Today I am sharing a recipe from one of my favorite restaurants. Pita Jungle began emailing recipes off their menu several weeks ago. And I was so happy! So far I have three recipes from them in my inbox. And they are all recipes I have ordered multiple times off the menu. I was pretty happy to be able to have the chance to now recreate them at home.

I figured Mother’s Day would be a great day to make the lentil burgers. And they turned out so well! Even Josh who loves “real” hamburgers said these tasted good. That pretty much seals the deal right there if you are looking for an endorsement to make these. My husband loves hamburgers and if it is his turn to cook at the fire station one of the meals is likely to be burgers.

Lentil Burger Recipe

You don’t need much to make these vegan and vegetarian friendly burgers. They are simple and can by made easily especially if you have an Instant Pot.

The recipe that was emailed said that it would make 1-2 burgers. I am not sure what happened but we ended up with 6 full size patties. Here is how we made them! Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked lentils
• 1 cup cooked brown rice 
• 1/4 cup diced radish
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1-2 sprigs of fresh mint (optional)

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in food processor. Pulse for 3 seconds 3-4 times. Or…I don’t have a food processor anymore because mine broke a year ago and I haven’t purchased another one. Here is what I did. I cooked the lentils and brown rice in my Instant Pot with 2.5 cups of water for 22 minutes. When cooked I used a potato masher for a few minutes until it was at a ground beef consistency.
2. Remove the mixture and form into 6 burger patties.
3. In a pan brown the patty with a little bit of olive oil.
4. Select buns (or a leafy salad as a base) of your choice and garnish with your favorite toppings. Pita Jungle suggests thinly sliced radishes, sprinkles of sumac, mint leaves, and a couple drops of pomegranate molasses. I used radishes, mint, and lettuce from our garden and also topped it off with Famous Daves pickles.

This burger was so good! It was the perfect lunch on Mother’s Day. We spent the day swimming, playing in the backyard, and ended the night watching the Disney Family Sing Along.

While I am deeply sadden by the devastation of the coronavirus I am thankful for the extra time our family has been able to spend together at home. Time truly does fly by and these extra memories made will be ones that I hold close for years to come.

To all the mom’s out there I hope you had a special day even if you couldn’t be with your loved ones due to social distancing. If you are a foster or bio mom please know you hold a special place in my heart. Our family will forever be grateful for our youngest son’s mom for giving him the gift of life.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great rest of your day! Let me know what you think if you make the burger.

xo, Tamara