These roasted beet burgers are packed with smoky flavor and fortified with tofu to make them as filling as they are delicious. Vegan and gluten-free.
High Noon Café, the only vegetarian restaurant in Jackson, Mississippi, where I live, serves the most unusual beet 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 beet burger 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 made them I added a thickener–either a couple of teaspoons of corn starch or a couple of tablespoons of oat flour (oatmeal pulverized in the blender). It made a big difference, but they’re still not super-firm, so don’t use this recipe if you care about firmness or want them to hold up on the grill.
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
Ingredients
- 2 medium beets
- 1 medium onion
- 6-10 garlic cloves or as many as you like
- 14 ounces extra-firm tofu (not silken) lightly pressed
- 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.
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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. Drain off any liquid from the beets and add them 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.
Gwen
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
Ann
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!!! 🙂
moonwatcher
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
Ainsley
I just made a double batch of these AND your thick and hearty chili. I swear, your recipes have made my whole family happier and healthier. Your site is my only recipe source that I like cooking from now. I can’t thank you enough for passing on the yum to us.
Susan Voisin
I’m so happy to hear that, Ainsley! Thank you for letting me know that you and your family enjoy the recipes.
shakti
The colour is a little off-putting but the ingredients and having burgers are wonderful – , thank you.
More, more please and could they be fine for freezing, and do they taste good for lunchbox? That is perfection.
Lisa
What is that oozing spread on them? sun-dried tomato aioli? If so is there a recipe for this? Yum!
Susan Voisin
That’s a chipotle mayo–canned chipotles blended with vegan mayo.
Kate
These did not knock my socks off. I usually love your recipes. I wonder if I did something wrong?
Tom
I love your blog and have enjoyed most of your recipes, but this one just didn’t do it for me. Waaayyy too bland.
Laura Kiowski
I loved the roasted beet flavor but we could not get the pattie to hold together at all. I’m thinking the tofu made the burger to soggy. Either cut the tofu altogether, reduce the amount used or substitute another binder. So frustrating all these random comments from people who haven’t even made the recipe yet, they just want to someday in the future!
Michelle
I’m really looking forward to trying these. I saw that someone else asked, but I didn’t see an answer. I was wondering what kind of bun you used. It looks wonderful! Do you have a recipe or was it store bought. I’m looking forward to trying many of your recipes! You have a lot of great reviews 🙂
Susan Voisin
This was a store-bought bun, but I’m planning to start experimenting with making my own baked goods. Stay tuned. 😉