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Do you love a veggie burger that you can really sink your teeth into? Look no further than this round-up of 5 meaty veggie burgers, perfect for vegan grilling season.
It’s grilling season at last!
After a snowy spring and a winter that just wouldn’t go away, it’s finally time to dust off the grill, and get cooking in the sunshine.
Vegan grilling
Everything is better on the grill – from grilled tofu with lemon & rosemary, to veggie fajitas, and all the way to grilled banana splits with chocolate peanut butter sauce.
But sometimes when you’re heading to a cookout or just needing something cozy and familiar, only a veggie burger will do.
There are loads of vegan burgers on the market nowadays (and of course, you can make your own). Store-bought burgers range from having ingredients that are very vegetable & bean based to burgers that are so meaty, they make you do a double take.
My preferences are on the meatier side of things when I’m looking for a veggie burger. So I tend to choose ones that are made from seitan or soy.
5 meaty vegan burgers for grilling season
If you also prefer a meaty veggie burger, here are 5 burgers for this vegan grilling season I think you’re going to like!
(Curious about why vegans would eat something that tastes like meat? <—– Find out why here.)
Field Roast FieldBurger
FieldBurgers are my go-to choice in the summer. It is highest in calories of any of the options here, but that means it’s a fatty, juicy burger that really feels like a summer indulgence. One patty is 290 calories and has 16 grams of fat.
(Apparently, they lowered the fat & calories at some point, because when they first came out the burgers were 340 calories with 24 grams of fat.)
The fat gets a little crackly around the edges, which is downright addictive to me.
These burgers are seitan-based, but also include barley, garlic, onions, mushrooms, celery, and carrots. They include a lot of flavorful spices, which gives them a distinctive flavor profile.
You can find Field Roast burgers at many natural grocery stores in either the fresh or frozen case.
Looking for another Field Roast option? Their Celebration Roast is also amazing on a vegan banh mi.
Herbivorous Butcher hamburger
This hefty vegan burger from Herbivorous Butcher is one that really fills you up. It is the kind of burger you can really sink your teeth into.
It has a seitan base and is seasoned with vegan Worcestershire, soy sauce, brown sugar, and molasses. This burger has 260 calories with 7 grams of fat.
And if you feel like straying from burgers, of course, Herbivorous Butcher has loads of vegan meats that are perfect for the grill. (And here are some barbecue side dishes to go with them!)
Herbivorous Butcher products aren’t sold everywhere, but they are expanding. They also ship throughout the U.S. & Puerto Rico.
Gardein beefless burgers or sliders
The Gardein beefless burger is David’s usual summer pick. It has a strong grilled flavor right out of the package, which means that even if you have to cook it in a grill pan, you’re still going to have a lot of smoky flavor.
It is a thin burger, which David really likes in case he feels like making a vegan Big Mac – either full-sized or in mini form.
Gardein Beefless Burgers are made with non-GMO soy and wheat in addition to kamut, amaranth, millet, and quinoa flour. One beefless burger has 140 calories and 5 grams of fat.
I used the Gardein beefless sliders to make these Mini Mac’s (a.k.a. vegan Big Mac sliders).
Gardein has a huge distribution. Within the U.S. it can be found at large chain stores like Target and Walmart, as well as the usual natural grocery store circuit.
The Beyond Burger
Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burgers are a newer darling in the bunch.
Truth be told, I prefer to have someone else cook my Beyond Burger. The flavor is terrific, but the experience of cooking it is so startlingly meat-like, it takes some mental gymnastics to not have it bother me.
It comes in two burgers to a pack. And it looks very much like red ground beef patties right in the package.
They are made from pea protein isolate and get their signature color from beet juice extract & annatto. One patty is 270 calories with 20 grams of fat.
Beyond Burgers can be cooked on an indoor grill pan (as shown above). However, keep in mind that they have a lingering scent. So I recommend cooking them outside or in the air fryer, which seals in the scent, if you have the option.
