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Spiced Lentil Walnut Burgers. Easy Flavorful Burger patties with avocado ranch. Vegan Burger Recipe. Soyfree Easily gluten-free. Serve as burgers or over salad.
These scrumptious and filling patties have lentils, rice, walnuts and loads of flavor in them. It’s been a while since I made burger patties. I am hoping these fantastic burgers will be magical enough to get us some sunny days in the cloudy PNW. Am I ready for warmer days with loads of sunshine. The grey starts to depress even the chirpiest of the people and birds around.
I use cumin, coriander, garam masala in these. Feel free to use your own combination of flavors such as cumin + chipotle + oregano, or coriander + berbere, or a chili powder blend of choice. Add some coarsely ground fennel seeds for a sausagey flavor. Since the burger mixture is cooked, you can fix and adjust the flavors before committing to the patties!
I served these Lentil Walnut Burgers /patties with my avocado ranch, lettuce, juicy tomatoes, onions, pickled jalapeno and a melted chao cheese slice! I am topping he next batch with a load of caramelized onions. The sweet onions go really well with the earthy lentils. Use any vegan ranch or mayo, some ketchup or bbq or other sauces of choice. To troubleshoot any veggie burger patties(crumbly, too soft etc), see my tips on this burger round up post. Happy Burgering!
More burgers from the blog
- BBQ Veggie Burger with Mango Carrot Cabbage slaw
- Spicy Chickpea yellow Lentil Burgers
- Bean Broccoli Lentil Burgers
- Amaranth Black Bean sliders with roasted red pepper sauce
- Red Lentil and Cauliflower Burger with Onion rings and Chipotle Habanero Mayo
- Grill-able Artichoke Cauliflower Spinach Bean Burger
- and a 35 Veggie burger collection round up!
Lately the facebook page has been getting angry non vegans asking me to change the name of the food to something other than burger, as Burger always equals meat. Well, please see this definition on Mirriam Webster. I did not make that definition. Burger is a generic term for a sandwich type food, that can be a hamburger, other meat burger, made with tofu, veggies, beans etc. Lentil Walnut Veggie Burgers!
Reading for the day-
Catch my interview at MasalaMommas this week.
Videos to watch
- This beautiful Indian wedding. It is big, long, cultural and vegan, does not use flowers, non biodegradable waste/plastics, no silk, pearls, leather. Amazing!
- This video shot at Pasado’s safe haven with Children and the sanctuary animals
- Cost of cheap clothing on the people and the planet
The burger patties can also be baked. I prefer to cook them on a pan for a crispy exterior and moist juicy interior. Baking can dry the patties out a bit. If you use a good non stick pan, oil might not be needed for the roasting.
If you try these patties, leave me a comment, rate the recipe(when you try it), tag me on Instagram #veganricha, let me know what you think, love, not like, suggestions. Feedback keeps me motivated (esp in this grey weather) and helps me improve!
Video:
Lentil Walnut Burgers
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup chopped red onions
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1/4 inch ginger
- 1/3 cup walnuts
- 1/4 cup packed cilantro
- 3/4 tsp salt or more, depends on if the lentils were salted
- 3/4 tsp each of ground cumin, coriander
- 1/2 tsp garlic
- 1/2 tsp cayenne, hot! or use sweet paprika + a good dash of black pepper for less heat
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 3-4 basil leaves, optional
- 3/4 cup cooked brown or white rice
- 1 1/2 cups cooked brown lentils or 1 15 oz can. I used Indian brown lentils
- 2 tsp ketchup or bbq sauce
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 flax egg, 1 tbsp flax seed meal mixed in 2.5 tbsp warm water, let sit for 2 minutes
- 3-4 tbsp breadcrumbs or flour, use gf breadcrumbs or flour to make gf
Instructions
- In a processor, process onion, garlic, ginger, walnuts and cilantro until finely chopped. Alternatively, cook the onions and garlic in 1/2 tsp oil until they are golden and then add to the processor.
- Add the spices, salt, basil, rice, half of the cooked lentils and pulse a few times until well combined. Transfer to a bowl with the rest of the lentils. Add ketchup, oil, flax egg and mix everything until evenly mixed in. Mash a bit if needed and mix in. Taste and adjust salt, spice, herbs if needed. Add in the breadcrumbs or flour and mix in. Let the mixture chill for 10 minutes.
