High Noon Café, the only vegetarian restaurant in Jackson, Mississippi, where I live, serves the most unusual veggie burgers, bright red with beets and soft in texture from the tofu. The first time my husband recommended I try one, I was afraid to order it, but once his burger came, I couldn’t resist sampling it. The sandwich comes piled with so many extras–vegan cheese, sun-dried tomato aioli, mushrooms– that it took some doing to scrape off a clean sample of the burger, but once I did, I was intrigued by its flavor, which was lightly smoky but in a natural-tasting way, not through the use of Liquid Smoke or hickory-flavored salt. I was sure that the source of the smokiness must be the beets and was determined to try to replicate the taste at home.
To pack in as much natural smoky flavor as I could, I decided to roast the beets as well as the onion and garlic. To avoid adding starch, I used ground flax seeds as a binder, so my burgers came out less stable and easier to fall apart than the restaurant version, but the flavor was very similar, with hints of earthiness and smoke. Since the burgers had a tendency to fall apart, I didn’t flip them over halfway through cooking as I would have liked to do to aid in browning, so the next time I make them I’ll add either a couple of teaspoons of corn starch or a couple of tablespoons of oat flour (oatmeal pulverized in the blender). Otherwise, these red-violet burgers were near-perfect to me. If you enjoy a spicier burger, feel free to add more roasted garlic and chipotle chile powder, but not so much as to drown out the beet. (Sorry, couldn’t resist the one pun!) They’re shown here served with chipotle aioli (pureed chipotles mixed with vegan mayo), which provided a nice spicy kick.
Roasted Beet-Tofu Burgers
These burgers freeze well; in fact, freezing gives them a slightly firmer texture. They can be reheated by microwaving for about 1 minute.
Ingredients
- 2 medium beets
- 1 medium onion
- 6-10 garlic cloves (or as many as you like)
- 14 ounces extra-firm tofu (not silken)
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or wheat-free tamari
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile powder or smoked paprika (optional, to taste)
- 2 teaspoons corn starch or 2 tablespoons oat flour (optional, for firmer burgers)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Wash and trim the beets, and wrap each one in foil. Trim the onion and wrap it in foil. Wrap the unpeeled garlic in foil (or trim the top of an entire head of garlic and wrap it). Place all on a baking sheet and roast for 50-60 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool until vegetables are easy to handle. (You can do this step ahead of time, if you wish; just keep the roasted vegetables in the refrigerator until you’re ready to make the burgers.)
- While the vegetables are cooling, mash the tofu and stir in the remaining ingredients.
- When the onions and garlic are cool enough, peel the onion and chop finely (I used a food processor). Squeeze the garlic from the cloves. Add both to the tofu and mix well. Peel the skins from the beets under running water, and shred. Add the shredded beets to the tofu, stirring until the mixture is a uniform, bright color.
- Shape into patties about 3 inches wide and 1 inch thick. Place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper or silicon baking mat. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to stand for a few minutes before removing with a spatula and serving.
Preparation time: 20 minute(s) | Cooking time: 1 hour(s) 30 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 9 burgers
Nutrition (per serving): 79 calories, 31 (39%) calories from fat, 3.6g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 214.6mg sodium, 113.8mg potassium, 6.4g carbohydrates, 2.1g fiber, 2.1g sugar, 6.2g protein.
Other Recipes You May Enjoy:
Red Bean Chipotle Burgers
TLT Sandwiches
Dal Bhaji
Share This Recipe:
{ 103 comments… read them below or add one }
Love the color – so fun! Can't wait to give these a try.
How did I not know you were in Jackson? My grandmother lives in Jackson. Well, step-grandmother who I haven't seen since I was 12 or so. But I have a certain fondness for Jackson in any case.
That must be them most beautiful burger I've ever seen! I love beets, the texture, the flavor and THE COLOR! You can't beat that cheerful vibrant pink. Just gorgeous.
I love that this is pink! I had a pink veggie burger in San Francisco- it was delicious. I can't wait to try making my own!
