The veggie burger. A seemingly quintessential vegetarian food. Like many of my fellow veg-heads, I have sampled many a meatless patty in my days since converting to my present lifestyle. Indeed, I presented you with a collection of burger reviews at just about this time last year.

While I prefer to make whole foods the foundation of my diet, the occasional, commercially-prepared veggie burger finds its way to the Broccoli Hut. After all, they provide a quick and convenient source of energy, plus they are typically nutritious and darn tasty. Here are the latest additions to my burger arsenal in the past year:

Gardenburger Chik’n Grill

In my 6 years of vegetarianism, I surprisingly never missed grilled chicken…but if I did, I would imagine that this product would satisfy. To use an old cliché, “it tastes just like chicken.” Its eerie similarity to grilled chicken makes it ideal for cooking; simply substitute one of these patties for any recipe requiring grilled chicken.

Vital stats:

• soy-based
• 100 Calories
• 2.5 grams of fat
• 13 grams of protein
• easy substitute for recipes requiring grilled chicken

Sunshine Burger Breakfast Patty

Considering how much I enjoyed Sunshine Burger’s Garden Herb patties, I pretty much squealed with joy upon discovering this recent addition to their product line. It doesn’t taste much like sausage to me, but I love the fact that its ingredients are easily recognizable (e.g., brown rice and hemp) and not soy-based. These patties are delicious crumbled into veggie-potato hash!

These patties are high in fat due to their inclusion of sunflower seeds, but it is a kind of fat far superior to the saturated variety often found in animal proteins. The protein content is small in comparison to soy-based patties.

Vital stats:

• rice, bean, and seed-based
• 210 Calories
• 9 grams of fat
• 8 grams of protein
• BLD product—suitable for consumption at breakfast, lunch, or dinner

Moophrey Burgers

By the same people who bring you the wonders of Ezekiel bread come Moophrey vegetarian burgers. Given my love of anything Ezekiel, I had to give these a try…but was sorely disappointed. Their texture is a little too soft, and they don’t taste much like burgers—the predominant flavor seems to be soy sauce.

Vital stats:

• soy-based
• 110 Calories
• 1.5 grams of fat
• 16 grams of protein
• perhaps the most unburger-like amongst soy-based burgers I’ve tried

Cluckphrey Patties

Despite the disappointment I experienced from Food for Life’s Moophrey patties, I decided to give their chicken-esque product a taste. Fortunately, these breaded chicken substitutes are much more delicious than the product mentioned above. Almost like a Chick-fil-A sandwich:) It still comes in second after the Health Is Wealth brand, however.

Vital stats:

• soy-based
• 120 Calories
• 4 grams of fat
• 12 grams of protein
• makes a mean faux Chick-fil-A sandwich

Soy Boy Okara Courage Burger

First, you’re probably thinking, “what the heck is okara?” No, it’s not that little green vegetable that appears so much in Southern cooking (that’s okra). Okara is basically what remains of the soybean after soymilk production, “a white-yellowish insoluble pulp.” Appetizing, no? Actually, yes. I’m not sure that these patties have quite the chicken-like flavor that the package proclaims they do, but they are tasty, nonetheless. Plus, they are far less expensive than other brands of veggie burgers at about $3 per box of four patties.

Vital stats:

• soy-based
• 130 Calories
• 5 grams of fat
• 13 grams of protein
• most affordable patty
• individually sealed to prevent freezer burn

Quorn Turk’y Burger

As I’ve said before, there are several meat/fish containing items that I never got the chance to sample before becoming a vegetarian; turkey burgers are one of them. Accordingly, I have no idea if these mycoprotein patties taste anything like their poultry counterparts. However, they are quite delicious and, like the chik’n grill patties above, very versatile for cooking. Once again, I appreciate the fact that they are not soy-based.

Vital stats:

mycoprotein-based (aka fungus)

• 90 Calories
• 4 grams of fat
• 10 grams of protein
• provides a taste and texture most similar to chicken, without soy-based ingredients

Despite this long list of burgers, I am sure there are many more out there for me to try. So tell me, what’s your favorite veggie burger these days?

Filed under: Product Review