If you are like me, you want to provide nutritious and delicious food for you family. Making this commitment to value nutrition, in my opinion, is one of the best choices you can make for your family. It also can mean a lot of time and effort to plan, grocery shop and prepare. I decided that I needed to create some fundamental dishes and baked goods for my family that I could prepare by stocking some standard foods. The requirements for me in designing these dishes were:

  • They needed to be nutritionally dense,
  • They needed to be easily modifiable based on what I had on hand,
  • They needed to be relatively quick and easy to prepare, and
  • And they needed to built on a vegan, nut free base with the option always that you could add meat or nuts if that is your preference.

So, today I’m going to give you the basic formula for a veggie burger that is delicious and nutritious.

2/3 roasted veggies + 1/3 protein + 1/3 Gf flour, spices and binder.

What I often do is stock up on frozen organic produce like butternut squash, broccoli and cauliflower florets, zucchini, kale, spinach, diced sweet potatoes etc… They won’t go bad, and they can be used for many things.

I grab whatever combination of what I’ve got and toss it in the oven with diced onions, garlic and olive oil and roast it at 400 degrees until fragrant and crispy.

Toss the roasted veggies into the food processor and pulse until the veggies are broken down to small pieces.

Next, add your protein. Any type of drained and rinsed bean or quinoa are my go-to choices. Again, these keep in the pantry so just keep them stocked.

Pulse again in the food processor.

Next, add your choice of gf flour. I generally use quinoa flour. But oat or coconut or whatever you’ve got will work!

Add your spices – generally I use:

  • Garlic powder
  • Paprika
  • Turmeric
  • Cumin
  • Onion powder
  • Himalayan sea salt
  • Pepper

Add your binder – generally I use:

  • Flax egg ( 1 tbs ground flax 3tbs water)
  • Chia seed egg ( 1tbs chia seeds, 3 tbs water)

Blend and taste. Add more spice for flavour as required. Add more flour if the consistency is too wet. If you want to give them a kick, add a 1/4 cup of your favourite bbq sauce.

Form the burgers. I use the same pan I roasted the veggies on. It will save on dishes and it should already be oiled. I always prefer stoneware if you’ve got it.

Bake at 350 degrees until they look browned, flipping once.

Serve and enjoy.

Pro Tips:

1. Include fresh rosemary, thyme and oregano with the veggies when you roast them to increase the flavour and antioxidant punch.

2. Serve with sprouts and kimchi or sauerkraut to really pack a nutrition punch and flavourful blast.

Leave me pictures of your veggie burger creations in the comments!

As always, I hope you are flourishing lately.