How to Make your own Bean and Nut Veggie Burgers

Art Lightstone

If you're interested in transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, then you may have encountered a certain amount of frustration when trying to source a good veggie burger that you can enjoy at home. Not only are most of these burgers quite processed, but they can also be very expensive. The new Beyond Meat product line has certainly done a lot to promote plant-based eating, but I have found this product to be extraordinarily expensive. A quick scan of the numerous unpronounceable ingredients sealed the deal: I decided I would try to make my own veggie burgers, and then just see what happens.

As luck would have it, I pretty much nailed it on my first attempt. Here's what I did: 

Ingredients: 

• 14 oz. can pinto beans (mashed)
• 8 oz. cashew nuts
• 2 oz. hemp heart seeds
• 2 oz black sesame seeds
• 2 oz. chia seeds
• 2 oz. water
• 2 tbsp. olive oil

Instructions: 

• Mash up the pinto beans.
• Blend the cashew nuts, hemp heart seeds, sesame seeds, and chia seeds in a Nutri-Bullet (or similarly powerful blender).
• Combine mashed beans, blended nuts and seeds, water, and oil.
• Roll mixture into balls, and then mold into patties. (See note below.)
• Pan fry until crisp on outside.
• Allow to cool down and they will firm up.
• Enjoy!

Notes: 

The ground chia and flax seeds make this mixture quite sticky, but that's what holds the patties together (instead of eggs). Watch the video below to see how to make the patties... and then get them off your hands!

Why you Should Consider Transitioning to a Vegan Lifestyle

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, raising animals for human consumption is the single largest source of human methane emissions. While methane does not stay in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide, it is a far more powerful greenhouse gas. Thus, over a 100 year period, pound for pound, methane is approximately 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. 

Raising animals, especially ruminant animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, are destructive to our environment in four main ways. First, these animals essentially burp methane. Through a process known as enteric fermentation, ruminant animals produce methane when microbes in their digestive tracts (known as rumen), decompose and ferment their food, Second, the manure produced by these animals also produces methane. Together, the manure and the enteric fermentation comprise the single largest source of methane emissions related to human activity. Third, the land cleared to raise these animals destroys millions of acres of natural carbon sinks (often forest) that would have sequestered some of the carbon that humans are producing. Fourth, the energy and water used to grow food for livestock, and then transport and process these animals, accounts for approximately half (3.5 gigatonnes annually) of the more than 7 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalents associated with livestock production. 

Beyond all that, from a humanitarian standpoint, raising animals in modern corporate farms creates a hell-on-Earth nightmare for billions of animals, from chickens, to pigs, to cattle. If you are brave enough to watch the movie Dominion, then you can get a thorough, inside view of the pain and suffering endured by millions of animals every year just so humans can consume animal protein. If you're not quite brave enough to watch Dominion, then the animated video entitled The Meatrix also does a fine job of conveying some basic facts about raising livestock.

Given that raising livestock is estimated to account for between 10% and 12% of human GHG emissions, eating less meat, or even transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, is definitely one of the quickest, easiest, and cheapest actions that people can take in order to combat climate change. 

If you're interested in exploring a vegan diet, just click on the "Vegan Lifestyle" filter in the right-hand menu of this blog to see more plant-based recipes and ideas. ​