Lentil Burgers

Lentil Burgers, made with all natural ingredients, are healthy, amazingly flavorful, and Vegan! Vegan Lentil Burgers have a firm texture comparable to a regular burger and the flavor is meaty and robust. When you place some good buns atop these Mushroom Lentil Burgers, you won’t miss the regular thing, I promise! This Lentil Burger Recipe includes green lentils, mushrooms, a chia egg, bread crumbs, onions, garlic, spinach, and cumin. Our Vegan Lentil Burger Recipe works great as a substitute for hamburgers and cheeseburgers because it includes simple ingredients, used effectively.

When making Lentil Burgers, or any plant-based burger, the key is simplicity. If you get too many ingredients going Vegan Lentil Burgers drift further away from the essence of a true burger feel and flavor. There are really two boxes you need to check in order to make great Mushroom Lentil Burgers: texture and taste. For texture we used a few ingredients in this Lentil Burger Recipe: mushrooms, chia egg, and bread crumbs. Mushrooms provide an element of chewiness to our recipe whereas the chia egg (egg substitute) and breadcrumbs are used to hold the patties together and provide firmness, similar to what you might expect in a meatloaf recipe. As pertains to taste, we used a little onion, garlic, and cumin. Just a hint of cumin creates a slight barbecued meat flavor. Finally, lentils are a great meat substitute in many recipes. Their flavor is muted and very malleable when cooking Vegan meat substitute dishes. When done right, this recipe should have a slight firmness but it should also be somewhat soft and chewy.

Vegan Lentil Burger Recipe

• Green or brown lentils
• Vegetable broth
• Olive oil
• Red onion
• Spinach
• Garlic
• Cumin
• Breadcrumbs
• Chia egg
• Mushrooms
• Vegan butter

How to Make Lentil Burgers

1. Add lentils and vegetable broth to a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer partially covered until lentils have fully softened and all liquids have evaporated, roughly 30 minutes.
2. Transfer to a food processor with additional tablespoon of vegetable broth. Pulse lentils several times until most of the lentils are broken up.
3. Transfer blended lentils into a large mixing bowl.
4. Heat Vegan butter in a medium-sized skillet over medium heat and sauté mushrooms for 5 minutes.
5. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring frequently until onions become translucent and tender, about 5 minutes.
6. In the same skillet, add garlic, spinach, cumin, salt and pepper, sauté an additional 3 minutes until spinach is wilted.
7. Add sautéed mushrooms along with onion, garlic, and spinach mixture into the mixing bowl with the lentils.
8. Add breadcrumbs and chia egg into the mixing bowl and mix all ingredients thoroughly together.
9. Cover and refrigerate mixture for one hour or overnight.
10. Form mixture into patties and place on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
11. Preheat oven to 350F and bake patties for 10 minutes.
12. Preheat a grill to medium-high heat and brush olive oil over the grill. Place patties on the grill and cook until grill marks form, roughly 3 minutes per side.

Why Use a Chia Egg in This Recipe?

Chia eggs are a Vegan egg substitute and perfect because they act as a binding-agent similar to eggs. I guess you could say they really hold things together well, which is what you want when making a great Vegan burger patty. When combined with breadcrumbs, they thicken and firm up lentil meat so it’s moldable.

How to Make a Chia Egg

For this recipe you are going to use 1 tablespoon of chia seeds and 2 1/2 tablespoons of water.

1. Pour the chia seeds into a small bowl.
2. Add water and mix using a whisk until it begins to thicken.
3. Let sit for 5 minutes for the mixture to fully thicken.

For full details about this recipe, see our post, Chia Egg.

What Type of Lentils Should Be Used?

Brown and green lentils work best for this recipe as they produce a meaty flavor. However, feel free to experiment with your favorite lentil. While I haven’t tried this recipe with red or yellow lentils, I can’t imagine the recipe being greatly altered by doing so. Let us know how it works out for you if you do try a different type of lentil. We’d love to know!

How to Serve Lentil Burgers

• Traditional bun and burger style. As seen here, we served our Vegan Lentil Burgers as you would any traditional burger with buns, cheese (Vegan), onion, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayo. l know fries go well here, so don’t scrimp; get yourself some good fries.
• Wraps. Serve our Mushroom Lentil Burgers wrap-style. Grab your favorite lettuce and wrap this delicious burger; include some good pickles, onions, and tomatoes.
• Dipping patties. You can make these burgers dipping-sized; then grab your favorite dips and enjoy!
• Atop a salad. This burger patty also goes great on top of a salad; this is a wonderful way to add a little protein to your favorite greens.

How to Store Lentil Burgers

If you are an avid meal-prepper, you’re going to want a stack of these delicious Vegan burger patties on hand. The best way to store these is to either refrigerate or freeze them.

• Refrigerate: Store in the fridge stacked between parchment paper on either a plate or in a bag. These keep well in the fridge for up to a week.
• Freeze: Stack the patties between parchment paper and place them in either a freezer bag or a freezer container, store them in the fridge for up to a month. Thaw patties in the fridge before using.

Recipe Variations and Tips

• Herbs and seasonings. Experiment with different herbs and seasonings. You may try adding some cilantro or chili powder.
• Form lentil mixture into balls first. It’s easier to form a patty by starting with a perfectly compacted ball. So, take a handful of the lentil mixture and roll it into a ball in your hands and pack it down tight; then, gently mash it into a patty. Round out any of the split-ends of the patty after you’ve smashed it down.
• Toast or grill buns. Using a toasted or grilled bun is wonderful for this recipe. It adds another layer of smoky-barbecue flavor. The texture of a slightly crunchy bun also adds another layer of firmness to this recipe; you don’t want a wimpy Vegan burger that just feels like it’s seconds from falling apart.
• Bake your burger first. It’s important to bake these burgers before you grill them or fry them. Baking the burger solidifies the burger before you place it on the grill. If you don’t do this, you may end up with a burger that falls apart.

Health Benefits of Lentils

• Research suggests that eating lentils has the effect of lowering risk of heart disease (1).
• One study revealed that lentils may increase good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol (2).
• Studies reveal that lentils may have the affect of lowering high blood pressure (3).

If you enjoyed this plant-based recipe, here are some other recipes you’ll love making!

Dinner Ideas

• Vegan Pizza
• Vegan Mac and Cheese
• Pasta Primavera
• Vegan Chimichangas
• Vegan Chili
• Chickpea Salad Sandwich

Lentil Recipes

• Lentil Tacos
• Vegan Red Lentil Soup