Veggies Don't Bite

Cooking with plants and lovin' it...and ditching the gluten and {refined} sugar along the way!

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Butternut Squash Apple Burgers

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Butternut squash burgers made with 7 ingredients and as easy as roast, pulse, shape and cook! Switch up your regular burger routine with this flavor bomb of fall flavors. Mix and match the toppings for your favorite combos every time.

Front view of butternut squash burger on a pretzel roll with ranch, caramelized onions and lettuce

There is nothing like a burger and fries, but the best part about veggie burgers is that you can mix up the flavors so easily. As you can see in my cookbook, Vegan Burgers and Burritos, there is no stopping with the flavor combinations! I literally have 27 burger recipes in it!

This burger is similar to the autumn burger in my book, but with a few slight differences. So for those of you who don’t have it, it’s a little sneak peek at what you will see there. If you enjoy the recipe, I’d love it if you bought the book and checked out all the other recipes!

I usually keep my burgers pretty simple, roast some veggies or cook rice if needed, pulse in a food processor, shape and cook. They all freeze well and keep in the fridge so prepping them before the day you need them is key to a fast dinner.

Hand holding a butternut squash burger on a pretzel bun with onions, lettuce and ranch

This butternut squash burger is customizable and so flavorful on it’s own, you don’t even need much. You can eat it in a bun, or even with a lettuce wrap or on a salad. Drizzle on a bit of dressing, side of baked fries and you’re good to go!

You can also pair it with the avocado and kale salad for a whole well rounded meal!

How to make easy butternut squash burgers

Although there is some cooking time involved here, the active prep part is quick and easy. Prep the day before and take all the manual labor out of dinner for a smooth meal time.

  1. Roast veggies and cook rice. Collage of roasted butternut squash and apples and cooked wild rice
  2. Pulse veggies and then rice in the food processor. Collage of butternut squash mix and wild rice mix in food processors.
  3. Mix together using your hands and shape into patties. Raw butternut squash and wild rice burger patties on a wooden surface
  4. Cook and top with all the things! Top view of open faced butternut squash burger on a while plate

More Vegan Burgers and Sandwiches You Might Like

This recipe was originally posted in October of 2015.

4.63 from 8 votes
Front view of butternut squash burger on a pretzel roll with ranch, caramelized onions and lettuce
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Butternut Squash Apple Burgers
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 10 mins
 

Butternut squash burgers made with 7 ingredients and as easy as roast, pulse, shape and cook! Switch up your regular burger with this flavor bomb of fall.

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: butternut squash burger, vegan burger without beans
Servings: 4
Calories: 250 kcal
Author: Sophia DeSantis
Ingredients
  • 2 cups cooked rice (I use brown or a wild blend) , about 1 cup dry (cook according to package directions)
  • 1 1/2 cups diced butternut squash , about half of one small sized squash
  • 1/2 cup chopped shallots
  • 1 cup diced granny smith apples , about one small apple
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt , divided
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
  • 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds , unsalted or adjust salt
Serving suggestions:
US Customary - Metric
Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400F/ 205 C. 

  2. Place diced squash on a parchment lined cookie sheet, sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt and bake for 15 minutes. 

  3. At the 15 minute mark, add apples and shallots to the cookie sheet and sprinkle with the other 1/8 teaspoon salt. Bake another 30 minutes. Set aside to cool while you assemble everything else.

  4. Put the veggie mix in a food processor with the thyme and pulse until chunky. Do not puree into a mush or paste. Add to a large bowl.

  5. Next add the cooked rice and pumpkin seeds to the food processor and pulse until chopped a bit but still chunky. Add to the bowl.

  6. Mix everything well. Add more salt if preferred. 

  7. Shape into 4 patties, then cook on stove top in a pan over medium heat for 7-9 minutes on each side or until browned. Keep pan covered to help the burger cook throughout and not dry out. If you're mixture was on the wetter side, then leave uncovered. Let sit for a few minutes after cooking to help the burger get more stable before eating.

  8. Serve with toppings of choice!

Recipe Notes
  • You can use any rice you prefer, just make sure it's hearty and not too mushy.
  • If you want to roast the squash/apples/shallots with a drizzle of oil you can, however I did not and it turned out great.
  • I like these with both the aioli or the ranch with caramelized onions on top. Mix it up however you choose!
  • If your mixture seems dry, you make not have cooked the rice enough. If it is too wet, you probably overcooked the rice or used too much water to cook it. 

