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These high-protein vegan burgers are simply amazing: meaty, soft, juicy, and protein-rich! You will never believe these are vegan! With over 60 five-star ratings, this is one of our most popular burger recipes, and there is a reason why!
Friends, I just made the most amazing vegan burgers ever.
Seriously, I tried a lot of different veggie burgers, and while most were delicious, they always lacked that meaty texture. These vegan burgers have an incredibly meaty texture and are soft and juicy!
⭐️ Why You Will Love this Recipe
- Incredibly meaty: Combining soy curls with vital wheat gluten creates the perfect combination of chewiness and meatiness. Plus, these plant-based burgers are moist and tender. Say goodbye to dry vegan burgers!
- Easy to prepare: Just 8 ingredients + a few spices are required. The process is as simple as processing everything together, shaping it into patties, and cooking!
- High-protein: With 25g of protein per serving, these are on par with real burgers. If you are looking for different ways to up your protein intake, these delicious burgers will come to the rescue!
- Cheaper than store-bought. Tired of paying $5,99 for 2 vegan burgers? These cost a total of about $2 for 3 large burgers. They taste just as good as store-bought without preservatives or additives!
- The reviews speak for themselves: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from over 60 ratings! Justin said: “These are Delish! Thanks for the recipe! It’s one of the best veggie burger recipes I have tried!
🫘 Ingredient Notes
Let’s take a look at the ingredients needed to prepare these high-protein vegan burgers:
- Soy curls – This makes the base of the burgers and gives them a meaty and chewy texture. Soy curl, sometimes called TVP, is a dehydrated product made from soy flour. It needs to be rehydrated in hot water before use. It’s high in protein, low in fat, and usually pretty cheap. You can now even find curls made from peas instead of soy!
- Cooked Beans – These add moisture and make the burgers softer. I went with white navy beans, but red or black beans will work too.
- Vital Wheat Gluten – Wheat gluten helps bind the burgers together and creates a slightly stretchy texture. Vital wheat gluten also adds extra protein. It’s an essential ingredient in this recipe.
- Nutritional Yeast – We are not using nutritional yeast to add a cheesy flavor but to give the burgers a more savory, deeper flavor.
- Soy Sauce – Instead of plain salt, soy sauce adds saltiness + extra flavor. We will also use dark soy sauce to slightly darken their color.
- Sugar – Optional but recommended to balance the saltiness. Don’t worry, it won’t make the burgers taste sweet! You can use white sugar or coconut sugar.
- Oil – I found that without the additional oil, the burgers didn’t have the richness of traditional burgers and were a bit drier.
- Liquid smoke – Add a few drops of liquid smoke for a subtle smokiness.
- Spices – Smoked paprika, garlic, and onion powder. We don’t want our burgers to be bland.
Yes, the combination of ingredients in this recipe might sound a bit unusual, but it works wonderfully! It’s obviously not on the level of Beyond Burger, but it’s getting pretty close.
🍔 How to Make High-Protein Veggie Burgers
Rehydrate the soy curls
- Add the soy curls to a bowl. Start by adding the dried soy curls to a bowl.
- Cover with water and rehydrate. Next, cover with hot water and let the soy curls rehydrate for about 20 minutes or until soft.
- Drain well. Drain the soy curls and rinse them a couple of times under cold water. This step helps get rid of the soybean flavor. Next, use your hands to squeeze the moisture from the soy curls.
Process the mixture
- Process the remaining ingredients. Add the cooked white beans, oil, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, sugar, spices, liquid smoke, and water to a food processor and process until smooth.
- Add the soy curls and process again. Then, add the rehydrated soy curls to the food processor and process for 4-6 seconds or until it looks like a bolognese sauce. You want the soy curls to be finely chopped but not completely puréed. Otherwise, you will lose the texture. The soy curls should be about 1/4-inch (5-6mm). Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl.
Add the gluten and form patties
- Stir in the vital wheat gluten. Add the vital wheat gluten to the blended soy curl mixture and mix using a spatula or your hands until it forms a paste resembling ground meat. Knead for about 10 seconds.
- Divide the mixture. Divide the mixture into 3 even balls to make 3 large burgers. If you prefer thinner burgers, divide the mixture into 4.
- Wrap each burger. Place one ball of the mixture on top of a sheet of parchment paper and shape it into a burger patty. Carefully wrap the patty in parchment paper. Next, wrap it in a layer of aluminum foil. Note: Your burger patties will be double-wrapped, once in parchment paper and then in aluminum foil. Repeat with the two remaining patties.
Cook the Burgers
- Steam. The final step consists of steaming the burgers for about 1 hour. To do so, you can use an Instant Pot or a bamboo steamer basket placed on top of a pot of boiling water.
- Let cool. After steaming, remove the burgers from the foil and parchment paper and let them cool for at least 10 minutes. You can now cook the burgers in a skillet or grill them!
