Whether you’re a vegetarian or not, you’ll love these hearty, flavorful veggies burgers on the most delicious brioche buns. Absolutely fantastic! This recipe is adapted from Jane Sigal’s brioche recipe and Cookie+Kate’s veggie burger recipe.
Makes 4 burgers
Ingredients
For the brioche buns
- 1 1/2 tablespoons warm milk
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 1/4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups bread flour
- 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the burgers
- 1 grated carrot
- ½ medium yellow or white onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 cups cooked green or brown lentils
- ½ cup cooked chickpeas
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup chickpea flour (use oat or regular flour as a substitute)
- Handful fresh cilantro or parsley leaves, optional
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic chili sauce, sriracha or other hot sauce
- ½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- High quality vegetable oil or extra-virgin olive oil, for the pan
Instructions
Prepare the brioche buns
- In a large bowl, whisk flour, salt, sugar and yeast.
- Beat the egg, and add it along with the warm milk and melted butter to the dry ingredients. Stir until a dough forms.
- Scrape dough onto clean, unfloured counter and knead until smooth, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled (about 2 hours).
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 4 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let buns rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours.
- Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center. (Optional: Beat another egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns.)
- Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
For the veggie burgers
- Make sure the lentils and chickpeas are free of excess liquid – well drained and dried on a towel.
- Roughly chop the onion and set aside.
- Hold back about one third of the lentils and chickpeas. Add the remaining lentils and chickpeas, eggs, flour, handful of herbs (optional), all of the spices, salt and black pepper to the food processor. Very lightly process the mixture; you want it to still be a little chunky – not a paste.
- Gently fold in the grated carrot and remaining lentils and chickpeas.
- Divide the lentil mixture into 4 portions and shape them into patties about 1-inch thick (if your mixture is unmanageably wet, stir in a couple tablespoons of chickpea flour first). Dust the patties lightly with chickpea flour on both sides.
- Heat a thin layer of oil in a large skillet, preferably cast iron, over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, cook the veggie burgers in batches. Cook until the burgers are crispy on the bottoms and the mixture holds together, about 4½ to 5 minutes. Flip the burgers carefully with a spatula and continue cooking until the second sides are firm and brown, about 4½ to 5 more minutes.
- Remove to paper-towel lined plate, and repeat for remaining burgers.
Optional: top with your favorite cheese, and / or grilled onions!
