The only thing that makes these delicious brown rice burgers even better is my herbed aioli! Pair them for the BEST plant-based sandwich!
Brown Rice Burgers with Herbed Aioli
December 3, 2019 Updated May 2, 2021 Jump to Recipe
Are you ready for something incredibly delicious yet healthy after all that heavy Thanksgiving food?
Then make these brown rice burgers ASAP!! I’m telling you, it doesn’t get much better than this. I created these burgers to give my family a healthy post-Thanksgiving meal we could look forward to. And they were so good, I wanted to share the recipe right away!
Vegan Brown Rice Burgers
These burgers are filling, healthy, tasty, and VEGAN! And they’re easily made gluten free, I’ve got the substitution in the recipe below.
What really puts these amazing brown rice burgers over the top is my herbed aioli. Seriously, this aioli is life changing! I was inspired to create it by a meal I had in Los Angeles a few weeks ago. Some friends and I went out to eat at a fabulous restaurant in West Hollywood, and the sandwich I ordered came with this amazing, herb-y aioli. It was so good, I asked for some to-go! When the aioli I brought home was gone by dinner the next day, I knew I’d be creating my own spin on it. And here it is!
Yes, I Fry Them
A quick tip on the burger patties: I fry them.
Yep, I think you really can’t beat the golden brown, crispness you get in the frying pan. (Although you could totally bake these patties if you wanted to. I haven’t done it myself yet, but I have estimated baking instructions in the recipe below.)
Having the right spatula to flip these burgers makes frying them an incredibly easy job. Here is my very favorite spatula EVER [aff. link]. I’ve mentioned this spatula before, and I’ll probably do it again in the future because it is just that good! This spatula is actually marketed as being a spatula for getting cookies off the cookie sheet, but I have found that it is perfect for all of my cooking as well. I use this spatula to sauté vegetables, stir-fry, flip veggie burgers and grilled cheese sandwiches, make tofu scrambles, etc.! The smaller size makes this spatula so much easier to work with. You can find this basically magical tool here on Amazon [aff. link]!
Brown Rice Burgers and Fries
Before I wrap it up, I wanted to say a few things about the fries in my pictures—they are homemade, they are AMAZING, and they are soooo easy! I’ll post the recipe very soon! (Hopefully later this week, and no, I haven’t forgotten about that pie crust tutorial I promised! I have the pics, just need to compile the post, so stay tuned!)
Now go treat your family to an incredibly healthy and tasty meal, and make these brown rice burgers!
Brown Rice Burgers with Herbed Aioli
Not only do these homemade burgers taste AMAZING, they are also vegan, filling, and so good for you! Treat your family to an incredibly healthy and tasty meal, and make these burgers today!
Servings: 10 burger patties
Print RecipeIngredients
For the rice:
- 1 ½ cups long grain brown rice, rinsed (I love using brown basmati rice!)
- 3 cups water
For the onion:
- 1 red onion
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
For the seasonings:
- ½ cup parsley, minced
- ¼ cup cilantro, minced
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp pepper
Everything else:
- 1 cup milk of choice
- 1 flax seed egg, 2 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 3 Tbsp water (OR substitute with 1 egg)
- 2 cups plain bread crumbs
- 1 cup cashew pieces
Recommended condiments:
- Arugula
- Sliced tomato
- Sandwich sprouts
- Thin, freshly sliced cheddar or vegan cheddar
For the herbed aioli
- ¼ cup Vegenaise or mayonnaise
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp cilantro, minced
- 1/8 pepper
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp lemon juice
Instructions
Cook the brown rice
- Brown rice takes longer to cook than white rice, so start your rice first thing! Simply put the rice and water in your rice cooker and, well….cook it!
Cook the onion
- Add the onion, salt, pepper, and olive oil to a skillet. Cook over medium heat for 3 minutes, then turn the heat down to medium low. Cook for 10 minutes. Now turn the heat down to low, and let the onion caramelize on low heat while you prepare the other ingredients.
- At this point, we’re just letting the onion caramelize for however long it takes us to get everything else together! So now’s a good time to chop the herbs and make the flaxseed egg. (And if you have whole cashews, not cashew pieces, now’s a good time to roughly chop those cashews into pieces!)