Tips to prep ahead:

  • Roast the veggies/fruit, make the rice and/or sauces ahead of time.  You can also make the patties and store in the fridge until the next day.

Baby/Kid Food Ideas:

  • Form these into small nugget sized pieces or even balls. Serve ranch as a dip.
Nutrition Facts
Butternut Squash Apple Burgers
Amount Per Serving
Calories 250 Calories from Fat 36
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 4g 6%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0g
Monounsaturated Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 133mg 6%
Potassium 269mg 8%
Total Carbohydrates 51g 17%
Dietary Fiber 5g 20%
Sugars 4g
Protein 6g 12%
Vitamin A 113.6%
Vitamin C 18.5%
Calcium 3.2%
Iron 6.2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

If you like this recipe, please consider rating it with the star rating system and leaving a comment below. I love hearing from you and seeing your awesome remakes! Find me on Instagram and tag me @veggiesdontbite and #veggiesdontbite, or you can also find me on Facebook, and Pinterest. Thanks for helping me spread the word about delicious food!

Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate. Please read more about that here.

This post may contain affiliate links or sponsored content. For more information on this, please click here.

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Comments

  1. Have you tried scrambling the mixture instead of forming into patties? I was wondering about how this would do as a yummy substitute for ground beef for tacos and such?

    Reply

  2. Amazing, delicious patties.

    I used a mix of seven grains (emmer, barley, durum wheat, buckwheat, red rice, black rice and oats) plus toasted sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds and because the mixture was a little loose I bound it with some gram (chickpea) flour.

    They cooked up a dream in a fry pan with a little rapeseed oil, lovely and crunchy on the outside but moist (not mushy) on the inside. A real variety of textures and perfect flavour from the roasted butternut squash, apple (I used Russet rather than Golden Delicious) and red onion (rather than shallots).

    Thank you for the great recipe, it will definitely be used again and again.

    Reply

  4. The flavor on these was awesome! So tasty on toasted sourdough with caramelized onions aoli. My mix was super dry and there was no way it would form patties so I added a flax egg. It helped but they were still pretty crumbly so I guess next time I’ll try cooking my rice longer? Or adding more flax egg.

    Reply

    • Hi Laura! So happy you liked them! I love sourdough so I bet it was amazing. Yes, I am guessing your mix was dry because you didn’t cook the rice long enough and didn’t have enough liquid. I’m curious what kind of rice you used? Long grain rice is more al dente and not as chewy as short grain, so it may not hold together as well. Also, your butternut should be roasted well enough to blend a bit in the food processor and help keep the burgers together. You can definitely use a flax egg if you want!

      Reply

  5. I made these last night — wow! Simple and divine. I did do the veggie and apple roasting in advance, which males these super quick from pulsing to chowing. 😊 My husband and I devoured them. Probably the best homemade veggie burger I have ever had. I used red rice and we ate them on our burger bun of choice — english muffins. If you haven’t tried that, I recommend it. Texture and bread ratio is ideal. Thanks!

    Reply

    • Thank you so so much Samantha! Yes! I too prep the dat before to make them quick and easy the day I want to eat them. It does take some time to roast all those yummy veggies, and roasting really does bring out the best flavor. But it’s a good thing I can get a lot of other stuff done while the oven takes care of that! I am LOVING the idea of the English muffin. Totally trying that next time!

      Reply

  6. So I saw this recipe and thought how good it sounded. It was – but so time consuming that I wouldn’t try to make it again. Too bad, as my husband really liked it and getting him to eat vegan is a miracle! I just added chopped garlic to regular mayo to save time.

    Reply

    • Hi Tami, I am happy to hear how much your husband liked the recipe. As mentioned in the recipe, it does take about an hour cooking time. Unavoidable as you need to roast the veggies that go in it. I (along with a bunch of others that have made this) like to roast the veggies and cook the rice the day before (and even prep any toppings you like to use), this helps with keeping them pretty quick the day you make them. Unfortunately some delicious recipes do take longer to make!

      Reply

  7. I love a deliciously flavorful veggie patty that contains all types of various veggies and ingredients. I never really had a burger that was mainly composed of rice, but hey, I’m down to try new things! Combining butternut squash and apples sounds remarkable–I’d totally pair them with barbecue sauce and caramelized onions!

