I love cooking with beets for their beautiful bright color and mellow sweet flavor, but I do find it a hassle that many recipes require beets to be pre-roasted. When we were inundated with beets at the end of our summer CSA, I was thrilled that our farm also recommended a no-pre-cooking-required beet burger recipe! We made a few tweaks to the original and the result is a subdued beet burger – not too sweet or spiced – that is the perfect vehicle for your favorite toppings. These burgers bake quite nicely in the oven rather than frying on the stovetop.
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- 2 cups cooked green lentils
- 2 cups beets (about 3 medium beets)
- 1 yellow onion, small dice
- 1/3 cup walnuts or nuts of your choice, chopped
- 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
- 3/4 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 2/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup almond butter
- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Peel the beets then shred them in a food processor using the shredder blade. (You can also grate them by hand).
- In a frying pan over medium heat, heat a tbsp. of olive oil. Once hot, add the diced onion and cook for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Add the nuts, garlic, cumin, and red pepper flakes and cook for another minute or so.
- Mix the ingredients: In a food processor, combine half the lentils, half the rice, and half the beets and pulse a few times until well mixed. Then add the onion mixture, nutritional yeast, breadcrumbs, almond butter, and soy sauce and pulse again until mixed. Stir the remaining lentils, rice, and beets into the mixture. You can play around with the quantities in this step to get your ideal texture. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and more spices if needed.
- Form the mixture into patties and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 400°F or until they are lightly browned.
- Top with hummus, mustard, avocado, or your favorite toppings.
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