Thanks, Susan! I love them! A bright pink burger? Yes please!
The roasted veggies must give this burger so much flavor! I love that it uses vegetables that are in season right now; that makes for the perfect Fall burger!
Oh Susan,
I just squealed with delight when I saw this– a BEET burger–this is so great, and beautiful, too, because I love beets, roasted flavor and tofu. And I bet the flax is really nice with all this, too. I need one more beet and a block of tofu. . .I am so looking forward to trying this!! Thanks so much for working this up for us from your experience at The High Noon Cafe (love the name).
xo
moonwatcher
This looks great! I have several beets in the fridge and was wondering what to do with them outside of making soup. The fact that they freeze well is even more perfect since I'm still stocking up on meals!
Susan:
We eat only plant-based whole foods, so we don't eat tofu. Do you think this recipe would work with almond flour instead of tofu?
BTW — I regularly make your blueberry bars. They are easy to make and absolutely delicious. I am going to make your fig bars next.
Thanks.
Mara
Those are amazing! I'm not into beets, but I'm psyched that these are gluten-free. I wonder if another root veggie would work. Potatoes, or turnips, perhaps?
Mara, I don't think they'd come out the same, but you could always try. I've heard of people making beet burgers that are mostly just beets (I don't think they roast them first, though). Also, you could make a bean and beet burger using pinto or white beans. I'll bet that would be pretty.
Mary, I don't think that potatoes would have a lot of flavor, but how about sweet potatoes?
it looks like steak tar tar, i love beets though
That recipe looks delish!!
Just one thing though, I noticed an advertisment on your this page for fish fingers!
Thanks for the heads-up, Denise. I'm going to check into that right away.
If anyone else sees a fish ad, could you make a note of where it is and what brand it is? I need this info in order to ask my ad company to remove it. Thanks!
Oh, man, my 9 year old is obsessed with beets. He will love this. (And thanks for the heads up about Jackson having a veggie restaurant; we drive through occasionally, and I would not have assumed that.) What kind of bun is that?
I love the idea of a bright red veggie burger. Food is even better when it's pleasing to the eye as well.
All you're recipes are amazing!
Wow, the color is so beautiful and bold! This burger sounds so intriguing. What would you recommend as a substitute for the chipotle?
Hi again Susan,
I was just reading over the recipe again and wondered, did you grind the flax seeds or use them whole?
Thanks,
moonwatcher
Oh, never mind, i just read the intro again, and see that you did grind the flax seeds. Sorry I missed that.
moonwatcher
LKSisters, you could use smoked paprika or cayenne pepper instead of the chipotle.
Moonwatcher–oops, the flax seeds were ground. Thanks for catching that. I'll change the recipe now.
that looks fantastic – I just love the colour – and in fact I just bought some purple corn flour so am tempted to make these with a bit of the flour for extra colour – you can never have too much!
This looks great and not too hard to make. Just one question: how do you shred the beets? A grater?
Chris, I used the shredding disk on my food processor, but a grater would work, too.
If anybody lives in the NYC area, Five Napkin Burger in Hell's Kitchen makes beet-based veggie burgers as well. Thanks for the recipe Susan, can't wait to try them!
What a great new way to use beets. . . the burgers sound fabulous. This is a recipe I am definitely going to try!
What a crazy coincidence. Last night I made fried beet patties (recipe from http://www.oakhillorganics.org/blog.html/?p=279). They were so wonderful but of course high in fat.
I was thinking to myself I ought to send the idea to FFV because surely Susan could find a way to do it with less fat. And then I logged on this morning to see this post!
I really dislike updates where it is impossible to tell what the update was. I have already printed this recipe. Is it incorrect? How do I tell? Speak to me!
Anonymous, I'm not really sure what you're referring to. The only change that's been made to the recipe since it was first posted is to clarify that it's ground flax seeds, rather than whole.
Gorgeous! This would be a great 4th of July burger served with white vegan cheese and blue corn tortilla chips on the side!
-A
Wow, that's a lot of burger for 79 calories. I will definitely try to make some of these!
