Homemade Veggie Burgers

I like some types of veggie burgers, and I do eat them on a regular basis.  My favorite are the Morningstar Farms Grillers Prime - which are a type that is meant to actually taste like an actual burger.  There are lots of veggie burgers out there, though, and many don't really try to mimic an actual meat burger taste... some just taste like veggies or beans or what have you, and are delicious in that way rather than in a meaty way.  That is the type of veggie burger you tend to find in restaurants or if it's homemade.  I've never actually made a homemade veggie burger; I've always stuck with the pre-made frozen ones.  The closest thing I've come to making something like that would probably be the bean cakes - such as black bean cakes or bean and rice cakes that I've made.  For some reason today I decided to try my hand at making my own real homemade veggie burger patties so I spent all afternoon fiddling around in the kitchen.  I thought I would share my results with you.

I made my veggie burgers out of beans and bulgur wheat.  I get bulgur wheat at the bulk section of my grocery store and it can be used for all kinds of things.  It's a main ingredient in tabbouleh, and that's what I've mostly used it for.  I happened to have some in the house, though, and I thought I might be able to use that in the burger.  I cooked some beans (after soaking them for a while), and ran them through the food processor until smooth but still a little chunky (like refried beans). 

To the beans and bulgur wheat, I also added a little bit of dried bread crumbs, and some minced onion and shredded zucchini (that I pre-cooked).  I was going to serve the burgers with feta and tzatziki so I added marjoram and parsley for a Greek themed flavor.  I was very worried about the burgers being dense and gummy so I tried to mix the mixture gently and keep some air in it.  I had to decide whether to put in egg as a binder and decided against it and figured I would use it as is first.  So I formed a couple of patties and sauteed them with oil on a hot skillet. 

The verdict on the burgers was great!  They got a nice brown crust on the outside and the flavor was good.  However, they did start to crumble and fall apart.  We ate the burgers like that, but then I went back and added egg to the rest of the mixture.  I made six more patties out of the remaining mix and those are in the freezer right now for some future veggie burger meals.  Lack of egg notwithsanding, I'm actually pretty proud of my first foray into veggie burgerdom!  The bulgur wheat was actually a really good addition.  And even though I wasn't really going for meat flavor, they actually were relatively meaty tasting. 

I was worried the results would be somewhere between disaster and meh, but I'm relieved that my burgers turned out pretty good.  The addition of the feta and tzatziki made them actually quite yummy.  Of course it takes a lot to make something with feta not yummy!

Happy eating!