Mushroom Burgers

I used to be obsessed with these mushroom burgers from Tesco (probably weren’t vegan!) when I was about 20, then one day BAM, discontinued… never to be seen again.  Since then I have been buying every mushroom burger I’ve seen in the hope of it tasting anything like those delicious burgers of goodness, and I think I’ve finally found them.  And by found, I mean made, and they are every bit as delicious as the Tesco ones!  This recipe would also translate well into meat-less balls, have a go!

You will need:

• 2 punnets mushrooms
• 2 red onions, peeled and halved/quartered
• 1 bulb of garlic, peeled
• 3 birds eye chillies, deseeded
• 1 flax egg (recipe below)
• 1 tbsp vegetable stock powder
• 2 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs (check your label to ensure yours are vegan)
• pre-heated oven at 180c – fan

How to make the burgers:

Start by making your flax egg.  Mix 1 tbsp ground flax with 3 tbsp water and put to the side to set while you make the rest.

In a food processor, finely chop the onion, garlic and chillies (you could do this by hand but you will be using to food processor for the rest anyways, so go on – be lazy!).  Then you should water-fry (or oil fry if you like that) until translucent.

While the other ingredients are oil frying, throw the mushrooms (clean please) into the food processor and pulse until finely chopped.  You may need to do this half at a time as they are quite bulky.

Once the mushrooms are chopped and the onion, garlic and chillies are soft (I noticed at this point that the chillies hadn’t really chopped well, so hauled them out and chopped by hand), pulse all together in the food processor, then transfer to a big bowl.

Then you can add in the stock powder and mix well.

Now comes the messy part.  With clean hands start to squish in the breadcrumbs half a cup at a time until the mixture holds it’s shape without sinking.  This time it took 2 1/2 cups, but you may need more or less.

Shape the mix into burger shapes (or balls if you’re so inclined) – this made 6 good sized burgers – and leave to set in the fridge on a baking sheet for 30 mins.  Then bake for 40 mins, flipping half-way.

Serve however you like your burgers, on a bun, on a lettuce bun, eat it with your hands, chop it up and throw it over a salad… the options are endless.  I had mine with lettuce, sriracha mayo, on a seedy bun, with a Summery beetroot and carrot slaw.

Let me know if you try this recipe by commenting down below and tagging me on Instagram!  If you have any suggestions on ways you improved this recipe or your own little additions, please share!  Also feel free to share/pin this recipe on Pinterest!