Thai Sweet Chili Veggie Burger…The Homemade Version vs. The Trader Joe’s Frozen Version

Veggie burgers really aren’t my thing. For a few reasons;

1. I am not a vegetarian. I am totally fine with chicken and fish on a regular basis. I might have a vegetarian meal here and there, and every now and again I will have dinner with a friend at a trendy vegan restaurant and find it completely enjoyable, however…I am still not a vegetarian.
2. The frozen ones have 8 million ingredients and a ton of added sodium. Okay, maybe not 8 million ingredients, but the amount of fillers added to most frozen veggie burgers is atrocious. To make them taste good, to make them even remotely filling…it’s just nonsense to me. Not to mention the many people who eat veggie burgers not only because they are vegetarian, but also for the idea that they are eating something healthy. Many of them are loaded with sodium to mask their horrible taste and not enough protein, so a person is still hungry after eating. Not cool, if you ask me.
3. This is kind of mentioned in number two, but they are usually not very satisfying. Unless you make your own, which brings me to my decision to remake the Thai Sweet Chili Veggie Burger from Trader Joe’s.

It looks pretty good on the cover of the box, right?

There are 4 patties inside. The calorie count is good, but a bit low if you ask me. The protein is also on the low end. The sodium count is actually lower than other brands I have seen, and for the most part the ingredients are fine. I think I can make this without canola oil, potato flakes, wheat gluten and “natural flavor.” Oh, I also omitted soybeans, because, aren’t there enough of those in like, everything??

Here you have ONE patty from the box ready to be cooked. It is very small, if you ask me. Also pretty unappetizing looking.

So I will leave that aside and show you how I put together my first homemade veggie burger EVER. Honestly, after this, I think I will be making these more often. I look at the veggie burger in a whole new light after creating my own. They CAN be hearty and delicious!

First I had to decide on a base. I wanted to stick as close to the frozen version as possible, so I obviously used rice, and I don’t have a still picture of that. The other thing I used that was not in the frozen recipe is sweet potato, thanks to the advice of a friend who has way more chef experience than myself. We also used two egg whites and arrowroot starch for binders, which worked very well.

So after the rice and sweet potato were cooked and ready to go, I got together all the vegetables from the frozen recipe, minus water chestnut, which I am sure isn’t a deal breaker for most. I added fresh garlic and onion for flavor. if you don’t want these items, you can omit them.

Chopped up and looking lovely!

I also grated carrots, since that was part of the recipe, and all of the vegetables are ready to be cooked down to add to the base.

The the rice and sweet potato are added. Also not shown are the arrowroot starch and egg!

This recipe made SEVEN large patties. You can see four of them in the skillet. Not only are they larger than the frozen one, they are thicker and probably, after being cooked in avocado oil, a good 250 calories each. They seem bigger and heartier, but that is because I used more high fiber ingredients and more vegetables to make these more voluminous.

All done!!

And plated. First we have the frozen one, and second is the homemade version.

As for taste, the frozen one DOES NOT taste bad. It is actually quite good. In my opinion, it is nowhere near as filling, and its weird looking. No real burger is a perfect circle, is it?

Before I post the recipe, I will also mention that this recipe is great for MEAL PREP. Because it makes such a large amount of burgers, you can either feed a few people, or freeze a few and have them for a meal each day with whatever sides your heart desires. As you can see in my pictures, they were delicious on a bed of spiralized zucchini and butternut squash!