Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
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Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
Make the patties and keep in the fridge for up to 2 days, or freeze.
Cook the sweet potatoes; pierce them with a fork and microwave on high, on a piece of kitchen paper, for 10-15 minutes until tender, turning half way. Split, scoop out the flesh, discard the skin; mash roughly and season. Or roughly chop, then steam them for about 15 minutes before mashing. Leave to cool.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a nonstick frying pan; fry the onion and pepper for 5-6 minutes. Stir in the garlic and the chipotle paste; cook for 1 minute more.
Mix the ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of cold water in a small bowl and leave for 5 minutes, until it thickens and gels (this acts as an egg replacer – or use 1 medium egg if not vegan).
Crush the beans in a mixing bowl so that they are partly mashed, but there are still some whole beans showing. Add the quinoa, coriander, lime zest plus a good squeeze of lime juice. Mix in the sweet potato, the flax and the onion mixture; season well.
Shape into 4 burgers. The mixture will be sticky – using wet hands will help. Sprinkle half the polenta over one side of the burgers, then turn over and sprinkle with the rest. Chill on a tray; about 20 minutes in the freezer, or 45-60 minutes in the fridge.
Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl; add a squeeze of lime juice.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick frying pan. Fry the burgers for 3 minutes on a medium heat, or until golden. Add another tablespoon of oil, flip the burgers and cook for another 3 minutes or until crisp and hot.
Meanwhile, toast the cut sides of the burger buns. Top the base of each bun with some slaw (recipe below), then add a burger, some avocado, a spoonful of sauce and cress or sprouted seeds, if you like. Finish with the bun lids.
Tip
How to make super slaw to serve: Whisk the juice of 1⁄2 lime, 1 tbsp agave syrup or maple syrup, and 1 tbsp rapeseed oil with seasoning in a bowl. Toss in 2 tbsp chopped coriander, 2 large carrots, grated, 1⁄4 red cabbage, shredded, 20g rocket (optional) and mix well.
Change your burger flavour Go Mexican: switch the chipotle paste for 1⁄2 tsp each of ground cumin, smoked paprika and chilli powder; serve with dairy-free oat fraiche or soured cream mixed with lime juice.
Make it Middle Eastern: use 1⁄2 tsp each ground cumin, coriander and cinnamon instead of chipotle paste, lemon in place of the lime; add harissa-swirled dairy-free yogurt.
Head for the Med: leave out the chipotle paste and lime; swap basil for the coriander; add chopped sundried tomatoes and olives. Add vegan mayo mixed with vegan basil pesto.
The more pulverized the veggie burger mixture gets, the better the patties will stick together. (But don't puree them, or the final texture will be off.) Keep the patty size reasonable. If you make the veggie burgers too large, they are more likely to fall apart.
Eggs are the most common and effective binder, and egg replacers are an excellent alternative for vegan burgers. Other common binders include wheat germ, bread crumbs, oats, and ground flaxseeds.
To replicate 1 large egg, mix 1 tablespoon flaxseed with 2 to 3 tablespoons water and let sit for a few minutes. Add to the veggie burger mix just as you would an egg.
Common binding agents include flax eggs (a mixture of ground flaxseed and water), chia seeds, mashed potatoes, tapioca flour, or even your favorite nut butter. These ingredients help hold everything together and prevent your burger from crumbling.
Mashed Avocado Makes the Best Veggie Burger Binder
Avocado is also a great choice for vegan burgers, when using an egg as a binder isn't an option, as well as gluten-free burgers. And because of its mild flavor, you won't actually taste the avocado, you'll simply be taking advantage of its great binding abilities.
But through my Made by Lukas veggie burger business, I spent many, many hours cooking off free veggie burger samples for shoppers in frigid dairy departments of grocery stores, where I learned that one way to solve for mushy veggie burgers is to just cook them bit longer, and slower, on sightly lower heat, and to even ...
The flour which you add will help to bind the burger together and dry it out. Some people will also add tapioca starch or cornflour which thicken when cooked, and again these will help bind the burger and give it some texture.
Partially dehydrating canned black beans in the oven solves the problem of mushy texture that plagues most black bean burgers. Crumbled feta cheese adds moisture and seasoning right into each patty.
Combine a tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of water, stir to combine, and let stand for 5 minutes to thicken. Ground flaxseed emulates eggs' binding qualities in breads, cakes, muffins, cookies, burgers, and vegan meatballs.
Rice. While cooked rice won't work for fried foods since it can't get crispy, both cooked and uncooked rice is great as a binding agent for things like meatloaf, meatballs, or veggie burgers.
Spices and tomato paste: Smoked paprika, chili powder, salt, and pepper combine to make these burgers a little smoky and incredibly delicious. Tomato paste adds color, sweetness, and an umami flavor to the burgers (highly recommended!). Cooked rice: Adds more texture to the veggie burgers.
What can you use to bind burgers instead of egg? In theory, you could use bread crumbs—I recommend using coarse, crustless fresh white bread crumbs—or even grated Parmesan cheese. The best way of getting your burgers to hold together is by using a medium grind 80% beef 20% fat ground chuck and a burger press.
Panko bread crumbs – They give the burgers their hearty texture. An egg – To bind everything together! And salt and pepper – To make all the flavors pop.
Breadcrumbs: Help hold our burgers together. Veggie and bean burgers don't hold together as well as meat burgers, but the breadcrumbs in this recipe help a lot! Eggs or flax eggs: I make this recipe with eggs, but we have tested it with homemade flax eggs, and they work!
In a mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, 1 egg, and a generous amount of salt and pepper to season (half tsp each). Egg is a burger binding agent for the ground beef patty.
No, eggs are not necessary for binding burger patties, though they are commonly used for binding them. However, you can use other binding agents such as breadcrumbs, cracker crumbs, potato starch, flour, and porridge oats to bind burger patties according to your preferences.
If they aren't bound well, the patties will start to fall apart as soon as you start cooking them. The most commonly used binding agent for hamburger patties is eggs. They work well with ground meat and are easy to incorporate into the rest of your ingredients.
Introduction: My name is Barbera Armstrong, I am a lovely, delightful, cooperative, funny, enchanting, vivacious, tender person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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Prep time: 30 mins
