These smoky vegan BBQ beet burgers are savory, hearty, protein-packed, satisfying, and offer a kick of slow-warming heat. Heaps of spices, minced chipotle peppers, and a generous pour of barbecue sauce send these burgers into blissed-out barbecue territory. These already irresistible beet patties are taken to swoon-worthy levels when they're tucked into pillowy buns and topped with a generous mound of caramelized onions.
As I sat down to write this post, I immediately felt the heavy presence of a post-election elephant in the room. Coincidentally, the idiom holds true in more ways than one in this particular case.
For the sake of each of our worn-out hearts, I'm going to say just one thing: Let's do our best to lead with love. Please. No matter which side of the vote we stood on, at our core, there is more that binds EVERY single one of us together than separates us. It's tempting to cast judgment, especially when our hearts are feeling heavy, but it's simply a means to more of the same. Let's shine light into the darkness of our differences so that hate doesn't tear us apart.
I gave it my all but there's really no sleek way to transition between a somewhat "woo woo" call to action and BBQ Beet Burgers. I suppose the above photo (↑) will have to hold its own as the symbolic transition between these two disparate conversations. Bravo, photo. Bravo.
Alright, can we shake it off? These burgers deserve our full attention, because they are, without a doubt, one of my all-time favorite things I've ever shared with you.
The BBQ beet patties are smoky, savory, hearty, protein-packed, satisfying, and offer a kick of slow-warming heat. The ingredient list starts off much like the carrot-lentil cakes I shared a couple weeks ago yet quickly diverges into blissed-out barbecue territory with heaps of spices, minced chipotle peppers, and a generous pour of barbecue sauce. The already irresistible beet patties are taken to swoon-worthy levels when they're tucked into pillowy buns and topped with a generous mound of caramelized onions.
Can't stop, won't stop.
To make the patties, you'll start by steaming up a few cups of diced fresh beets. While the beets steam, you'll simmer a cup of split red lentils until tender.
Meanwhile, you'll sauté an onion, shallot, and some garlic in an array of BBQ-esque spices until soft and translucent.
Once the beets and lentils are ready, add them to a food processor along with some rolled oats, barbecue sauce, apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper. Then, pulse until the ingredients are thoroughly combined yet the mixture retains quite a bit of texture. Transfer the beet mixture to a large bowl and add the sautéed onions, shallots, garlic, etc. Give everything a good stir, and transfer the bowl to the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill the mixture (this makes it easier to work with).
Once the mixture is chilled, scoop out ½-cup mounds of the dough, form into patties, and transfer to a lined baking tray. Once all the patties are formed, bake them for 25ish minutes, or until their exteriors feel gently set and their bottoms take on a light golden-brown hue.
While the patties bake, whip up a batch of caramelized onions. Simply slice an onion into rounds, toss it into a pan with a bit of oil and coconut sugar, and sauté for 15 minutes, or until caramelized.
To assemble, tuck each patty into a puffy burger bun, generously drizzle with BBQ sauce, and top with a mound of caramelized onions. Serve, savor, and repeat.
These burgers have single-handedly turned beet haters into beet lovers. Look at that. A prime example of a hate-to-love transformation. Albeit one small step for the beet-averse, let's take it as a sign of hope for the possibility of bigger heart-led leaps to come.
SMOKY VEGAN BBQ BEET BURGERS
Ingredients
Smoky BBQ Beet Burgers
- 3 cups peeled and diced beets (about 4–5 medium beets)
- 1 cup split red lentils, thoroughly rinsed
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup finely diced yellow onion (about 1 small onion)
- ⅓ cup finely diced shallot (about 1 medium shallot)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar, divided
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 ¼ cups old-fashioned rolled oats, divided
- 3 tablespoons 10-Minute Sweet & Tangy Maple BBQ Sauce* (see note for recipe link) or barbecue sauce of choice
- 2 ½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce**
- 1 ½ teaspoons fine grain sea salt or to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup raw shelled sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup shelled hemp seeds
Caramelized Onions (optional)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil
- 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced into rounds
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar
Burger Base and Toppings
- 8 burger buns of choice (e.g., sprouted, gluten-free, pretzel, etc.), toasted
- 10-Minute Sweet and Tangy Maple BBQ Sauce* or barbecue sauce of choice
Instructions
For the BBQ Beet Burgers
- Steam the beets in a steamer or over the stove for 25 to 30 minutes, or until fork-tender.
