how to make easy vegan soy and gluten burgers
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Learn how to make easy vegan soy and gluten burgers for a cruelty-free burger night! Rich in proteins, these burgers will surprise even meat eaters!
Raise your hand if you don’t consider a hearty burger as a comfort food!
No hands up? how to make easy vegan soy and gluten burgers
I knew it!
If fact, what’s better than a succulent burger in a soft bun with a side of roasted veggies, fries or chips, and slaw or salad to treat ourselves once in a while.
That is simply divine, isn’t it?
Nowadays thanks to the huge impact of the vegan movement, we are able to find good vegan or plantbased alternatives in any supermarket. And the choice is growing day after day!
However, most of these alternatives can contain stupid amount of salt and preservatives, therefore they are not-so-healthy or good for us, and they can be sometimes quite pricey as well.
I came up with an homemade alternative to these store-bought burgers, that features the same main ingredients (so you’ll be having the same texture) but at 1/4 of the price (if not even less)!
So, if you’re looking forward to making vegan burgers at home completely from scratch you’re in the right place!
In this post I will show you how to make delicious and super juicy vegan burgers at home, that are both cheap and easy.
I’ve been experimenting how to achieve that meaty and chewy texture for the perfect plantbased alternative for a while now, as well as different flavour combination and twists inspired from cuisines all over the globe.
And today I’m going to present you what I consider a basic style burgers, and, later on, I will post all the other recipes of the different twists and flavours that I consider *winning*.
So stay tuned if you are known as a burger lover and subscribe to this blog to receive new recipes updates straight to your e-mail box (simply enter your e-mail address and hit the subscribe button in the form you can find on the right hand side of this page, or at the end of the blog post – if you’re reading this from your mobile phone/tablet)!
Pretty much all burgers available in the shops are made from soy and gluten*.
I personally find these 2 ingredients to be quite the key in order to achieve a good patty that is both juicy and chewy, as well as able to deliver at the same time that meaty-like texture most people (especially non vegans) expect from vegan alternatives.
Both these ingredients are easily available in the shops or online.
If you don’t have any shop that might sell these products nearby, you can buy Soy Textured Vegetable Protein here and Vital Gluten here.
*If you’re gluten-free check the recipe of these Quinoa & Mushroom Burgers.
But what is TVP?
Textured Vegetable Protein, also known as TVP, is a manufactured soy product.
TVP is frequently used as a meat replacement, or in some cases, a meat extender. It has a texture that resembles ground beef, so it’s an ideal meat substitute in spaghetti sauces, chili, tacos and even hamburgers. (source howstuffworks).
How is TVP used?
To use TVP as meat substitute we simply need to hydrate the product. Twenty minutes in hot water is usually enough to make the soy fluffy and ready to use as you please. If using in curries, bolognese or chillies, theres no need to hydrate the TVP in advance, as it will puff up thanks to the juices/broth in the recipe, just make sure to add more water to the preparation as TVP will absorbe quite a lot of liquid.
What is Vital Gluten and what is it used for?
As many of you already know, gluten is another vegetarian alternative to meat, very high in protein.
Wheat gluten is a food made from gluten, the main protein of wheat. It is made by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch granules have been removed, leaving the sticky insoluble gluten as an elastic mass which is then cooked before being eaten (souce Wikipedia).
Gluten is the essential ingredient to make seitan, the vegan meat, and it has become very popular in both restaurants and home cooking.
For other recipes starring vital gluten check these Braciole Baresi, these Italian-Style Sausages, these Vegan Chicken-Style Legs, or these BBQ Seitan Buffalo Wings.
The Ingredients
Along with TVP and gluten, I’ve also used rolled oat as a third level of texture.
These three main ingredients are then mixed together with spices and sauces.
The spice blend I’ve used is an homemade blend of dried mushrooms, mustard seeds, herbs and spices (of which I will post a recipe soon with the exact weight), but you can use any beef or chicken spice blend available in the supermarket.
The sauces are BBQ sauce that provides smokiness and richness to the patties, and soy sauce, for saltiness and umami flavour.
The salt contained in the soy sauce (or tamari) will be enough to season our burgers, so it won’t be required to add extra salt to this recipe.
Once the ingredients are mixed together, we can form the patties and move onto the cooking and final step.
To cook these burgers you will have multiple choices:
- pan fry
- oven bake
- barbecue
To pan fry these burgers you will need to heat a bit of vegetable oil in a pan, arrange the burgers on it and cook on medium heat on both sides for 7-8 minutes per side WITH the lid on (the gluten will cook thanks to the steam created and the outside will be slighly charred).
If you prefer cooking the burgers in the oven you will simply need to preheat it at 190°C (375°F) and bake the patties for 20 minutes flipping them halfway.
Finally, if you’d like to use the barbecue or grill, it is essential that you to steam the patties in advance.
To do so you will need to wrap each patty in some foil and arrange into a steamer or colander over boiling water and allow to cook for 20-30 minutes.
Note: after steaming the burgers you can also keep them longer in the fridge (up to 4 days) or freeze the patties for later use and use within a few months.
I usually prepare these vegan burgers in bulks and store in the freezer ready to be used for last-minutes meals after I steam them.
You can both cook the burgers from frozen or previously defrost them for a few hours.
The result is as good as freshly made ones!
Would you like to learn how to make these gorgeous vegan burgers now?
I’ll leave you indeed to the recipe, enjoy!
If you want to make this recipe soon, pin this for later!
How to Make these Easy Soy and Gluten Burgers
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Soy Textured Protein (TVP)
1/2 cup Rolled Oat
5 tbsp Vital Gluten
4 tbsp BBQ Sauce
2 tbsp Rapeseed Oil
3 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Spice Blend
1/2 cup Water
1 tbsp Flour
Method:
1. In a bowl combine: soy curls, oats, BBQ sauce, soy sauce, oil and spices. Add hot water, stir well and set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Add the gluten and the flour. Work the dough with a spoon or by hands until it comes together. Let it set for another 10-15 minutes.
3. Form the burger patties (you should be able to make 4 burgers of 100 grams each).
4. Cook the burgers in a preheated oven for 20 minutes (flipping halfway), on the grill* or pan fry with a bit of olive oil on medium heat with the lid on for around 7 minutes per side.
*if you want to cook these burgers on a grill or barbecue you’ll need to steam the burgers for 20 minutes and brush them with vegetable oil before they hit the grill.
You can prepare these burgers in bulks, steam them for 20 minutes and store into the freezer for a few months. You will be then able to cook them both from frozen (allowing more time) or defrosted, both on the grill or in a pan.
