Mushroom Veggie Burger Recipe (Vegan and Gluten Free) (2024)

FAQs

What binds a veggie burger together? ›

Common binding agents include flax eggs (a mixture of ground flaxseed and water), chia seeds, mashed potatoes, tapioca flour, or even your favorite nut butter. These ingredients help hold everything together and prevent your burger from crumbling.

What can you use to bind burgers instead of egg? In theory, you could use bread crumbs—I recommend using coarse, crustless fresh white bread crumbs—or even grated Parmesan cheese. The best way of getting your burgers to hold together is by using a medium grind 80% beef 20% fat ground chuck and a burger press.

If you're vegan, there's a great alternative: flaxseed meal. This substitution often appears in vegan baking recipes but works just as much magic here. To replicate 1 large egg, mix 1 tablespoon flaxseed with 2 to 3 tablespoons water and let sit for a few minutes. Add to the veggie burger mix just as you would an egg.

Bind the patty together

If you're going for a leaner meat or adding bulky ingredients (eg spring onions, onions, chillies), add an egg and a handful of breadcrumbs to bind the burgers.

At home, the texture of hamburger mince mostly depends on the binding agent. Eggs, flour, breadcrumbs and/or milk are often used to bind, however these agents either don't bind, are poor binders, or interfere with binding. The most effective binding agent is salt.

Use Silken Tofu, a Flax Egg, or Aquafaba as a Vegan Binder.

It is nice and thick, firms up similarly to how an egg cooks, and it's almost impossible for anything to fall apart when using it.

Vegan Binders for Baking

Chia seeds are a popular vegan egg substitute for baking. To replace one large egg in a recipe, simply combine one tablespoon of chia seeds with two and a half tablespoons of water. Let the mixture sit until it forms a jello-like texture. That's it!

Flaxseed (aka linseed)

Ground flaxseed emulates eggs' binding qualities in breads, cakes, muffins, cookies, burgers, and vegan meatballs.

What can you use to bind burgers instead of breadcrumbs? ›

Furthermore, apart from eggs and breadcrumbs, you have the choice of using ingredients such as potato starch, corn starch, flour, porridge oats, or cracker crumbs to bind the burger.

One of the most popular egg substitutes in vegan baking is a flax egg. This is made by combining ground (not whole) flax seeds with water and leaving to sit for 15 minutes until the mixture becomes thick, almost the same consistency as a regular egg.

The most common burger binding agent is egg. This makes your ground beef stick together and is the most readily available ingredient. You can also use potato starch as a burger binding agent depending on your allergies or general availability.

Chickpea flour (aka garbanzo bean flour), once it's mixed with water, acts as an excellent binder as well as a leavening agent just like eggs, making it the perfect addition to your vegan pantry. And, just like eggs, chickpea flour is packed with protein.

watch the edges, and don't flip them until the edges are browning. also pay attention to the way you shape your burgers. if they're much thicker in the middle than they are on the edges, the middle will still be loose while the edges of the burger are firm. and then you have the fall-apart thing happening.

Cook them in batches if your pan isn't large enough. Place the burgers in the pan or on the grill and don't touch them until they sear. If you try to move them too early, they will stick and break apart. When a burger is ready to be moved, it will release easily from the pan or grill.

It's not necessary to add binders like eggs or breadcrumbs to the ground beef when making burger patties. These can actually make the patties too dense and lead to them falling apart on the grill. Simply season the ground beef with salt and pepper before forming the patties.

To form thin patties that hold together on the grill, massage the ground beef briefly — which is a cardinal sin with many other styles of burgers, but a necessity here for cohesion. This allows you to flatten the patty out extra-thin and wide to account for shrinking as the meat cooks.