We're celebrating Meatless Mondays with balanced, delicious meal plans. We hope you'll join us -- whether you're vegetarian all the time or just here and there.
Today: We're adapting veggie burgers to fit the Monday night mentality, then washing them down with a sparkling summer drink.
These veggie burgers are for the times when an elegant salad won't hit the spot, for the times when all of your utensils are dirty, and for the times when you just can't stare at that mountain of zucchini on the counter for a moment longer. And there's no reason you can't have a veggie burger on a Monday night. Sure, the recipe calls for dried chickpeas soaked overnight and cooked for 45 minutes, but come on, it's Monday. Translation: used canned chickpeas.
Once you've gotten past that barrier, veggie burgers are hardly any work at all. They'll come together with a quick grind in the food processor. While you let the food processor do all the work, keep hydrated with a refreshing, summery drink. You deserve it.
The Menu
Take advantage of our handy grocery list and game plan, or click the recipe photos or titles to see (and save and print) the full recipes.
Zucchini Quinoa Burgers by Gena Hamshaw
Retro Raspberry Lime Rickies by cheese1227
Makes 6 burgers and 4 tall glasses of soda
12 ounces frozen raspberries
2 limes
1 1/2 cups zucchini
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 cup cooked quinoa
2 tablespoons fresh dill
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
Sparkling water
We're assuming you've got sugar, olive oil, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and paprika in your kitchen. If not, add those to the list, too.
1. Make a raspberry-lime syrup. Heat the raspberries with the zest of the limes and 1 1/2 cups of sugar and boil until all the sugar has melted, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Sauté garlic, onion, and grated zucchini. Meanwhile, grind up all of your other burger ingredients in the food processor. Once the mixture holds together, dump it into a bowl, add the zucchini, and shape into 6 patties.
3. Strain the syrup and add 3 to 4 tablespoons to a large glass half-filled with ice. Squeeze the juice of a half a lime into the glass, fill to the top with sparkling water, and spike it if it's been that kind of day. Start sipping.
4. Sauté each burger in olive oil until golden, 5 minutes on each side. If you're hungry, eat them as they come off the stove. Or, put them on a bun with lettuce, tomato, and maybe even some avocado.
5. Store extra patties -- cooked or uncooked -- in the fridge to eat in the week ahead.
Join The Sandwich Universe co-hosts (and longtime BFFs) Molly Baz and Declan Bond as they dive deep into beloved, iconic sandwiches.
Listen Now
Written by: Sarah Jampel
Popular on Food52
8 Comments
It's nice when recipes come with weights, but since not everyone has a scale, we tend to use volume measurements (as is the case with most recipes written in the US). We try to include weights when they are available, but unfortunately, most recipes don't come with them. The reason that the frozen raspberries have a weight is because they are pre-packaged in a container that weighs exactly 12 oz.
For example, your recipe, and your grocery list says "1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds". If I walk into a store, can I buy a packet of pumpkin seeds containing "1/2 cup" or "1 cup" of seeds or do buy a packet of pumpkin seeds containing "4oz" or "8oz" of seeds? If the latter then your grocery list really needs to be listed with weights else you are putting the work of translating units onto the reader
See what other Food52 readers are saying.