These look amazing!!
I've never actually cooked with beets before…will definitely be giving this a try!!
these look so great, what a clever use of beets!
i had a veggie burger at a restaurant in Asheville NC called 131 Main (they also have one here in Charlotte) and it was the BEST i've ever had. according to the menu, the main ingredients were beets, brown rice, and mushrooms. according to the server, even non-vegetarians order this burger because it is so amazing. i was wondering if i'd ever be able to duplicate it, so maybe this recipe is a start! thanks!
I'm excited to try making these. Do you think it makes a difference, for better or worse, if the tofu is frozen and thawed, squeezed out, etc., or is it better to use tofu straight from fridge? Thanks to anyone for input.
Very delicious and vibrant! I've recently started a love affair with beets (I used to only eat them pickled, which doesn't count) so I'll have to give these a try.
Thanks, a great delicious beet and tofu burger. Was looking out for good recipes for veg burgers. Thats because I've turned a veggie, thanks to a change in beliefs. But I could'nt give up on my favorite cigar Habanos This one's high in nutritional content and low on cholestrol, at the same time delicious.
I eat tofu a lot. It is delicious and it will not make you fat. But I barely cook tofu at home. My husband doesn't eat tofu at all. He always into meat. And my kids doesn't like tofu too. Too bad for me!
Oh! I'm looking forward to trying this recipe.
…and, Hiring Girl, isn't that "too bad for them"? You should make some of these just for yourself!
These look and sound so fantastic!! Love making my own veggie burgers, and you KNOW i'm adding the paprika, can't resist myself a lil kick!
you're my fav vegan blog! I'm gonna start my own soon I think because yours is so great it sounds like so much fun.
I made something similar to replace ham in a recipe. I mixed the pureed beet with pureed tofu then re-pressed it in the fridge until the tofu re-solidified the mix. I also flavored it with salt and maple syrup. It tasted more like bacon than ham but I take that as no problem! The beet adds a lot of water; one could press it out or dry it in a low oven before cooking in a regular manner.
I love the fact that this burger is pink. Scrumptious AND cute!
Striking Colour! What a brilliant idea.. replacing meet with beet and tofu.. thanks for sharing!
What a great color!
Hi Susan, this recipe looks amazing and I can't wait to try it out. I might use Agar-Agar as a binding agent. What do you think? In the picture (top of the page) there is something right on top of the burger that resembles melted cheese, what is that? Thank you.
Hi Susan,
I made these last night, and they are truly, truly delicious. The roasted vegetables lend such a subtle, yet sweet and earthy flavor, going well with the flax and the nutritional yeast. . .I did add a couple teaspoons of cornstarch as you suggested, and this allowed me to flip them over during cooking time, though I had to be careful. Since I don't do hamburger buns because of the gluten, and gluten free breads are generally higher in fat than I want to be, I wrapped my burger up in kales leaves, with fresh tomato and dijon mustard. Yum! I just had another for lunch in a blue corn tortilla with kale and other veggies–I am a mustard lover, and they are good with mustard.
The flavor only improved overnight in the fridge, and they were wonderful cold and reheated (I was tempted to do that "different temperature" taste test we're so fond of !) I have some wrapped up to freeze, but I'm not sure how many of them will make it in there, though I hope a few will, because I'd like to see how they freeze, since you said they did well that way. Thanks for a truly beautiful AND truly delicious burger! Another favorite way to use beets. . .(I also just plain loved the taste of the roasted beet and roasted onion, and will now be thinking of what else I might do with those. Oh, and since I can't get smoked paprika up here in the sticks, I tried "toasting" some plain paprika in a little skillet. . .it turned darker and had a more earthy flavor that probably isn't as authentic as being it specially smoked, but it did lend a roasted though subtle flavor.)
xo
moonwatcher
These look awesome! I love beets.
I just tried making these tonight and they were delicious! The texture was a bit too squishy for what I like in my burger, so if you figure out a way to make it more firm let me know! I've got some in the freezer so they may work better when cooked
Thanks for posting this recipe, Susan! I tried these a couple of days ago and they were excellent. Tasted very nice with ciabatta, next time will try with wholemeal buns.
