Everyone loves a good burger, which is why I've been on a mission to make the best vegan burgers around. After years of experimenting, I've created the Ultimate Vegan Blackbean & Mushroom Seitan Burger!!
What makes it SO good? Well, it's still a vegan burger, but with a meaty twist. The black beans & mushrooms provide deep umami flavour & a great vegan bean texture, while the seitan adds a bounce and meaty style texture that really satisfies carnivores & vegans alike. It's the perfect combination of all things burger!
Some vegan burgers that you can get in shops have become a bit too scarily 'real' for my liking. And by 'real' I mean they really resemble those cheapo burgers that I remember eating when young. This was not the effect I was after at all when creating my Ultimate Vegan Burger!
I wanted to create a burger that still had all the good bits of a really good veggie burger, but with a more satisfying bite. I also wanted it to be able to withstand the grill or BBQ, and when heat applied, to get that all-important Maillard reaction which gives that deep caramelisation & extra flavour to grilled food!
I've made other burgers in the past (Like my Amazing BBQ-able Bean Burgers) and they're all great, in fact, if you don't want to go down the seitan making route, or are celiac, I suggest you try those as a really tasty alternative to these.
But these Blackbean & Mushroom Seitan burgers... they're a whole new level of deliciousness! Not only that, each burger has a whopping 22g of protein!! Amazing!
Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients. It's mostly seasonings, and they really do add an extra level of deliciousness to the finished burger. You can also play with the seasonings here. Add loads of garlic & chilli for a spicy burger. Or maybe go for a more Italian style flavouring with extra tomatoes & herbs. These burgers can take big flavours thrown at them, so don't be shy when adding them in!
The burgers have a few steps that might be unfamiliar: Here they are after mixing and resting for 45 minutes. The resting gives them time to develop the gluten strands (seitan). This creates their delicious meaty texture!
Then you form the burgers & oven bake them for half an hour. This means they're stable. You can then grill or BBQ them to finish them off.
Once they're out of the oven, you can freeze some for later, or let them rest for a bit before getting your BBQ or grill out for the perfect BBQ Vegan burger treat!
Oh, and the recipe easily makes 12 burgers. So make them ahead, and after their initial baking, freeze the ones you don't use on some grease-proof paper to keep them separate. Then you can bring out the Ultimate Vegan Blackbean & Mushroom Seitan Burger ready to grill as soon as the sun shows!
Ultimate Vegan Black bean & Mushroom Seitan Burger
Ingredients
For the Burgers
- 240 g black beans ((1 tin/can))
- 250 g mushrooms
- 250 g vital wheat gluten
- 100 g dried soya mince (also called TVP)
Seasonings
- 3 tablespoon stock or bouillon powder
- 3 tablespoon miso (you can use soy sauce if you don't have miso)
- 3 tablespoon bbq sauce (or ketchup/tomato sauce)
- 3 tablespoon vinegar (any kind. Or use pickle juice)
- 3 teaspoon oregano- dried
- 3 teaspoon dried garlic
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke (or use 2 teaspoon smoked paprika)
Instructions
- Divide the black beans in 2 and reserve the water from the can
- place half the black beans & all the mushrooms in a food processor & roughly chop. Alternatively chop the mushrooms by hand & mash the beans roughly
- In a large bowl, mix together the beans, mushrooms, vital wheat gluten & dried soya mince
- In a blender, add the rest of the black beans & their juice + all the seasoning ingredients
- Top up the blender to the 750 mls mark with water and blend until smooth (you want 750mls total liquid)
- Tip the blender contents into the large bowl of beans & mushrooms
- Rinse the blender with a little extra water (about 200ml) and tip that into the mix too
- Using a wooden spoon, mix together all the ingredients in the bowl until combined.
- Let this rest for 45 minutes. This allows the gluten from the Vital Wheat Gluten to hydrate and start to form the burger structure.
- Once the mixture is rested, give it another mix, to be sure everything is combined. For a firmer more bouncy burger, keep mixing for 2-3 minutes. This creates the 'gluten' strands.
- Preheat your oven to 220C/Gas Mark 5
- Shape the burgers (will make 12 large burgers approx) and place on oven trays
- Bake for half hour in the oven.
- Allow your burgers to cool.
- You can now finish the burgers off. Pan fry, Grill or BBQ the burgers as desired! A little olive oil on the outside of the burgers will help create the delicious caramelisation and make them full of extra flavour!
Inga says
Hi...They look great, please can you let me know if the bugeres can be frozen?
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
Yes they freeze really well! Just freeze in singles with a little bit of greaseproof paper in between them. You can cook from frozen too (start on a low heat to ensure that the middle thaws out)
Zahava says
can you post the measurements for American readers? we don't use grams, we use cups. thanx. that would be great.
Vanessa Sturman says
Hi Zahava, many thanks for your comment, and wonderful to hear you'd like to use our recipes. We have just added the cups for this recipe (there is button at the bottom of the ingredients list so you can see cups instead of grams). We are working our way through our recipes to add cups - many of them already have this anyway. If there are specific ones you would like to make ASAP (and they don't have cups) just comment on them and we will change those for you ASAP.
Thanks
Vanessa x
Kumari says
Omg!!!! Such a delicious burger!!! I wanted to make a black bean burger w seitan and this was the first recipe to pop up and I am soooo glad. These were a hit!! Ridiculously good texture. Holds together perfectly. Grilled to perfection and enjoyed on a whole wheat bun w caramelized onions, vegan Mayo and tomatoes. Muah!!!
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
We're SO glad you liked this burger! It's our ABSOLUTE FAVE to make all summer and we get so excited when someone else likes it too! xxx
Mrk says
Tastes great, but texture is too mushy. Need some dehydration for beans and less water
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
Thank you for your feedback. We have tested this multiple times (I make a batch roughly once a month) and it shouldn't turn out mushy, but rather slightly chewy and 'meaty'.
Out of interest, did you use the weight or the US cup measurements? The weight is our original recipe and I wonder if the liquid ratio might be out in the cups?
Also worth noting that you could dehydrate the beans if you wanted to, but I personally don't like the flouryness of dehydrated beans.
MrK says
Used weight. Will try another batch with less liquid. Also noticed that sugars in bbq sauce made these burn really quickly when grilling.