Vegan Quinoa Burgers

Kicking the Frozen Veggie Burger Habit

This is the burger that got me to kick the frozen veggie burger habit. If you're a fan of the onion/ mustard combo, this is the recipe for you. The shallot gives it a VERY bold flavor and the texture, after a quick saute combined with a bake is pretty sweet. This recipe was adapted and veganized from "Veggie Burgers Every Which Way" by Lukas Volger. The recipe originally called for egg but I've used a mashed potato to help with binding.

Quinoa Burgers

Ingredients

2 cups cooked quinoa

1/4 cup steamed spinach

1 medium sized shallot, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ small potato, boiled and mashed

3 T all-purpose flour

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

¼ t ground black pepper

1 T olive oil for sauteing

Directions:

Follow your directions for cooking quinoa, though it seems boiling 1 part quinoa with 2 parts water for about 12 minutes generally does the trick,

1. Cook your quinoa. Skin and boil (20 minutes) half of a potato. Steam a good enough bit (1 cup of fresh) of spinach so you'll have roughly ¼ cup packed once steamed. Drain the potato and mash when cooled a little. Finely chop the steamed spinach.

2. Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Mince shallot and garlic. Combine with quinoa. Add flour, salt, pepper, spinach, and baking powder. Using a fork combine as well as you can. Add mashed potato, and using fork, continue to mash and combine. This will take a few minutes. When properly combined, the mixture should be quite dense and moist.

3. Form burger patties. This recipe yields about five 3” by 1 ½” burgers.

4. Saute each side of patty for 3 or so minutes on medium heat, or until slightly browned.. Transfer to baking sheet and bake in oven for 12-15 minutes.

5. Remove from oven. Place on bun (toasted pretzel bun is perfect)! Add condiments – mustard, with a little ketchup works best here.