(To air fry the Beyond Burger, cook at 360 degrees for 9 minutes, stopping once to flip. Or go for 8 minutes and finish it off in a grill pan as I did here.)
Or you can pick one up at a restaurant that sells them. They seem to be spreading like wildfire around the country. (I love the way they prepare them at Zombie Burger.)
Beyond Burgers are sold in natural grocery stores, as well as some Target locations. Sometimes they are sold in the meat department. Other times they’re with the other veggie burgers in the refrigerated or frozen section.
Upton’s Naturals Classic Burger
I’m a longtime fan of Upton’s Naturals products, and their burger very much fits in the flavor wheelhouse of their other products. It also has an ingredient list that is on the slim side.
These seitan-based burgers also include eggplant and tofu with soy sauce, garlic, natural hickory smoke concentrate, and spices for flavor. They have the least amount of calories of any in this line-up with 168 calories and 5 grams of fat.
You can find these burgers at some natural grocery stores. Or if you’re in Chicago, get them hot & ready to eat at Upton’s Break Room.
Tracey says
Hi! What time & temp to you use to air-fry the Beyond Burger?
Cadry says
That’s a good question, Tracey! I haven’t done it enough in the air fryer to give hard & fast numbers. When I made them the other day, I cooked them at 360 degrees for about 8 minutes, stopping once to flip, and then I finished them in the grill pan for better grill marks. The air fryer gets pretty smoky. I think limiting the amount of time they were on the grill pan helped minimize the smell some. The next time I make them in the air fryer, I’ll update this post, and let me know if you get to it before then! I’ll be interested to hear how it goes for you.
Bianca Phillips says
Yay! These are all my faves (plus, Impossible, but you can’t buy it in a store, sadly). It’s been WAY too long since I’ve had the Field Roast burger, and it’s one of my top 5 burgers for sure. Glad they lowered the calories cause that 340 always got me! By the time you add a bun and Chao cheese and mayo, it was a calorie bomb for sure.
Cadry says
I haven’t tried the Impossible Burger. It’s available a few places in Iowa, but all of the places close to me don’t offer a vegan bun. (One will swap in focaccia.) It’s great that more businesses are getting vegan burgers, but also getting vegan buns seems like an obvious next step. I was pleasantly surprised that Field Roast lowered the fat and calories in their burger too. I didn’t realize that until I was writing this post. I think it’s new since last summer, because I remember that last year, David’s double Gardein burger still had fewer calories than my single Field Roast burger.
Caitlin Galer-Unti says
Interesting about the Beyond Burger and preferring someone else to cook it. I haven’t tried it yet, but I have heard it’s very meat-like.
Cadry says
Yes, the whole experience is designed to be super meat-like. The packaging looks just like meat burgers, and the texture & color of the burger before it has been cooked is squishy & deep red. I wouldn’t say that the lingering smell is exactly the same, but it’s very strong & stubborn. It sticks around.
Jane Johnson says
I’ve been having beyond meat burgers for dinner a lot lately and I love them. I have not experienced a strong, lingering odor though? I’m curious what you are doing to cook them to cause a strong lingering odor…
Cadry says
I’m glad you love them! The strong smell is a pretty common complaint. On my Instagram post about this burger round-up, several people chimed in with similar feelings about it.
Ttrockwood says
The beyond burger and the impossible burger both just creep me out, they’re too much like meat for me! Haha!
I do like the Uptons naturals burger, but I usually go for the more veggie based burgers like sunshine or lately hillary’s which i have only made indoors so not sure how they do on an actual grill
Cadry says
Haha! I hear that. I haven’t tried the Impossible Burger, but my husband is similarly creeped out that they advertise it as a veggie burger that “bleeds.” I don’t think he’ll be running to get one anytime soon! I haven’t had a Hilary’s burger in a long while, but I remember thinking it was quite tasty. It seems like it would be too delicate for an outdoor grill, though. I’m glad that there are so many veggie burger options to cover a variety of preferences!
Don says
Great post. Very helpful. Thx
Cadry says
I’m glad to hear it!