These quick lentil burgers are a family favourite in our house. My teen daughter asks for them just about every week. And that's something, because she generally prefers sweets to "real" food. Although it's a super simple recipe, I've been refining it for weeks because I wanted to best combine ease of preparation with just the right texture. I think I've finally found the best ingredients and the best process for preparing these lentil burgers quickly and efficiently.
I started making these lentil patties long before our current social distancing practices, but it turns out the recipe is great for these challenging times. It requires ingredients you are likely to have (or can stock up on) in your pantry. This includes canned lentils (although you could certainly cook dry lentils for this recipe too), flour, panko bread crumbs, oats and seasonings. The only perishable ingredient is a red onion, but those are pretty long lasting too.
This is a plant-based, vegan lentil burger recipe with natural ingredients. I imagine you could make these lentil burgers gluten-free quite easily by using gluten-free flour and bread crumbs (although I haven't tried to do it myself). This is the kind of recipe you can serve to your omnivore friends - it's a hearty veggie burger with a thick, satisfying texture.
Lentils - edible seeds from the legume family - are inexpensive, low in calories and high in fibre, protein and iron. They are also packed with vitamins, minerals and health-promoting phytochemicals.
Serve these lentil burgers on buns with all the toppings you enjoy - ketchup, pickles, lettuce, mustard - or serve them sans bun with vegan gravy or tahini sauce. You can also just dip them in ketchup like my daughter does!
The lentil burger recipe instructions call for using a food processor to process the lentils briefly. I like to use a food processor to save on time, but if you don't have one, you can certainly mash the lentils by hand with a fork or masher. After that, you simply mix all the ingredients together with a spoon, shape the lentil mixture easily into small patties (this mix doesn't fall apart!), dip the patties in flour and cook in a lightly oiled fry pan. This is a great weeknight meal recipe that will be ready in under 30 minutes.
This recipe was inspired by a recipe in How It All Vegan!, one of my favourite vegan cookbooks. I have evolved and adapted it so much over time that I thought I would share this heavily revised version.
Questions for you
Do you love lentils? What other pantry staples do you rely on?
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Quick Lentil Burgers With Pantry Ingredients
8 to 10 patties
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour + 3 tablespoons for coating
- 1 19 ounce can lentils, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 red onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup panko or other bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup quick oats
- 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil, plus more for frying
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
Instructions
To a food processor, add flour, lentils and red onion. Pulse five or six times until lentils are relatively pureed but mixture isn't completely smooth.Turn out into large bowl and add remaining ingredients. Stir until well combined.
Put 3 tablespoons flour on a small plate. Shape lentil mixture into small patties and coat both sides of each patty in flour.
Cook lentil burgers on a lightly oiled large frying pan over medium heat for 5 minutes or so per side.
Is there a way to make these with dried lentils instead? I always have those on hand.
ReplyDeleteYes, for sure, Heather. Just cook the lentils first in some boiling water until tender and then drain. :)
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