baked broccoli burgers

I eat vegetables every single day. It’s important, you know? Especially after the dinner I had earlier this week, I need all the vegetables I can get.

The thing about being vegan is that everyone assumes all you do is eat veggies all day long. You munch a carrot for breakfast, devour some sprouts at lunch, wrap a lettuce leaf around a stick of celery for dinner and then pop a beet in your mouth for dessert and call it a day. It’s funny to me because, as I’ve proven several times on this blog, it’s very easy to be vegan and never ever let a vegetable slide past your lips. It’s totally doable. Of course, I don’t recommend it.

What I do recommend is finding new and different ways to fit vegetables into your meals. I’m one of those people that sometimes needs to have their vegetables hidden. Some days I’m excited to dig into a giant side of roasted veggies or a mega salad, while other days I get all whiny about it. My two favorite ways to sneak vegetables into my diet are with green monsters and veggie burgers. I love veggie burgers. I could eat a different one every single day and not get bored.

Yesterday’s dinner was a broccoli burger with a tahini sauce on top. I love this tahini sauce recipe. I use it for everything from falafel to salads. I like to pile the sauce high on the burger so it drips down the sides. Messy burgers are the best, don’t you agree?

Baked Broccoli Burgers
Burger recipe adapted from the Vegetarian Times
Sauce recipe from Epicurious
Makes 4 burgers
Printable recipe

Burger ingredients:

• 1/3 cup dry couscous
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions
• 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 15 ounce can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 tablespoon sesame tahini
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

Tahini dressing ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sesame tahini
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.

I did these first three steps simultaneously in order to speed up the prep time.

1. In a small pot, bring the water and couscous to a boil. Remove from heat immediately and allow the couscous to sit in the pot for 10 minutes, soaking up the water.

2. Steam the broccoli in a steamer for 5-7 minutes (or use a microwave or stove method, you just want the broccoli to be soft in the end)

3. In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add in the onion and scallions, stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes until the onion softens. Remove from heat and stir in the cumin.

Gather your couscous, broccoli, onion mix, chickpeas and sesame tahini and combine together in a food processor.

Pour the mixture into a bowl and stir in the bread crumbs. Form it into patties and place the patties on a cookie sheet lined with foil.

Bake for 50 minutes, turning the patties over halfway through. You’ll know they are done when the tops begin to brown.

To make the tahini sauce, place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until combined, roughly 30 seconds.

Top your burgers with the sauce, throw some pickles, tomato and lettuce on there, and go to town!