Experimenting with different veggie burger combinations is so fun, the varieties are endless! These Lentil and Green Pea Veggie Burgers are full of garden fresh flavors from the green peas and cilantro, they’re hearty and savory from the lentils and tamari, full of warm flavors from the spices, with the option for a little spicy kick! These burgers are easy to make, plus they stick together rather than crumbling into a pile on your plate!
These veggie burgers are more than just mouthwatering; they are incredibly nutritious! While working on this recipe, I’ve made a lot of veggies burgers recently and have been eating about one burger a day (sometimes two) for the past two weeks. I feel fabulous and I think I lost weight! The same things definitely can’t be said about a meat burger; imagine eating one a day (sometimes two!) for half of a month? Weight gain, energy plummet, and overall yuck. Homemade veggie burgers are easy to make, have more flavor than meat burgers, and aren’t the cardboard-esque texture and flavor of the store bought kind. It’s win-win all around!
Tips for success
- Green Lentils will give burgers more of a fun green hue or brown lentils will give them a savory deep brown color (as pictured). Both work great! I like to change it up for variety.
- Bread crumbs are key to keeping these burgers together. If the mixture is too sticky when forming patties, add more breadcrumbs! It usually takes about 1 cup of breadcrumbs when I make this recipe but I start with ¾ cup and go from there.
- For gluten-free I’d suggest using gluten-free breadcrumbs rather than grinding up oats. For years I tried using oats instead of breadcrumbs for gluten-free options and to be honest, it’s never very good. Oats give the patties a dry, dusty flavor and they don’t hold together! Breadcrumbs are where it’s at for both texture and flavor for a solid veggie burger (pun intended).
- Love spicy? Depending on your love for spice, add more (or less) jalapeño seeds! Omitting all seeds will still give you a hint of the flavor of the pepper without the spice but for spice lovers, add more seeds!
- Don’t be afraid to get your hands messy! You don’t need a special tool to mash the veggie burger mixture together, use your hands! You’ll need to form the patties anyways, so why not? I find using my hands works better than a potato masher or the back of a fork.
- When making patties, texture should be tack and not sticky. If mixture is sticking to your hands and not forming patties, add more breadcrumbs! Patties should be easy to form.
- If you have the time, refrigerate patties for an hour before cooking. It’s not required if you’re in a time crunch, but helps firm up the patties a bit.
Eat the rainbow
This is a saying for good reason; the more colorful the food on your plate is, the wider variety of nutrients you’ll be eating! These burgers are no exception as the patties themselves are packed with lentils, peas, spices, and even flaxseed meal and then adorned with a rainbow of colorful toppings!
Every fruit, vegetable, and legume brings something unique to the table:
- Lentils are one of the most nutritional legumes! One cup of cooked lentils contains 15.6 grams of fiber and 18 grams of protein, as well as 90% of the recommended daily intake of folate!
- Green peas are packed with clean, healthy protein: one cup contains 8 grams of protein! That’s more protein than an egg and without all the cholesterol and saturated fat baggage.
- Flaxseed meal is a fabulous, clean source of omega-3 fatty acids (Bob’s Red Mill boasts 2,430 mg in 2 Tbsp)! Flaxseeds also contain lignans, powerful compounds which can help suppress breast cancer tumor growth!3 Tomatoes are also an excellent source of vitamin C and vitamin A, with most of the vitamins and antioxidants concentrated in the skin of tomatoes.
- Red onions have the highest antioxidant content of onions compared to white or yellow! Remember: the darker the color, the higher the antioxidant content (with cauliflower being an exception). Most of the antioxidants are on the outside peel, which many people discard, so keep this in mind! The outer peel has 10x more antioxidants than the core. Onions also land in one of the two best families of vegetables that prevent cancer: alliums (including onions, garlic and leeks) along with cruciferous (like broccoli, kale, cauliflower and cabbage).4
- Spices do so much more than merely flavor dishes! Aside from making food taste amazing, spices contain phytonutrients that provide powerful health benefits including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial properties as well as being overall mood-boosting.
Lentil and Green Pea Veggie Burgers
Ingredients
- ¾ cup green or brown lentils dry
- 2 cups water
- ½ of a yellow onion finely chopped
- 1 jalapeño minced, ½ or all seeds removed
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups green peas frozen is fine
- ¼ cup almond butter or peanut butter
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves finely chopped
- 3 Tbsp flaxseed meal
- 1 Tbsp cumin
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 3 Tbsp liquid aminos or tamari
- ¾ – 1 cup bread crumbs
Instructions
- In medium-sized pot bring 2 cups of water and ¾ cup lentils to a boil. Cover with a tilted lid and reduce heat to a simmer, cooking for 15-20 minutes until lentils are tender.
- Meanwhile, heat a large skillet on medium heat with a splash of oil or water and sauté onions, jalapeño, and green peas until onion is softened. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
- While everything cooks, place cilantro, flaxseed, cumin, and chili powder in a large bowl. When lentil and onion/pea mixture finishes cooking, add those to the large bowl as well and mix together. Add liquid aminos or tamari and ¾ cup bread crumbs. Use your hands to knead mixture until desired consistency, slowly adding bread crumbs as needed until texture is tacky and not too sticky.
- Form patties with your hands and place on a baking sheet. If you have the time, refrigerate mixture for 1 hour.
- Brush patties lightly with olive oil before cooking.
- Baking: preheat oven to 350°. Cook for 15-20 minutes, flipping halfway through, until both sides are lightly browned.Pan frying: cook patties on medium heat on a large (preferably non-stick) skillet, flipping halfway through until both sides are browned.
- Assemble burgers: place the cooked patties on lightly toasted buns and top with any. Enjoy!
Did you enjoy these veggie burgers? I’d love to hear! Leave me a comment below! 🙂
- https://www.oncologynutrition.org/erfc/healthy-nutrition-now/foods/flaxseeds-and-breast-cancer1
- Tomatoes get their vibrant red hue because of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant with an array of health benefits! Lycopene is being studied on it’s protection against prostate cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases and diabetes, and may help with improved skin health, fertility, immune response, and exercise recovery.2https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8869745/
- https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/onions/
