Pickled beetroot & walnut burger with pistachio aioli

1 May 2018

I wanted to make a super easy vegan beetroot burger that's full of flavour but only takes a few minutes to prepare. Who wants to spend all their time preparing food when all you want to have is a vegan BBQ ;-)

I made a beetroot burger before but for this one I wanted to use ingredients that are super easy to come by. I know when people are having a BBQ it's often a last minute thing (especially in the UK, where the weather is very unpredictable). So I thought, people don't have much time to prepare. They need to be able to quickly pop into their local supermarket and grab all the ingredients for a delicious vegan burger instead of having to go to various health food shops.

And the preparation time for this burger is also very short. I decided to use pickled beetroots because they are easier to come by and you don't make a huge mess when you use them. Also the flavour of them is less beetrooty and kinda adds a more rounded umami note to the burger rather than overpowering it.

For the aioli I wanted to be a bit more indulgent, so I used pistachios. They work amazingly well with the pickled walnut and beetroot burger. In combination with the walnuts, which caramelise a bit when shallow frying the burger, the pistachio aioli adds the final touch of indulgence.

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Pickled beetroot & walnut burger with pistachio aioli

I tried a few times to get the recipe right and tested it on a few friends until it was perfect. The final burger looked so tasty, I couldn't get my fingers off it, I ate two of them in one go!

This is what the burgers should look like before you shallow fry/grill/bake them. Make sure they are nicely formed, roughly less than 2cm thick (not more). There shouldn't be cracks. If they are too moist of too dry either add some more breadcrumbs or some oil.

When they started sizzling in the pan I know I was in for a winner. The smell was amazing!

The cashew aioli was also super delicious and so easy to make. A much healthier alternative to real aioli, dairy-free, less oil, less processed and full of goodness.

I think this is actually the best and easiest burger I've eve made. Perfect for BBQs with friends. Everyone will love it.

INGREDIENTS (roughly 4-5 burgers):

Beetroot walnut burger ingredients step 1:

150g walnuts

Beetroot walnut burger ingredients step 2:

80g pickled beetroot
6 sun-dried tomatoes
4 tbsp soy sauce (without sugar)
Tabasco sauce to taste (optional)

Beetroot walnut burger ingredients step 3:

60g breadcrumbs
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked paprika powder

Pistachio aioli ingredients:

100g pistachios
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Other ingredients:

Buns/rolls
Ketchup
Salad leaves
Tomatoes
Red or white onion

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METHOD:

Add 150g of walnuts to a food processor. Process until you get a coarse meal. Transfer to a large bowl.

Then repeat the same process with 80g pickled beetroot, 6 sun-dried tomatoes, 4 tbsp of soy sauce and if you like it spicy a bit of tabasco sauce as well. Process until you get a slightly chunky paste. Add that to the bowl as well.

Then add all ingredients from step 3 and mix and knead together well with you hands until everything sticks together well. You might have to add a few more breadcrumbs or a bit more oil to make sure everything sticks together really well.

Then form patties.

Either shallow fry the patties in a pan in some oil of throw them on a grill if you're having a bbq. Both worked out really well. I haven't tried baking them but I think they would lend themselves well to baking as well. They cook quickly, to be careful they don't turn black. They only need to darked a bit and get crispy on the outside.

Then prepare your pistachio aioli. Add 100g of pistachios, 1/2 cup of water, 1 tbsp of olive oil and apple cider vinegar each, 1/2 tsp of salt and garlic powder each and blend until you get a smooth past. If you have a good blender there is no need to soak the nuts first.

Assemble everything by cutting a burger bun in half. Add some ketchup to the bottom half of the bun, then salad leaves, the beet walnut burger, then tomatoes, thin onion slices and the pistachio aioli and then finally the second half of the bun. Enjoy!

And if you like this burger why not try the vegan TTLA sandwich here.