Make the flaxseed egg
- In a small bowl, whisk together the water and flaxseed meal. Let it sit for 5 minutes until is gets goopy. Flaxseed egg is done! (You could also substitute the flaxseed egg with an egg if desired.)
Make the burger “dough”
- Once the rice is done cooking, transfer the rice to a large mixing bowl. Let the rice cool for five minutes.
- After the rice has cooled for five minutes, add the onion, cilantro, parsley, salt, pepper, bread crumbs, and cashew pieces to the mixing bowl. Stir to incorporate. Now add in the flax seed egg, followed by the milk. Mix (this is a thick dough, so I use my hands!) until a sturdy dough forms.
- Put the dough in the fridge, and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
Make the herbed aioli
- While you refrigerate the dough, make the aioli. Simply whisk all the aioli ingredients together in a small bowl. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to compile the burgers!
Form the patties
- Take the dough out of the fridge, and form it into burger patties. I like to make ten 2 ½ by 2 ½ inch patties with this dough.
Fry the patties
- Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in the same skillet you cooked the onion in, and place a few burger patties in the skillet. (I like to cook 3 patties at a time.)
- Fry the patties until the side that is face down in the skillet gets crispy and browned, about 4-5 minutes. Then flip, and let the other side get crispy in the pan, about another 4-5 minutes.
- Remove the burger patties from the frying pan, and place on a plate lined with a paper towel to remove excess oil.
- Repeat this process until you have fried all the patties.
- (You could also bake the burger patties. I have not tried this before, but I imagine that baking the patties at 375 degrees for 10 minutes, flipping each patty over, and baking for an additional 10 minutes would do the trick. Use this as your starting point if you decide to bake them, and let me know how it goes!)
Compile burgers
- Take your burger bun or bread (I love using toasted bread here! Simply cut a loaf of good bread very thinly, butter each side, and bake at 375 degrees for 7 minutes!) and spread the herbed aioli on the bun/bread according to preference. I like to put the aioli on both the top and bottom pieces of the bun/bread.
- Add the burger patty and condiments to the bun as desired! I usually do arugula, sandwich sprouts, tomatoes, and thinly sliced cheddar (omit the cheddar to keep this burger vegan). The flavors of the burger and these condiments compliment each other so nicely!
Serve and enjoy!
- This is a hearty burger you could serve with a nice salad, or with my twice fried French fries!
Notes
These burgers are vegan! If you don't want to keep them vegan, feel free to substitute an egg for the flaxseed egg. These burgers are gluten free if you use gluten free bread crumbs! The recipe calls for cashew pieces. If you only have whole cashews, simply give them a rough chop before adding them to the burger "dough." If you really like a lot of aioli on your burgers, or if you plan to serve all 10 patties this recipe makes, I recommend doubling the aioli recipe. (It doubles very well!) When I make these burgers, we usually eat 4-5 of them, and this aioli recipe is perfect for 4-5 burgers. (I just make more aioli when we finish off the rest of the burgers!)
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This Post Has 6 Comments
What an interesting mix of ingredients! I’m intrigued by your aioli. I make one using silken tofu as the base, and I think it could easily be adapted to use your flavorings. Thanks!
Thanks Jeff! Ohh that sounds amazing, Silken Tofu is such a wonderful and versatile ingredient! I absolutely love it! I can totally see how it would make an excellent aioli.
I’d have never thought of using brown rice to make a burger Shannon, but I absolutely love the idea! I’m also now looking forward to your homemade fries recipe that accompany these brown rice burgers. My Lynne is practically vegetarian so I can’t wait to try out this whole dish on her!
Thank you Neil! Brown rice gives such a great heartiness to veggie burgers, I absolutely LOVE it as the base ingredient! The week got away from me, but I plan to put the fires up next week, they are super easy! That is awesome that your wife enjoys eating vegetarian! It’s a great way to eat. ❤️ I hope she’ll enjoy the burger and fries! Hope you both have a lovely weekend!
These patties and aioli are sooooo incredible. I’ve made this recipe twice now. The second time, I doubled the recipe for the patties and froze several for easy, quick meals. The texture and flavor packed into these patties has made them a personal and family favorite!
Thank you so so much! That’s great to know that these patties freeze well too, I’ll have to try that. 😃