Quinoa Burgers

My daughter in law has been a vegetarian for several years now. I have searched for a good vegetarian burger to make. The first I tried was a black bean burger. They were so dry no one could eat them all. A large portabella mushroom does make a good veggie burger, topped with your favorite ingredients. Awhile back I did make some brown rice burgers, served in a pita pocket with lettuce, onions, and salsa. Everyone did like those.

I had seen the Quinoa burger recipe at Saveur.com and liked the ingredients, quinoa, white beans, spinach, onions, celery, carrots and garlic. It was topped with a red pepper salsa, roasted red peppers, onions, parsley, cumin and lemon juice. That all had to taste good.

I made them up for tonight’s supper and for sides we had fried corn and baby snap peas, for an all veggie meal. It was colorful, even the burgers. My thoughts were they were fair to pretty good. They do need the red pepper salsa, it compliments them. I did them at 300 deg. for ½ hour on my Traeger. They may have been better cooked fast on a grill or pan fried in some olive oil; but I like the ease of doing them on my Traeger, no fuss or worry about flipping.

My wife just thought they were fair, the son & wife liked them, the grandson only ate a few bites. Some more seasoning would work for me too. I guess I just expect too much from a veggie burger, like it should taste like a big juicy beef burger! They don’t take as much prep time either.


Salsa ready to mix

Veggies for the burgers

Veggies sauteeing

Mashed beans, spinach, and veggies

Ready for the smoker

All done

My Plate

Smokin Don