Hungry for vegan burger night but sick of all the plastic that goes with patties?Â
Check out this low waste vegan burger dinner with simple recipes!

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We love Beyond Burgers but there’s SO MUCH plastic packaging around those patties that I always feel guilty about buying them.Â
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We have them once in a while when life gets too busy and I don’t have much time for dinner.
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Homemade patties take a little more time but come together with almost NO WASTE. Â
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And they really don’t take that long to make.
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We could’ve made these with entirely unpackaged ingredients (except the BBQ sauce) but we took a few convenience shortcuts.
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Here’s the ingredient list for low waste vegan burgers:
-1 ½ cups black beans, rinsed & patted dry (1-15oz can is perfect)
-1 c brown rice (used leftover or cook the night before to speed up dinner prep)
-½ medium onion, diced
-3-4 T BBQ sauce
-1T each cumin, smoked paprika, & chili powder
-½ t each salt & pepper
-oil for cooking
–⅓ cup Panko bread crumbs (available in bulk bins at Staff of Life in Santa Cruz OR you can make your own by putting toasted bread in a food processor. In a rush, we bought the packaged versions.)
-1 c raw walnuts (available in bulk. We actually got locally picked walnuts from family!)
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–Buns – if I’d planned ahead, they have these at our local bakery. In a rush I got them at the store in a plastic bag that we’ll recycle. Â
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The rest of the meal included a big green salad:
-homemade dressing: 2 parts olive oil, 1 part red wine vinegar, salt, pepper & nutritional yeast to taste
-kale, torn into small pieces
-thinly sliced carrots, mushrooms, & cucumber

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Plus air popped popcorn with melted vegan butter (Earth Balance) & salt & nutritional yeast. All of this available in bulk bins.

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Here’s the recipe for the low waste vegan burgers (from Minimalist Baker):
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- Toast the walnuts in a skillet for a few minutes, until they start to get a little color. Set aside to cool.
- Add the spices & cooled walnuts to a food processor and blend until you get a well mixed meal-like texture. You’re looking for no large pieces of walnut left.
3. Sautee the diced onion until it gets a little color.
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4. Get a medium-sized bowl & add the beans. Smash them with a fork until they’re almost completely smashed & there’s just a few whole beans left.
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5. Add the onions, the rice, the bread crumbs, the walnut spice mixture to the bowl with the beans & combine them with a spoon or spatula so that you have a nice thick dough that you can shape into patties. Â
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6. Shape them into patties – big or small, whatever you prefer.
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7. Cook them in a skillet on medium high heat until they start to get a little color. Flip them over & repeat on the other side.

Serve in a toasted bun with your favorite vegan toppings! We love pickles, veganaise, ketchup, mustard & lettuce.Â
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YUM!
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Let me know if you make these! Or do you have another favorite low waste vegan burger recipe? Share in the comments!