- If the chilled mixture is too wet, add in more flour or breadcrumbs. The amount needed depends on the moisture in the veggies, the kind of lentils and just general mood of things in the mixture. Add more breadcrumbs or flour if too sticky wet. Add another flax egg if too crumbly to make patties.
- Shape into 4 large patties. Pack well. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add a drizzle of oil and spread it around. Place patties on the skillet and cook for 4 to 6 minutes per side.
- Serve with vegan ranch/avocado ranch or mayo or ketchup, mustard or other dressing of choice. Add some caramelized onions or other toppings.
Video
Notes
Add 2 tbsp nutritional yeast. To Bake: I normally bake lentil burger patties at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes, then flip and bake another 10 or more minutes until golden. I haven't tried baking these particular patties. Let me know if you do.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Richa, with the serving info you give….is it for one burger or..?
Just bought second of your books, the recipes are so tasty!!!
it makes 5 to 6 burgers
Awesome!! Thanks!
Hi Richa,
What a delicious recipe! We made it this evening and it was perfect. We used black lentils for a dark color and changed the spices for a more mesquite flavor. My three year old loved it!!!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Thats awesome!
My three year old loved it, too! So yummy! And he’s a picky eater!
wow!! that’s amazing =). Thank you
Hi Richa, Thank God for people like you who post delicious vegan recipes. I have made your burgers twice. I love it. First time the ginger flavour was a bit strong for me and my husband doesn’t like the cilantro flavour. I will also try doubling the sauce and other spices content as I live in an Indian hub in South Africa and we are so used to all things spicy and hot 🙂
I find it funny that meat eaters are complaining that your burger should be renamed. I am from Australia and was always confused when Americans refer to the meat patty as the burger when the whole meal – the bun, the salad, the condiments and the patty is called a burger. Looks awesome by the way and I’ll be trying it out really soon. thanks.
Having been vegan for the past 9 years, I have made a LOT of vegan burgers. These burgers were, by far, the most flavorful I have ever had. They were amazing. They held together reasonably well, but next time I might add a little extra flax egg or use a different grain, such as barley, as suggested above, to make them even firmer. This is the first recipe I’ve made from this blog. If the other recipes are half as good as this one, I’ll never have to look anywhere else for vegan recipes!
I am so glad you loved these! There are a bunch more on the blog and another 15 in my book. Adjust the mixture before shaping if they are not holding up well. The lentils, beans, grains all can have different moisture levels and mush levels (depending on how long they were cooked, the type or bean, lentil, grain etc), and the size of the ingredients (larger beans/veggies will make them crumbly if not mashed enough). Add more binding (flax egg for wet binding, breadcrumbs for dry binding) as needed.
These worked out really well for me last night, even accounting for adjustments I had to make because of what I had in the house. Even my picky eater liked them. I used sticky short grain rice instead of long white or brown and a ground chia egg instead of a flax egg and unsalted pumpkin seeds instead of walnuts. Hubby likes a toothsome burger so next time I will chop the nuts by hand and keep them for the last addition rather than the first in the processor. I may also use pearled barley instead of rice because it stays firmer after cooking than rice.
Anyway, very grateful for all your recipes. I have made several and they are always delicious. Thank you.
Awesome! brown rice also is firmer than white. barley would be a great addition.
Made these burgers yesterday and they were delicious… I even had two 🙂 Thank you for sharing this recipe!
thank you
Could a can of black beans be subbed for the lentils?
yes. You will need to mash half the beans really well so that they can act as a binder to hold the burger together
can these be made ahead and frozen?
yes. prebake for half the time and freeze them. Then pan fry on the skillet to warm and crisp.
Delicious! I made these with crumbled tofu instead of lentils, because we have a lentil allergy in my family, and everyone enjoyed them. Thanks! 🙂
Really tasty burgers that hold their shape perfectly, unlike other recipes that turn to mush. The walnuts provide a good bite to this burger & I would gladly make again, thanks!
perfect – so glad you were pleased with how they turned out. Thank you!