fun!