Dear Susan, I am a huge fan of your site. Whenever I seek for inspiration I visit FatFreeVegan! I have just recently started my own food blog and would like to invite you to take a look at it:
urbangirlscoutcooking.blogspot.com
Take care,
Melissa
What a burger! Pink! haha.. love to try one and judge for myself if it really tastes good coz it looks like one!
Genius!
I made these last night! Very delicious! I added some oat flour to help bind. They stayed together enough to flip halfway but totally fell apart while eating. It wasn't a big deal, just messy.
Leftover update: I had leftover burgers for lunch. I toasted them up in a pan on the stove with just a touch of earth balance (not fat free, but it only took a tiny bit). They toasted up so nicely. I ate them plain this way. This would make a great leftover dinner with mashed cauliflower or something. Really yummy.
They look absolutely gorgeous – Cant wait to try these! What does the nutritional yeast do? I live in England & its not always readily available? Thanks
Senga
Thanks for this recipe. I made the burgers last night and they were wonderful. Pretty, too. Like others who have posted, I would like to find a way to make them a bit more firm.
Hatshepsut
Great recipe…looks so tasty…will try tonite. Btw check out a great site for men looking into becoming vegetarian
OMG, it looks absolutely delicious!!
My family made these on vacation and tried to use canned beets and they were just too wet to mold into patties. Perhaps a note not to use canned beets? The flavor was wonderful, though! Great recipe!
I had a beet burger in San Francisco once, and it was FABULOUS. Yours looks really tasty, too!
Hi Susan,
I am trying to make these beet burgers. However, I don't know how to squeeze the garlic (how does this work? do I shred?)and I only have corn starch (do I use 2 tablespoons?). Can you help? Please?
This cooking impaired vegan would really appreciate it, as these burgers look absolutely delicious.
Thank you.
I wasn't sure if I'd like these or not, they're really different from what I normally make (and I couldn't remember ever eating a beet), but I couldn't resist trying them. A tip- don't hand grate beets with stainable stuff nearby, lol. I also had to squeeze A LOT of liquid out of each patty as I formed them. But in the end, mine were flippable (carefully). I also broiled them a bit at the end. I ate mine wrapped in flatbread, so I don't know if it held together then. But they were delicious! The texture took a bit of getting used to, but I was really surprised how yummy and smokey they tasted. The only thing I regret was not having smoked paprika, I think that would have put them over the top.
Still, I like instant gratification, so these will probably go on my special occasions list.
We LOVED these and plan on having them regularly.
I made them up in the morning and put them in the freezer. I cooked them(for 20 min) on cookie sheets that were sprayed with a bit of oil as I did not have parchement paper and them I moved them up under the broiler and broiled them on low for 10 min.
I let them rest for 5 min….meanwhile taking some of the tasty bits off as I could not wait -the smell of them was enticing.
YUM!!!!! The flavor of these is incredible!!!
Thank you so much for helping me feed my family such healthy and delicious food.
Em
That is one hell of a burger
Wonder only ho to eas burger when its height is so big
Though I don't see any "vege meat" inside this one – some fired tofu or anything of that sort what would be nice addition.
This looks great and beets are HIGH on my gall bladder diet. So I am always looking for new ways to use beets. Thanks
Kimmy
A wonderful burger. I grated raw beets and roasted them in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes and also used a bit of vegan Worcestershire sauce. a tablespoon of chickpea flour bound this well. Great burger and, perhaps even better the next day. Thank you.
awesome burger. the chipotle vegenaise helped too.
I made these and they were delicious. They smelled fabulous while in the oven too!
Hi Susan! I've followed your blog for a really long time and I love it! I hope it's okay with you, but I wanted to link to this post from my site. I made a vegan/raw beet burger and yours was the inspiration for it. Thanks so much!
~Sarahfae
Of course–link away! I'm looking forward to seeing your raw beet burger!