🧂 Optional Marinade
While optional, this extra step adds flavor and saltiness and makes the burgers juicier. To marinade burgers:
- Place the burgers in a deep baking dish.
- Add 1/2 cup of water, 1/4 cup of soy sauce, and 2 tbsp of oil.
- Marinate the burgers overnight or for at least 4 hours, flipping them once.
You can then grill them or fry them in a pan!
🍔 How to Serve These Vegan Burgers
You can serve these veggie burgers with buns, along with pickled cucumber, tomato slices, salad leaves, and sriracha mayo (or your favorite burger sauce!). Or, you can serve the burgers without the buns, with some grains and vegetables on the side for a complete meal.
❄️ Freezing
These high-protein burgers freeze beautifully! Wrap each in plastic film and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
📔 Tips
- Do not make substitutes. This recipe is not versatile. Hence, I do not recommend making substitutes or omitting any ingredient. You can play with the spices and flavorings, though.
- Double the recipe. Since this recipe only makes 3 burgers, I recommend doubling it, as they will be gone in no time.
- Steam, don’t bake. These burgers must be steamed for an optimal texture. Do not try baking them.
💬 FAQ
Yes, you can substitute red kidney beans or black beans for white navy beans. It will alter the color of the burgers but won’t have any impact on their texture.
Unfortunately, vital wheat gluten is essential to add the meatiness and hold the burgers together. It cannot be omitted.
TVP comes in many different shapes. I had the best results with soy curls, but this recipe also works with TVP crumbles.
Burgers will keep for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
Yes! These high-protein vegan burgers are perfect for grilling! They hold together very well and do not fall apart.
Not at all! As opposed to other veggie burger recipes, this one doesn’t taste like beans at all. Also, it feels less heavy than the popular rice/bean combo that is often used in other recipes.
Note: This recipe was first released in 2018 and was updated in August 2023 with new photos, process shots, and improved flavor. I also replaced the TVP crumbles with soy curls for an improved texture. All gram measurements were also double-checked. This new recipe is slightly lower in protein but tastes much better!
High-Protein Vegan Burgers (The Best Vegan Burgers!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup soy curls
- 1/2 cup cooked white navy beans
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1/8 tsp liquid smoke
- 1/4 cup water (or beetroot juice)
- 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
Instructions
- Rehydrate the soy curls. Add the soy curls to a bowl and cover with hot water. Let the soy curls rehydrate for about 20 minutes or until soft.
- Drain the soy curls and rinse them a couple of times under cold water. This step helps get rid of the soybean flavor. Next, squeeze the soy curls with your hands to remove the excess moisture. Set the drained soy curls aside.
- Process the mixture. To the bowl of a food processor, add the cooked white beans, oil, sugar, soy sauce, nutritional yeast, onion powder, smoked paprika, dark soy sauce, liquid smoke, and water. Process until smooth.
- Add the soy curls and process again. Then, add the rehydrated soy curls to the food processor and process for 4-6 seconds or until it looks like a bolognese sauce. You want the soy curls to be finely chopped but not completely puréed. Otherwise, you will lose the texture. The soy curls should be about ¼-inch (5-6mm). Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl.
- Stir in the vital wheat gluten. Add the vital wheat gluten to the blended soy curl mixture and mix using a spatula or your hands until it forms a paste resembling ground meat. Knead for about 10 seconds. The mixture should be soft and have a slight elasticity.
- Divide the mixture. Divide the mixture into 3 even balls to make 3 large burgers. If you prefer thinner burgers, divide the mixture into 4.
- Wrap each burger. Place one ball of the mixture on top of a sheet of parchment paper and shape it into a burger patty. Carefully wrap the patty in parchment paper. Next, wrap it in a layer of aluminum foil. Note: Your burger patties will be double-wrapped, once in parchment paper and then in aluminum foil. Repeat with the two remaining patties.
- Cook the burgers. Place the wrapped burgers in a steamer (you can use a bamboo steamer basket or a regular steamer) and steam for 1 hour.
- Let cool. Once cooked, unwrap the burgers and let them cool for 10 minutes. You can now pan-fry the burgers in a little oil until golden brown on each side.
- Burgers will keep for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. They will harden a bit in the fridge but will soften once heated.
Notes
- Do not make substitutes. This recipe is not versatile. Hence, I do not recommend making substitutes or omitting any ingredient. You can play with the spices and flavorings, though.
- Double the recipe. Since this recipe only makes 3 burgers, I recommend doubling it, as they will be gone in no time.
- Steam, don’t bake. These burgers must be steamed for an optimal texture. Do not try baking them.
Nutrition
About the Author
Thomas Pagot is the founder, photographer, and recipe developer behind Full of Plants. He created the blog in 2016 as a personal cookbook for vegan recipes. Through years of recipe development, Thomas has successfully grown Full of Plants into a trusted resource for plant-based recipes.
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