Smoky Vegan Beet Burger with Minty Pea Puree

The beet burger is the queen of all veggie burgers. It is colorful, hearty, and delicious. This 7-ingredient beetroot burger recipe is vegan (so egg-free and dairy-free), but juicy, flavorful, and loaded with simple and easy-to-find ingredients like raw, grated beets, cannellini beans, and oats. The result is a real crowd-pleaser, hearty, and so-so yummy burger. 

If you are looking for more vegan burger recipes, try the meatiest vegan burger using TVP, this delicious BBQ vegan pulled pork burger, or this aromatic Chinese BBQ tofu burger. You’ll love all of them for sure.

What to expect from this recipe?

Whenever we have a guest over for lunch or dinner, who is willing to try something plant-based, we usually choose to make them these easy vegan beet burgers to impress them. And so far everyone loved it.

Beet can be tricky for some as raw beet has a dirt-like taste that can overpower any additional flavors in a dish. So what did we do? We tried to balance all ingredients and spices in a way that you can enjoy beets without a strong earthy flavor.

We added Worcestershire sauce to give these burger patties a bit of smoky, charcoal taste. We tried it with soy sauce and liquid smoke as well, but there is something umami in Worcestershire sauce that we just prefer.

Ingredients

So what do you need to make smoky vegan beet burgers?

• beets -> They are the star of the show.
• cannellini or white beans -> They have a quite neutral taste. You can add them to any recipe for extra protein. Still, they remain fairly hidden and will not make the whole dish taste like beans.
• oats -> We recommend using fine oats or quick-cooking oats. If you use rolled oats, you should definitely chill the mix before frying to soften the rolled oats.

What else is there?

• red onion
• fresh garlic clove
• Worcestershire sauce -> yes, there are vegan and gluten-free brands
• dried thyme
• sea salt, and black pepper

🛒 You can find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

How to make vegan beet burgers?

Preparing the beets

1. Wash them thoroughly. Pay attention to wash off any dirt around the stem.
2. Cut off the stem. If there is any dirt left, I wash them again.
3. Peel them. (Beet usually stains your hands and cutting board. You can wash the stains off easily if you do it immediately after you are ready. I try to minimize waste so I don’t like disposable gloves if they are not necessary. You might need to rub a bit longer but they come off easily. If not, here is a handy guide on how to remove beetroot stains.)
4. Grate them with a large hole cheese grater or for a quick finish, I use the grater of my food processor.

Making the burger patties

1. Take a large mixing bowl, and add HALF of the grated beets.
2. Add the canned cannellini beans without water
3. Add chopped onion and garlic.
4. Use an immersion blender to puree it.

5. When you have a mixture of a purée consistency, add the other HALF of the shredded beet. Mix it well.
6. Add the oats, and the seasoning (Worcestershire sauce, thyme, salt, and pepper).
7. Mix them with a spoon and chill it in a fridge for 30 minutes, while the oats can absorb any excess liquid.

Frying or baking

After chilling, the beet mixture should still feel soft, but not too wet. You should be able to form the burger patties without a problem. If not, add 1-2 tablespoons of corn starch.

1. Preheat a non-stick pan over medium heat with some olive oil and cook each side for 3-5 minutes until the patties are getting brown.
2. Flip and cook the other side as well. Adjust the time you need to cook them thoroughly based on the size of your patties.

If you want to make them oil-free, preheat the oven to 395 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius). Place the burger patties on a non-stick baking sheet or parchment paper and bake them for 10-15 minutes. Flip halfway and adjust the baking time depending on the size of your patties.

Top tips to make them perfectly

• Use a food processor to make the burger mixture even quicker. Most food processors have a grater attachment so you can grate the beet directly into the processor. Don’t forget to take HALF of them out before adding the other ingredients. Pulse, stop, scrape, and pulse again until you reach the right texture.
• We recommend using half of the grated beet for the puree, but you can increase or decrease the amount. If you leave more grated, then the burger will be closer to a hash brown. If you leave more for puree, then the texture will be too soft and you need to add some flour or starch.
• I use fine oats / quick oats. If you prefer to use rolled oats, you might need more time to chill as they tend to absorb moisture slowly.
• Depending on the actual size of your beet, you might need to add more or fewer oats.
• If you make thick burgers, you need to reduce heat to low/medium and cook them longer. The middle might not get well done. If you make thin burgers, you need a shorter cooking time for sure.
• Don’t serve them while hot as the burgers will firm up after cooling.

Let’s build an Epic Smoky Beet Burger!

The best part of the whole recipe is building your yummy veggie burger. I know that the more layers you add, the harder it is to eat. However, I really-really recommend all these layers for you to try. They are absolutely amazing and delicious together!

1. Start off with a toasted bun.
2. Add green leaf lettuce because the ruffles look so pretty.
3. Then comes the star of this recipe, the vegan beet burger patty.
4. Next up, a vegan BBQ sauce and vegan mayo mix (mixed 1:1 previously in a small bowl).
5. Then, some fresh tomato slices.
6. Now, I added a super easy Minty Pea Puree (details in the recipe card).
7. Finish it off with some arugula.

What else can you add? 

This smoky beet burger goes great with caramelized onions, vegan goat cheese, garlic aioli, avocado slices or guacamole, and many more. What is your favorite combination?

What to serve with them?

If you add many layers to your burger, they will be rich and filling on their own. However, if you need some inspiration for burger side dishes, here are our usual choices:

• roasted potato or sweet potato wedges
• French fries from potatoes or other root veggies like carrots, parsnip…
• brown rice, quinoa, or other cooked grains or even riced sweet potatoes.
• light salad on the side like an easy vegan coleslaw, or a tomato-corn salsa fresca (which we make as part of our copycat Chipotle veggie bowl recipe)
• grilled vegetable kabobs of all variety
• roasted cauliflower

Let us know in the comments what is your favorite side dish!

FAQ and substitutions

Can you substitute cannellini beans?

Yes, you can use chickpea, black bean, or red kidney bean. I haven’t tested with any other bean or lentil, but if you have please let us know in the comments.

Can the burgers be frozen?

Yes, they freeze well. However, you need to pre-cook or pre-bake them to give the burgers a bit of a crust. Freeze them in a stack with parchment paper in between. When you’re ready to use them, thaw them in the fridge before frying or baking as per instructions.

If you don’t pre-cook them, then after thawing they will get very moist.

Why do we love beet recipes?

Who wouldn’t like purple burgers? 🙂 But seriously, beet is awesome and nutritious. It is one of the high iron vegetables combined with Vitamin C for better absorption. If you are interested in learning more about the impressive benefits of beets, read Healthline’s article.

In this recipe, beet is grated raw and the patties are only cooked for a short time to keep as many nutrients as possible. My trusted resource when it comes to nutrition is Dr. Greger’s website. He has a series of 17 videos if you would like to learn more about the awesome benefits of raw beet.

This beet burger recipe is vegan so meat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free. It is suitable for a vegan and a vegetarian diet. This recipe is WFPB-friendly if you fry the burgers without oil in a non-stick frying pan or bake them in the oven.

However, it is only gluten-free if you buy certified gluten-free oats and oat flour. Oats are naturally gluten-free, although they are usually cross-contaminated with other grains.

More grilling recipes

You can browse through our vegan main course meals collection or our quick vegan meals collection or check out

THANK YOU so much for visiting our website. Please comment below if you have tried this recipe. We LOVE hearing from you! If you loved the recipe, please don’t forget to give us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ RATING. We appreciate all of our readers.  

UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in Aug 2018, but was rewritten and republished with new photos and tips in June 2022.