Blue Plate Diner Classic Veggie Burger- Vegan Friendly Veggie Burger

A few months back, I saw American Idol Ruben Studdard reveal he was a vegan on a talk show.  I became curious, and started researching vegan recipes.  I was especially interested in vegan recipes for Soul Food and classic comfort food.  I stumbled across a video of a vegan friendly veggie burger on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, with Guy Fieri.  Guy visited the Blue Plate Diner, and highlighted their veggie burger, which is a huge seller. 

The good news is, they take us step by step through the ingredients and process of making this famous vegan friendly veggie burger.  The bad news is, like many food shows, they do not give a recipe. 

So this is my stab at the famous Blue Plate Diner Veggie Burger.  I made it, and have lots of pictures.  The recipe presented here incorporates the changes that I would make based on my first experience. 

I will update you as the recipe evolves.  If you’re looking for a tasty, filling vegan friendly veggie burger though, I’d say my first attempt was a success.  I’m sure this first round of fine tuning will make it better.  I don’t think you need to wait until it’s perfected before you try this recipe.  After all, perfecting most recipes is an “individualizing” process don’t you think?

Ingredients

1 can Garbanzo beans, thoroughly drained

1 can Black beans, thoroughly drained, liquid reserved

1 c quick oats

2 c water

½ c Japanese Panko

½ c flour

½ Tbsp Chili powder

1 Tbsp Lawry’s garlic with parsley

½ Tbsp granulated onion powder

1 tsp Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

1/8 tsp Pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne

½ c chopped celery

½ c chopped onion

Instructions

1- The garbanzos take more time in the food processor to break up than the black beans.  Pour drained garbanzo beans into food processor.  Pulse until broken up.  Add a little bean juice if needed. 

2- Pour in black beans and pulse until broken up.  Pour both in large bowl. 

3- Cook ¾ cup oats in 1 ½ cup water.  Cook per package directions, about 5 minutes for quick cooking oats.  Add oats to bowl with beans. 

4- Add flour, Panko, and seasonings.  Mix thoroughly. 

5- Add celery and onion.  Mix well. 

6- Form thin patties the diameter of your bun (thinner than my picture). 

7- Fry patties in a hot pan with oil. 

I learned that canned garbanzo beans are very firm compared to black beans. I put the beans in the food processor together. I would definitely recommend doing the garbanzos first. I don’t think you need to empty them out before adding the black beans though. The black beans are relatively soft and work up quickly.

My other mistake regarding the beans was that I only partially drained them. Next time I’m thoroughly draining the beans, but retaining the liquid just in case I need more moisture in the food processor or with the final burgers.

In the recipe above, I increased the flour, water, and oats slightly from my original amounts. I hope this will bind the final product together a little better.

I couldn’t taste much spice in my first veggie burgers, so I doubled most of the seasonings.

I used an electric chopper to process the onions and celery. I don’t mind getting a chunk of onion, but I don’t like celery as well, and tend to use a fine chop in recipes. At ¼ cup each, they both got lost! I doubled both of them here, but may actually bump them up to ¾ cup each when I prepare these veggie burgers next time. I’m thinking about bumping the Panko up to 1 cup too. I think the onion and celery will provide moisture when the burgers cook.

These non-meat burgers don’t shrink! They also are not firm like meat protein. Be careful when pan frying the burgers, because they will break fairly easily. Likewise, they will fall apart easily when you eat them. Next time I think I will make my burgers thinner.

My original effort yielded 6 large burgers. They made a large, filling sandwich. We froze 4 of them and have already eaten frozen and thawed burgers. They were just as good as the fresh ones.

With the modifications to the recipe, and with the recommendation of making thinner burgers, you may get about 10 vegan friendly veggie burgers.

Thanks for your support!

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