Down Home Vegan BBQ Burger

Big, flavour-loaded Vegan BBQ Burgers slathered in BBQ sauce. Grab a napkin because it's going to get messy!

This Down Home Vegan BBQ Burger recipe is from the book Vegan Burgers & Burritos: Easy and Delicious Whole Food Recipes for the Everyday Cook by Sophia DeSantis, creator of the blog Veggies Don't Bite.

In this fabulous book you will find 27 burger recipes (including this one), 26 burrito recipes, 19 sauces and 4 sides.

All of the recipes are:

• plant-based
• gluten-free
• refined sugar free
• feature real, whole food ingredients
• have sauce pairings

They are all easy to make, fun, approachable and packed with flavour and if burger and burritos are your thing you are just going to love it!

Reprinted with permission from Vegan Burgers and Burritos by Sophia DeSantis, Page Street Publishing Co, 2017. Photo credit: Sophia DeSantis

The Down Home Vegan BBQ Burger is full of flavour and a generous slather of BBQ sauce takes it to the next level. So delicious to eat but be prepared to get very messy!

Here's a quick look at some of the other mouthwatering recipes:

• Ultimate Meatball Burger with Quick and Easy Pizza Sauce
• Autumn Burger with Healthy Vegan Mayo
• Chipotle and Lime Forever with Smoky Tangy Cream
• Fall Harvest Burrito with Healthy Vegan Mayo

HOW TO MAKE THE DOWN HOME VEGAN BBQ BURGER

This mouthwatering Down Home Vegan BBQ Burger is so easy to make. The ingredients are added to a food processor (<< affiliate link) and pulsed up.

I have this Cuisinart food processor and love it.  It makes easy work of everything, including nut butter:

Once all the ingredients are pulsed up, all you have to do is stir the corn through, shape into patties and refrigerate for a little while before cooking.

The easy Homemade BBQ Sauce is a breeze and doesn't even need cooking. Just mix everything together in a bowl and you are ready to go!

I cheated and used a bottle of BBQ sauce that I had in the fridge because it needed using up and that is an option for you too if you want to make the recipe even easier.

Down Home Vegan BBQ Burger

Author: Melanie McDonald

5 from 1 vote

Bringing BBQ to your table the nontraditional way. No animals were harmed in this hearty meal, but all of your taste buds will party at the first bite. Slather on as much BBQ sauce as you want and grab a napkin—it’s going to get messy. Hope you aren’t wearing white! 

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PREP TIME: 15 minutes

COOK TIME: 24 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 39 minutes

Servings: 5 burgers (4 if you make them very large)

Ingredients

  

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BURGERS

• ▢ 160g / 1 cup cooked brown rice
• ▢ 200g / 1 cup cooked or canned black beans , drained and rinsed
• ▢ 75g / ½ cup chopped sweet or yellow onion (see notes)
• ▢ 50g / ¼ cup cooked chopped potato (see notes)
• ▢ 2 tbsp cornmeal
• ▢ 1 tbsp Easy Homemade BBQ Sauce (page 156)
• ▢ 2 tsp garlic powder
• ▢ 2 tsp chili powder
• ▢ 1 ½ tsp liquid smoke
• ▢ 1 tsp sea salt
• ▢ 1 tsp maple syrup
• ▢ 36 to 72 g / ¼ to ½ cup cooked frozen corn (defrosted to room temp) or fresh corn (add less or more per your preference)

TO SERVE

• ▢ 4 to 5 buns
• ▢ Lightly grilled rings of sweet or yellow onion
• ▢ Lettuce
• ▢ Tomato
• ▢ Easy Homemade BBQ Sauce page 156

BBQ Sauce

• ▢ 230g / 1 cup tomato paste
• ▢ 118ml / ½ cup low-sodium veggie broth (see notes)
• ▢ 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• ▢ 3 tablespoons molasses
• ▢ 4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
• ▢ 2 teaspoons chili powder
• ▢ 1½ teaspoons sea salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon garlic powder

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INSTRUCTIONS

 

For the burgers

• ▢
  Place the rice, beans, onion, potato, cornmeal, BBQ sauce, garlic powder, chili powder, liquid smoke, salt and syrup into a food processor. Pulse a few times until chunky. Add the corn and pulse a few more times. Don’t overpulse or the mixture will get too soft and diplike.
• ▢
  Place the mixture into a bowl, and put it in the fridge for at least 20 minutes; an hour is best. Making this the day before and letting it sit overnight is optimal. This helps all the flavors marinate and leads to a sturdier burger.
• ▢
  To cook, shape the mixture into patties. If you’re not using a nonstick pan, then you may want to prepare the pan by brushing it with a tad of oil to avoid sticking. Place the patties in a pan on the stovetop over medium heat for 15 minutes on each side. Pans and stovetops vary, so begin to check the patties at 10 minutes. If you try to slide your spatula under a patty and it won’t give, then it isn’t ready and needs to cook longer. You can also bake the patties on a parchment-lined cookie sheet at 375°F (191°C) for about 20 to 25 minutes on each side. Allow the patties to cool and set for 5 to 7 minutes. Serve on buns with the toppings of your choice.

For the sauce

• ▢
  Put the tomato paste, broth, maple syrup, molasses, vinegar, liquid smoke, chili powder, salt and garlic powder in a bowl and mix well until smooth.
• ▢
  People have many different opinions when it comes to the kind of BBQ sauce they like. If you fall in the spicy camp, then add more chili powder ¼ teaspoon at a time to get the level of spice you like. If you are in the sweet camp, add more maple syrup ¼ teaspoon at a time until you get the sweetness you like. But if you are in the tangy camp, add more vinegar. teaspoon at a time until you get the tang you like. This is a good middle-of-the road BBQ sauce, the perfect average mix of sweet, spicy and tangy, according to what I like and the opinions of those who’ve tried it. 

NOTES

Save some rings of onion to use as an optional topping. Cook the onion after you sauté the burger ingredients.

Any type of starchy potato works—I use red. Sweet potato is not recommended as it is not starchy enough. Cook the potato in the microwave or oven. I don’t recommend boiling it because it makes the potato too wet. Measure the potato by mashing it into the measuring cup.

Kids: Make patties into a smaller slider size or into nuggets. Serve sauce on the side as a dipper.

For the sauce, you can use water instead of broth, but I find the broth gives it a bit more flavor. Add more or less broth for the thickness you like.

This sauce is best if made ahead of time so the flavors are allowed to marinate. Marinating also allows the spices to fully combine with the tomato paste. If your sauce seems a little “gritty,” then allow it to sit longer. You can speed this up by heating it slightly.

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DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?
If you did, be a ☆ and let me know what you think by rating it and commenting below. Tag me on Instagram too. I am @avirtualvegan and my hashtag is #avirtualvegan

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Recipe reprinted with permission from Vegan Burgers and Burritos by Sophia DeSantis, Page Street Publishing Co, 2017.

Calories calculated are for one veggie burger with sauce and do not include the bread roll. 

NUTRITION

Serving: 1burger with sauceCalories: 267kcalCarbohydrates: 58gProtein: 8.4gFat: 1.4gSodium: 1036mgFiber: 7gSugar: 22gVitamin A: 1400IUVitamin C: 19.8mgCalcium: 180mgIron: 3.6mg

Nutritional information is provided for convenience & as a courtesy. The data is a computer generated estimate so should be used as a guide only.

Tried this recipe?Rate it & leave your feedback in the comments section below, or tag @avirtualvegan on Instagram and hashtag it #avirtualvegan