Walnut Mushroom Veggie Burgers
These might be the best veggie burgers I’ve had. The perfect blend of savoury flavours and a meaty texture despite being 100% plant-based. Make the recipe up to 24 hours ahead of time and then cook up the patties right before serving. They are best served in a bun with desired toppings
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 16 medium patties 1x
- Category: Burgers, Main Dish
- Method: Grilling, sautéing, food processor
Ingredients
4 teaspoons chia seeds
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce (or GF tamari)
2 tablespoons oil, divided (olive, avocado or coconut)
1 large onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1.5 cups walnuts, chopped
4–6 slices of toasted whole grain bread (~1.5 cups bread crumbs)
1 398ml can of black beans, drained
1 lb mushrooms, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1–2 large handfuls spinach *optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix the chia seeds with 1/4 cup water, soy sauce, honey and nutritional yeast. Set aside to allow to gel for 10 minutes.
- Heat a non-stick pan with 1 Tbsp of oil. Sauce the onion and garlic with salt over medium heat until translucent, stirring occasionally.
- While keeping an eye on the onion and garlic, blitz the walnuts in a food processor until just chopped into small pieces (alternatively use a knife to chop). Pour on top of the chia/sauce mixture
- Put the mushrooms and spinach in the food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Be sure not to process them so much that they become pureed. Some texture here is key! Add to the bowl on top of the walnuts, add the bread crumbs.*
- Add the black beans to the food processor and pulse until almost pureed, but not quite.
- Spoon the black beans, cooked onion and garlic into the bowl with everything else, and stir until well mixed.
- Cover and place in the fridge for at least half an hour.
- Make uniform size patties by using a 1/3 cup measure. Making slightly smaller patties seems to work better for cohesion.
- Heat the remaining 1 Tbsp of oil in a large skillet or grill over medium heat. Cook the patties for about 4 minutes on each side. Keep an eye out as these can burn if left too long over heat.
- Servie in a slider bun (we like the whole wheat thin buns) with your favourite burger toppings. Avocado, tomato, spinach or lettuce, mayo and ketchup makes for a winning combo!!
Notes
*Use the ends of a bread loaf and a few other slices to make your own DIY bread crumbs. This ensures a higher quality and higher fibre ingredients. Simply toast your bread in the toaster or the oven and then blitz in a food processor.
Keywords: Veggie Burgers, Veggie Sliders, Walnut Mushroom Burgers, Plant-Based Meals, Meatless Monday
When my husband gives the green light to a veggie burger, I know its worth sharing! The original inspiration for this burger came from one of my favourite cookbooks “It All Begins With Food”, by Leah Garrad-Cole, the founder of Love Child Organics. The original recipe was made with cashews – also a delicious substitute for anyone that doesn’t enjoy walnuts or happen to have them on hand.
Although there are is a lot of moving parts to this recipe, the end product is certainly more than worth the effort involved. The trick with this recipe is to make sure the patties have texture by not over processing the nuts or mushrooms. If you’re making these for kids, consider making them “slider” sized 
To make this a balanced meal, I usually serve it with raw veggies and dip or a salad to get those extra greens and veggies in!
I hope you enjoy this one as much has we did.
Happy Eating 🙂
