Easy Gluten Free Homemade Veggie Burgers

Remember Monday’s post when I said I’d doubled the rice and lentils to make veggie burgers? Well, here they are. I love Sunshine Burgers* and usually have a box in the freezer for an almost instant lunch or dinner.  But when I’m out, I make my own.  This is one of the fastest and least expensive recipes you can make and its a great vegetarian protein combination, too.

For this recipe I had set aside approximately three cups each of the lentils and the rice. I added the chopped veggies and seasonings and used an immersion blender to get the texture I wanted. Pushing the blender down through the mixture several times the mixture was mostly pureed but still had some whole rice grains and lentils for texture. This is a really basic recipe you can change with your favorite herbs and spices.

Veggie Burgers

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Line baking sheet with parchment paper

3 cups cooked brown rice

3 cups cooked lentils

2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided

½ cup grated carrots

¼  cup minced onion

1 clove minced garlic

Dash of salt, pepper and cayenne

Place everything but 1 Tablespoon of olive oil together and 1) blend with immersion blender or 2) blend with food processor or 3) mash with a manual potato masher.  Do not over blend or process as you want some texture.

Shape one cup spoonfuls of mixture into patties on the parchment paper. Drizzle about ½ teaspoon of olive oil on top of each patty and brush over top.  Bake until browned – about 25 minutes in my oven.

The sandwich rolls were made with a one loaf-sized package Pamela’s Bread mix.  I used the standard bread recipe and shaped it into six rolls. The dough is very sticky, so smooth it over with very wet hands to get a nice, smooth bun shape.  They also took about 25 minutes to bake.

Joe is a purist and had a plain cheese veggie burger.

Mine was topped with a roasted red pepper and eggplant spread and I added a handful of fresh baby spinach. So yummy!

*Why Sunshine Burgers?  Because they are not only gluten free but soy free and non-GMO. They're the only brand I've found that meets our needs and they just taste great, too.

Like Sunshine Burgers homemade veggie burgers can crumble easily so transfer them from baking sheet to bun with a spatula. You can purposefully crumble them when making wraps or adding them to nachos.