- While the beets are steaming, add the lentils and water to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until just tender, stirring occasionally. If needed, add more water to keep the lentils submerged. Strain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over low heat in a large sauté pan. Add the onion, shallot, garlic, 1 tablespoon of the coconut sugar, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and allspice. Increase the heat to medium-low, and cook for 8 minutes or until the onions are soft and light golden brown, stirring occasionally. Let cool slightly.
- Add the steamed beets, cooked lentils,½ cup of the rolled oats, BBQ sauce, apple cider vinegar, minced chipotle peppers, sea salt, and black pepper to a food processor. Pulse 20 to 25 times, or until the mixture the beets are roughly chopped and all ingredients are well incorporated, stopping to scrape down the sides halfway through pulsing. You want a bit of chunky texture, so be careful not to over-process.
- Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl, and add the reserved ¾ cup rolled oats, the cooked onion mixture, the remaining 1 tablespoon coconut sugar, sunflower seeds, and hemp seeds. Thoroughly stir to combine, ensuring all ingredients are evenly dispersed. The mixture should be quite damp but able to hold its shape.
- Chill the mixture for at least 30 minutes (to make it easier to handle).
- About 10 minutes before you're ready to form the patties, preheat the oven to 400F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a ½-cup measuring cup to scoop out ½ cup of the mixture. Form the mixture into a patty that is 1-inch thick and about 3 inches in diameter, and transfer to the lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining mixture. You should have 8 patties.(Note: the uncooked mixture is damp and can be a bit challenging to form into patties, but I promise they're worth the effort.)
- For more tender burgers (this is how I prefer them): Bake the patties for 23 to 25 minutes, or until the bottoms are light golden-brown and they feel gently set but not firm. For firmer burgers: Bake the patties for 28 to 32 minutes, or until the bottoms are deep golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely on the pan before moving. They'll continue to firm up as they cool.
For the Caramelized Onion (Optional)
- If you're making the caramelize onions, I recommend preparing them while the burger mixture is chilling. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in the onions and coconut sugar and cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until caramelized, stirring occasionally.
To Assemble
- Place each patty on a bun, slather with a bit of BBQ sauce, and top with the caramelized onions (if using). Serve immediately.
Notes
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- Roasted Vegetable Sandwich with Avocado-Basil Aioli
- Sweet Potato & Lentil Cakes with Lemony Avocado Sauce
- Spicy Vegan Sunflower-Lentil Falafel with Smoky Tomato Aioli
- Carrot-Lentil Cakes with Garlic-Herb Tahini Sauce
Omg, these look amazing!! I've never tried using beets in anything like this so I'm so interested to try!!!
Thanks, Tori! I'm telling you, the addition of beets in a veggie burger is a game-changer. I swear though, the color of the raw patties is almost...almost...too similar to raw meat! Kinda crazy.
Drrrroooool!!! Do you think they would freeze well if made in advance? That's an awful lot of work, so I'd love to enjoy it over & over without having to plan for 1h45 each time. Can't wait to try them!
Hi, Erica! Absolutely, the patties freeze well, so you could easily double the recipe to make a big batch and freeze them. Also, 30 minutes of that is total downtime while the patties chill, so it's not quite as intense as it initially looks! Enjoy! xo
These look delicious and nutritious! Can't wait to make them.
Thank you! xo
So making these this weekend and I'll tag you in the pics! These look and sound brilliant! And lucky me, I love beets. Thank you for your fabulous creation!
You're welcome, Tara! Hope you enjoy them!
Oh my... this looks perfect! I usually make big batches of my veggie burgers and meatless balls and freeze them, so I'm looking forward to cook a large amount of these. Do you think this recipe would also work with canned beets? I've bought a couple cans to try and was just wondering if they would fit for this recipe.
Thank you so much*
Thanks, Lee! Great idea to make big batches of veggie burgers and freeze. I'd stick with fresh beets if at all possible. I haven't tested the recipe with canned beets and fear that they would impart a different flavor and maybe even alter the texture too. If you're feeling adventurous and decide to try it with canned beets, I'd love to know how it goes. Either way, enjoy the recipe!
Great recipe Ashley,
It looks so delicious and easy to make.
I think they will taste great too.
I am going to try to cook them on Sunday for my family.
Thank You!
You're welcome, Kendrick, and thank you! Enjoy!
*What seeds? (You didn't include the tablespoon of minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in the instructions.)
Hi, Bill! Great catch and my apologies. Just updated. The minced chipotle peppers go into the mix right after the apple cider vinegar. The seeds can be scraped away from the inside of the peppers and discarded before mincing if you're sensitive to heat.
