This vegan butter burger is absolutely delicious. It can be made as greasy, gooey, cheesy comfort food … there’s also a healthier option without butter or oil and it’s still delicious. Both versions are simple to make using commonly available ingredients.
First, cook the rice. Short grain rice is what helps this burger stick together and stay firm in the center. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice to use in the recipe.
After the rice, the rest of the ingredients are also super simple, staring with sauteed mushrooms. I didn’t use oil at this point because I wanted the mushrooms kind of dry for the burger mixture and this step releases and evaporates most of the moisture.
The other major ingredient is black beans. They add protein, flavor, and some texture. I use canned and drain and then rinse them and pat quite a bit of the moisture off with a paper towel.
Pulse the rice, mushrooms, and black beans together, along with oats and yummy spices in a food processor until incorporated but not overprocessed. Then form into patties and let sit for about 20 minutes.
Now …
… this brings us to the fork in the road. You can continue as we have and saute the burger without oil or even bake them in the oven. It turns out delicious and can be topped with lots of onions and vegan cheese.
Or … if you chose the other road you take the way that leads to a tasty plant-based burger that’s also a bit of a calorie bomb.
We can cook it all in a mound of vegan butter. This makes it greasy and delectable. I use Earth Balance and first sauteed about 2 cups chopped onions with 2 tablespoons Earth Balance. It will look like a lot of onions, but they sautee down to less than half that.
Saute the onions in the vegan butter for several minutes over medium heat, until they’re brown and tender. Remove from the pan. There should be quite a bit of butter left, but if not add a little more.
Saute the burgers in the butter over medium heat for about 4 minutes on each side.
Add cheese on top of the burgers and, optionally, butter your buns and steam them for a minute or two with the pan lid on while the cheese melts.
Top with the reserved buttery onions.
Yum.
It goes great with Easy Southern Potato Salad!
Here’s the Vegan Butter Burger Recipe VIDEO:

Vegan Butter Burger
This vegan butter burger is absolutely delicious. It can be made as greasy, gooey, cheesy comfort food ... there's also a healthier option without butter or oil and it's still delicious. Both versions are simple to make using commonly available ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup cooked short-grain white or brown rice cooked according to package
- 12 oz sliced mushrooms
- 1/2 cup black beans rinsed, drained, patted as dry as possible with paper towels
- 1/2 cup oats
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 to 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 cups sliced onions
- 1/4 cup vegan butter
- vegan hamburger buns
Instructions
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Cook the rice according to directions and set aside 1 1/2 cups to use in the recipe.
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Saute the mushrooms in a dry pan to brown and remove most of the moisture. Optionally, use a bit of butter for this step, if desired.
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Drain the beans well, rinse them, and pat as dry as possible with paper towels.
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Add the rice, mushrooms, beans, oats, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to a food processor. Pulse several times to mince and combine the ingredients. Don't overprocess.
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Let the burger mixture rest for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, saute the onions in a large skillet with 2 tbsp vegan butter over medium heat until brown and tender.
*(Optionally, this burger mix can easily be made a day ahead and stored in the fridge overnight which allows everything to really meld together)
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Remove the onions and set aside. Fry the burgers in the remaining vegan butter, adding more if necessary. Cook about 4 minutes over medium heat on each side. Turn once.
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Add a slice of your favorite vegan cheese to the tops, if you like. Steam some buttered vegan buns in the pan with the lid on for a minute or two while melting the cheese.
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Serve on the buns topped with the buttery onions.
XO Lisa
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Hello! I’m Lisa, a vegan artist, photographer, author, Vegan Life Coach Educator, and RYT 200 yoga teacher. I love showing others how simple and delicious a plant-based diet can be. I draw and paint, cook, write, take lots of pics, eat lots of chocolate, and practice gratitude daily.
Lisa all I can say is WOW!!!!! This was the best burger I have ever had! The flavor is outstanding! Thank you so so much for sharing. You give me hope for good food on this new journey!
What a lovely comment Alexandra! Thanks so much for saying and good luck on your journey!
I madr these a while back and just had to find the recipe again. We loved them. The texture is so good. I used quinoa last time. They got a tad crunchy on the outside. Inalso baked them and brushed with the butter instead. I cant remember how many patties i got last time. Roughly how many patties does this recipe make and about how big are the patties before cooking?
Hi Rachel, glad you like them! So the entire recipe makes about 2 1/2 cups. So, if you used 1/3 cup of the mixture for each patty, that would be just about 6 to 7 patties per batch. Let me know how it turns out!
My daughter doesn’t eat meat. I made these for her today. She was skeptical at first, but after one bite she was in love! I know I will be making this often..Thanks for this awesome recipe!!
You’re welcome! So glad she likes them!!
can these be frozen? if so, before or after cooking?
They can be. You can wrap the mix up like you would cookie dough and freeze it. Just thaw completely and use as normal. Or you can cook these and then freeze them. I’d freeze them in one layer on a cookie sheet and then just cook them from frozen without thawing. Let me know how it goes!
I was wondering if I could make these without the mushrooms or substitute with something else? Thanks!
Sure. Just omit them. You could add your favorite beans (garbanzo, pinto, etc), or TVP, bulgur wheat if you’re not gluten free, maybe even chopped eggplant. Let me know how it goes! Also, I have other burgers on the site … here’s a collection: https://www.planted365.com/2019/09/02/vegan-summer-recipes/
THIS is one of my absolute favorite meatless meals! I seriously don’t even miss the meat bc the favor is just so good! I usually double the recipe bc I can usually only get a few patties. Nonetheless I am still a happy camper!
So happy you like these!
Hi! I am making these now. I’m confused about the rice amount…pre and post cooking it. Should it be a total of 1.5 cups of cooked rice? Thank you!
@Mimi, hi! That’s 1 1/2 cups cooked rice total. I’ll edit that to make it clearer! Thanks so much for commenting! Let me know how they turn out!
@Lisa V Gotte, thanks! Still making them. Do the garlic and onion powder go with the onions or in the burger mixture? I suppose either way will be good!
@Mimi, Hi! Yes, the spices go in the burger mix. I’ve edited the recipe to make it clearer! Take a look and see if it makes more sense! Thanks for commenting 🙂
Hi Lisa, oh, wow, these look good ! What kind of buns are those ? Do U ever make homemade buns ? Thanx.
These are just regular, white Wonder Bread buns for my husband (which are vegan). My favorite way to eat burgers, including these, is to chop them up in a salad. I’m gluten-free so when I do want bread or something bread-like I make it myself. My current bread obsession is this vegan, GF naan … omg, so delicious! https://www.planted365.com/2021/04/23/vegan-gluten-free-naan/ Nice to hear from you!
If you bake it, how long and at what temperature. (Looks like a White Castle burger, btw!!)
Hi Althea … It is like a White Castle! If they were a bit thinner, even more so. For baking (and I’ll add this to the recipe, thanks for mentioning!) 25 minutes at 350 degrees F should be good. Turn them after 15 minutes.
Thank you! I will write back after I make them. Thank you for this recipe. ((hugs))
So yummm!!!!!!
Thanks! ?
@Lisa V Gotte,
Thanks for saying! 😊
@Lisa V Gotte, I added 1/4 cup of walnuts and an 8oz package of tempeh. Instead of rice and beans separately, I used Vigo Cuban black beans and rice @1.89 per package. I tested my alterations and it was very tasty. I then added an egg to bind it a little more because im not vegan, I just prefer vegan burgers over meat. Thank you
Sounds great, Debra. Glad you liked it! 😊