Justin's Super Vegan Burgers

Justin's Super Burger with fried mushrooms and onions.

This is another entry about food you can freeze. Putting these together takes some work, but once you're done you can take them straight from the freezer to the frying pan. I like to eat mine with mushrooms and onions, or avocados. Vegenaise or homemade vegan mayonnaise is also a nice touch.

Like usual, the recipe is divided into steps, but keep in mind you can be doing many of the steps simultaneously. For me, the recipe yielded 13 great big burgers, it might make 20 of the store-bought size.

Complete Ingredient List:

1. 2 c. brown rice (uncooked amount)
2. 1/2 c. lentils (uncooked amount)
3. 1/2 c. rolled oats
4. 3 TBS ground flax
5. 2 TBS canola oil 
6. 1 medium sweet onion, minced (about 1 c. minced)
7. 4 cloves garlic, minced
8. 2 TBS soy sauce
9. 1.25 c. broccoli, chopped in small pieces
10. 1.25 c. corn (if frozen, set out to thaw)
11. 1.25 c. carrots, chopped in small pieces (I happened to have baby carrots and I did 1/2 rounds)
12. 2 TBS chili powder
13. 2 tsp. garlic powder
14. 1/2 tsp. salt
15. 3/4 c. minced cilantro 
16. 1/4 c. water
17. 3/4 c. vital wheat gluten

First, cook the brown rice. You can use the package instructions, I used the cool technique found here. The rice turned out perfectly, but one commenter did raise an interesting question about whether you lose nutrition cooking rice this way. I'll do some research, but I continually have problems cooking brown rice, so this might be my new method.

Second, cook the lentils. Gently boil about 20-30 minutes, until tender, but not mushy. Time varies depending on the lentils used.

Third, process the rolled oats and flax. Put the oats in a  food processor, I usually throw the flax in too, even though it's already ground. Set aside, but don't wash the food processor, you'll need it again.


Fourth, saute the onion and garlic. Put 1 TBS of the oil in a pan, heat over medium-high, add the onion only, cook for 5-7 minutes.

N. I had a bit of left over poblano pepper from another recipe which I sauteed at this stage, I didn't include it because it isn't necessary, but I mention it because it would be easy to makes lots of variations on this recipe.

When the onion has softened, turn down the heat to medium low, wait for the pan to reduce head a bit, add the garlic and cook about 90 seconds.

Add 1 TBS soy sauce, continue to cook 90 seconds more. Remove from heat, set aside.


Fifth, steam the vegetables. I combine all the veggies into a steamer (I use a colander over a boiling pot of water) and cook for about 6 minutes. I don't know if the term al dente applies to vegetables, but that's how you want to cook them - so them still have some crunch, but aren't raw.

N. A good rule of thumb for the chopping the veggies is that all the pieces should be about the size of the corn kernels, or a bit bigger.

Sixth, mix the spices, oil and soy sauce. Mix up the chili powder, garlic powder, salt, 1 TBS canola oil and 1 TBS soy sauce in a small bowl.

N. Use whatever spices you want.

Seventh, mince the cilantro.

Eight, mix together what you've done so far. Using a great big bowl, stir together the rice, lentils, rolled oats with flax, onion and garlic mix, veggies, the spice mixture and the cilantro.

Initially, your mix should look about like this.

Ninth, process 2.5 c. of the mixture with 1/4 c. water. Using a food processor, blend 2.5 cups of the mixture, with about 1/4 c. water. Stir the processed mix back into the un-processed mixture.

Tenth, add the vital wheat gluten. Knead the mixture for about 3 minutes, or until strings begin to form.

Things get a bit ugly once you blend part of the mixture, but it helps everything stick together.

Eleventh, refrigerate the mixture. I did mine overnight, but I'm sure a couple hours would be fine.

Twelfth, prepare the burgers for freezing. Set wax paper on a cookie sheet. Drop the burger mixture on the sheets (for great big burgers, I use a heaping 1/2 c. measuring cup). Shape into round burgers, (I use the back of a large spoon). Cover with another sheet of way paper and freeze for about 8 hours.

Justin's Super Vegan Burgers, ready for freezing.

Peel off of the wax paper and freeze in freezer bags, or whatever method you prefer. When pre-frozen on wax paper, the bags remain entirely clean, and reusable.

To cook:

Heat about 1 TBS oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook directly from the freezer for 5-6 minutes per side. Serve with buns and whatever garnishes you'd like.