Yum! I am a vegetarian and tofu is one of my favorite substitute for meat. Tofu is very nutritional.
Best Regards,
san diego screen printing
Yum! DH is picking up the ingredients as we speak and I can’t wait to fix these for my family! It looks and sounds wonderful. Thank you for all of the hard work that you put into this blog.
I miss eating tofu burgers. I think my mom loves to make tofu burgers and now that I am leaving my own life I just miss her cooking for me. Thanks.
yummyy
Hi Susan,
I made these again the other day, and a dear omnivorous friend of mine stopped by as they were cooling after coming out of the oven. “What are these?” she asked. They look good, and so purple! Can I try one?” After tasting them, she said, “Wow, these are really good, way better than those Boca Burgers I eat sometimes!” And she asked me for the link to the recipe, which I am about to send her now.
Thought you’d like to know.
xo
moonwatcher
It was my birthday over the weekend and my mom asked where I wanted to go for my ‘special b-day dinner’ but I had something else on my mind.
I gave her this recipe and oh boy were they delicious!
It was even better because they were followed up with your ‘Can’t Be Beet Chocolate Cake’
Best birthday food ever!
AMAZING!
We bought the ingredients the other day – but didn’t have a free afternoon until today. They are So flavorful. I made them a little bigger – I got 7 out of the batch instead of 9. I followed the recipe to a T, adding only 2 tsp cornstarch as mentioned above and they are perfect!
Thanks Again!
A HUGE thank you for this recipe!!! I made a few adjustments- I added extra nutritional yeast, a handful of sunflower seeds, and subbed chia seeds for the flax. I also chopped up a habenero pepper and added i to the mix. My boyfriend and I have thoroughly been enjoying these and made extras to freeze. Thanks again!
These were amazing! My boyfriend and I cound’t get enough. While I was forming the patties, I noticed that they looked like real meat…. weird. I have some good pictures!
I had a wonderful beet burger in a small NY town a couple of months ago. I was so excited to find your recipe. I just tried the recipe and the flavor is wonderful, but they were way too mushy. Turned into more of a spread than a burger. I guess they would work in a pita. Any recommendations on binding them better and keeping the flavor?
Thanks for all your recipes–you are my go to site for recipes!
Sorry to hear that! I would try adding a little cornstarch to the mixture, maybe 2-3 teaspoons. Please let me know how that turns out.
I’ve got mine in the oven right now. I used oat flour in the recipe, then saw your final comment and added 1 T of corn starch. They have about 10 more minutes, but, when I went to flip them, they weren’t very stable. I’m curious if anyone has tried anything different?
I also upped the oven temp when I flipped them, because the they were still VERY moist–part of the reason for their fragile state.
Any other suggestions from those who’ve tried this recipe?
Ok. I take it back. I used cornstarch and oat flour, upped the temp half way through to 400, and cooked these for close to an hour. But, guess what? They stayed together. And they’re delicious.
This was GREAT! I added chipotles in adobo sauce to the burgers and it added great (mild) heat and smokiness. I added corn starch, too, for stick-together-ness. So good! I love your recipes!
This may be really daft, but do you freeze these before or after you cook them?
I’m anxious to put the beets in my fridge to good use and try these! Yum…
You could do it either way, but the easiest is to cook them first. Then when you need them, all you have to do is reheat them, in a skillet or microwave.
After eating beef burgers forever, this taste excellent, great recipe will eat again!
I made these tonight, with frozen tofu. They are delicious, particularly with the chipotle aioli! I think that I used frozen tofu helped them keep their shape a little bit easier, and I was able to flip them carefully without any disaster. That said, I’ll probably add cornstarch next time to help in the flipping.
This is definitely going to become part of my “company” menu!
These were definitely the prettiest veggie burgers I have ever made – picture perfect! Since I didn’t have ground flax seed, I added some quick cooking oatmeal and about a teaspoon of corn starch. They held together very well, even through turning. I think that next time I will add more garlic and chile powder as they were a bit bland for me. Great Recipe!