I was super sick of black bean burgers so I tried making these -- and they were delicious! I ended up keeping the seeds in the peppers (for both the patty and the BBQ sauce, which was also delicious, by the way) since I like it spicy, and used steel-cut oats instead of rolled oats because it was what I had on hand. I added avocado, spinach, and vegenaise to the burgers as toppings as well. They were SO good -- plus the recipe made more patties than expected (5 full-sized burgers and 12 "sliders"), so I put a ton in the freezer for later. Thanks so much!
These look so good and I can't wait to try them. If I am going to freeze them would you suggest freezing after the chill in the fridge or would you cook them and then freeze them?
Hi, Jaime! I'd cook them and then freeze them. Enjoy!
I made these burgers a while back and just wanted to say we love them!!!
I have made double batches and frozen them many times. I freeze them uncooked and cooked and both work really well, you just need to remember if you have cooked them or not.
They are a staple in our house and an easy mid-week we cant be bothered to cook dinner. They go fantastically with sweet potato fries.
I even made a batch up for a BBQ a few weeks back, I cooked them first and just warmed them back up on the BBQ, they got rave reviews from all the people who tried them.
Thank you for an amazing recipe.
These were AMAZING. I've had beet burgers before and not been impressed (even though I love beets), so I wasn't sure about these, but they looked gorgeous and I have a ton of garden-grown beets on my hands, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I messed up on the directions and ingredients a little (oops), but despite all that, these turned out to be the BEST veggie burgers I've ever eaten. The errors I made were: A) I food-processed for too long, so I had fairly smooth puree on my hands (before adding the additional oats & seeds, etc.). B) I forgot that I bought my sunflower seeds specifically for this, so I spent all week snacking on them. Oops! I only had about 1/4 Cup left, but I made up the additional 1/4 Cup with some walnuts and pepita seeds I had on hand, plus more hemp seeds. C) I am pretty sure I didn't refrigerate (or, in my case, freeze) these for long enough, because when I took them out of the freezer, the bowl was cold but the mix was still hot inside. And, my favorite: D) I left my gluten-free buns in the toaster oven for about 30 minutes on low heat by complete accident so they were hard as a rock (but like, a toasted rock that's still edible). But in the end, none of that mattered!! I added some Just Mayo, more BBQ sauce and arugula on top and they were PERFECT. The texture, the taste, that tang of the BBQ sauce. My partner and I gobbled them down and are grateful to have them again as leftovers. Thank you for making a fool-proof recipe that withstood all my mistakes!
Miranda, thank you for your kind and honest account! Totally makes me smile, and I'm thrilled to hear how much you're enjoying these burgers. Also, wonderful to know that there's a bit of wiggle room with ingredients and methods! :)
It looks amazing. Definitely gonna try! Do you have the recipe for the beautiful bun of the photo?
Hi, Diego! The buns are store-bought pretzel buns (from Whole Foods). Hope you enjoy the burgers!
Can I bake the beets in foil instead of steaming? I don't have a steaming basket.
Thanks!
Hi, Denise! I think that should work just fine but can't say for certain since I haven't tested it that way myself.
Hi Ashley,
I’m just baking them now :)) do you flip half way through??
Thanks!
Jeannie
I just went for it and turned! So far so good 😊
Hi Jeannie! No need to bother flipping but won’t hurt if you do. Enjoy!
Any idea on the nutritional information for just the patties themselves?
Calories? Sodium? Fats etc??
Hi, Cheri! Glad you're enjoying the recipe. I don't calculate nutritional information (my FAQ page has information on why), but there are lots of great online calculators that you can simply drop the post link into, and they'll calculate the information for you. Hope this helps!
Ok thank you
I really like this burger!
Just ate it.
Thanx for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed it, Inge! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your thoughts and rating. Means so much.
Holy smokes beet-man! That's a great burger! Definitely the best beet patty I've ever tried, thank you so much for sharing!
So, so glad you're enjoying the recipe, Sam! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your thoughts—means so much.
These look delicious and nutritious! Can’t wait to make them on new years eve.
Hope you enjoy them!
Just made these and they are so easy and really tasty.Thank you so much for this recipe.
So happy to hear you're enjoying the recipe, Varun! This is one of my favorites, so it's especially heart-warming to hear when it's enjoyed by others. Thanks for taking time out of your day to come back and share your feedback and rating. Means a lot to me and is helpful for others considering making the recipe, too. Happy cooking to you! :)