    Reply

  8. I love this recipe of yours girl and totally need to try them! I love how hearty the texture looks and on a pretzel bun?? I know these babies are good! My mouth is watering!

    Reply

    • Hi Wendy! I wouldn’t suggest using quinoa as the texture will be much different. Quinoa tends to be really mushy in burgers and it takes a lot of trial and error to get that right texture with quinoa. You’re welcome to experiment but I’d definitely reduce the liquid a bit to start.

      Reply

  11. Just curious, how well do these freeze? I live alone and don’t want to eat the same thing for multiple meals in a row

    Reply

    • Hi Allison! They do freeze. The only thing would be that when they defrost they have a little more moisture from the freezing so texture may be affected a bit but other than that they are great! I would wrap them well with saran wrap, parchment and/or tin foil! put in a freezer safe container too.

      Reply

  12. I’ve only been vegan three months and have tried several bean burger receives,all have ended up really dry,well these…..are amazing,so moist and easy to make. All my family loved them. Yummy ?X

    Reply

    • Hi Sandy! Sorry your burgers stuck. I don’t use oil when cooking on my own pan because it isn’t needed with mine. I make sure to keep the pan covered like I say in the directions and don’t flip until brown. If I find that they are hard to flip I let them keep cooking. When they are done they should come up fairly easy. That being said, all pans are different. You can most definitely use a little oil to make it easier. It won’t hurt the taste of the burger. Hope it works better next time!! Let me know.

      Reply

      • Thanks for the quick reply! I ended up using a non-stick pan at the low setting. I did keep them covered. I’m going to try to bake them next time.
        The kids liked them and that’s the best part!

      • SO glad to hear the kids liked them! Isn’t that the best?? So, they stuck even in a non stick pan?? That’s ironic, lol! Yes, try baking them. I bake my burgers sometimes and they turn out pretty good. Put them on parchment if you don’t use oil, and try baking at 350 for 20 minutes on one side and another 10-15 on the other. Just keep checking them to make sure they don’t burn. Let me know how it works!

      • I made these in the oven . They were nice and firm but the taste was not very good. I only had frozen butternut squash and didn’t have pumpkin seeds ! I will try again with fresh!!! It worked fine in oven on parchment paper! Kinda tasteless!

      • Hi Bev! I’m not sure why yours were tasteless if you followed all the directions. Was your frozen butternut already cooked? Roasting the veggies is key with flavor as it gives them an amazing taste as they roast. I’d definitely recommend fresh butternut squash and maybe a tad more salt? They have lots of flavor and have been made by readers with success.

    • Thanks so much Cheryl! It’s a great burger. The flavors are truly unique for a burger so a nice alternative to the norm. We enjoy these every fall with all the fresh butternut squash and apples we find. Hope you like it!

      Reply

  15. Dang, this looks so good! I love butternut squash and apples together. I have a soup with these flavors I’m planning to make soon. I definitely am going to try this burger and I just happen to have a squash on my counter right now! 🙂

    Reply

    • Thanks so much Jenn! The flavors are so good in it! I make them into sliders for fall parties too. Let me know if you try it!

      Reply

  16. These look great and I can’t wait to try them!
    I have a pumpkin seed allergy. Can you suggest a substitution for the pumpkin seeds? Do you think sunflower seeds would work?

    Reply

    • Thank you so much Kristin! Yes, sunflower seeds would work just fine! It just adds an extra layer of texture so any seed that would do that will work. Let me know how they turn out! I love hearing follower feedback!

      Reply

  20. Yum! Love the addition of granny smith apples! And the caramelized onion aioli – my mouth is watering already! Thanks for an awesome burger recipe 🙂

    Reply

    • Thank you!! Yes, I really try and use fresh local organic produce for my recipes. And fall is just so delicious! I’ve got a great fall soup and sandwich coming in the next few weeks and currently working on a baked pasta dish with some fall touches. Thanks for following!

      Reply

  24. Perhaps I’m over thinking a bit. As I’m about to add the rice to the food processor…is it 2 cups of cooked rice or 2 cups uncooked rice? Can’t wait to try them… Thanks!

    Reply

  26. Yum! These are going on my to-try list… I almost wish I hadn’t just used up the last of the apples from my garden though, this would have been perfect for them 🙂

    Reply

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