Hi Susan,
I’m getting ready to make these, what do you think is a medium sized beet? I have beets that my mom grew and to me they are huge, but I’m not an avid gardener so maybe these are mediums…I would say these beets are about 4 inches across, about the size of softball or a little smaller?
I’d say those were large beets! You could probably get away with using 1 large one, maybe 1 1/4.
I hope you enjoy the burgers!
Susan, there’s too much sodium in this recipe for me. Is it mostly from the soy sauce? (maybe the nutr. yeast too…) In your opinion, can I eliminate the soy sauce & not forego too much of the yumminess???
Marian, most of it comes from the salt–129mg. The soy sauce is next with 67mg. The beets themselves have 14mg, and everything else is negligible. The soy sauce adds a little flavor, but mostly saltiness, so you can leave it out if you like. Hope you enjoy!
THANKS, Susan! I’ll try making these & use as little salt as possible (tasting as I add salt in 1/8 tsp. doses) & leave out the soy sauce entirely. I want to make them because they’re RED – how FUN for a burger! Can’t wait – I’ll let you know how “you know who” likes them….
Oh my goodness… this was absolutely divine! I am very new vegan and trying out many recipes…. this one is definitely a keeper
Hi, i wanted to thank you for this lovely recipe. Im not vegan/vegetarian and even less fat free at my cooking but, not all things have to be same way
Good tasty food is the nice in wich ever form it comes.
I will be doing later this week your black eyed pea recipes, thank so much of intresting recipes 
I wanted to try this recipe cos it has two my favorites, tofu and beets.
Unfortunately, here where i live fresh beets are hard to find, so i used vacuumpacked cooked ones. I think i was too over enthustiac to squeeze extra liguid out, so i had little on dry side mixture so i added small egg and that fixed it. Even my husband who isnt allways so happy with my experiments, liked these. We just tasted one after baking and rest are reserved for dinner this evening and tomorrows lunch. I will make harissamayonnaise to go with these cos chipotles are allso hard to find here
Hello Susan,
I am a new vegan and have been eating a semi-vegetarian diet for some time. Your site is great. I made the roasted beet burger today, they are in the oven cooking as I write this. I made a little patty in my fry pan as a sample, delicious!! The mixture was a little wet, but the should be fine when cooked. The taste is so good.
I made your thanksgiving loaf a couple of weeks age. It was delicious also.
I appreciate your site, and the work you have put into it. I find myself going back to your site often, and have recipes in my box that I want to try soon.
Blessings Yvonne
Thanks so much for your feedback, Yvonne. I hope you enjoyed the rest of the beet burgers!
I live only about 80 miles north of Jackson, and I’ve been to the Rainbow and eaten at the High Noon Cafe many times. Though I have not tried your recipe based on the original, I can definitely affirm how great these burgers are at the High Noon Cafe’. My husband LOVES beets so I really need to try this recipe for him.
Just wondering if you could use canned beets to save on some time?
your pun reminds me of these shirts I saw on etsy, so funny… “lettuce turnip the beet”!!! http://www.etsy.com/shop/coup?ref=seller_info_count
I made these for dinner last night and they are delicious! The color makes them fun but the oven roasting makes them so savory and delicious. I’m not a big beet fan but I will definitely be making these again. Thanks!!!
Hi Susan,
One of the biggest bummers about having to give up soy for pain management was not being able to make these burgers. Today I had an inspirational breakthrough–I decided to make the recipe with cannelini beans I had cooked. I also added about 1/3 cup of quinoa flakes in addition to the other ingredients, to help with body. I also added some poultry seasoning and a few crumpled up dried mushrooms from the stash I have gathered and dried myself. I let the burger mix chill for a while. They formed up just fine and baked up nicely–and best of all–tasted great! I wrapped mine in a romaine leaf with some tomato slices from my garden and a little dijon mustard. Roasted beet white bean burgers!! I am a happy camper.
Thanks for the orginal recipe. I don’t feel deprived of it any more.
xo
moonwatcher
{ 7 trackbacks }