A tasty, healthy vegan veggie burger made with mung bean sprouts and served on a whole wheat hamburger bun with mint cilantro chutney. Your kids and you will love it!
For a cook, summer has so many rewards. There are all those fresh fruits and vegetables. The fact that it doesn't take a day and a half for your bread to rise. And, for a bean-lover, there's the magic of sprouts.
My sprout obsession kicks into high gear every summer. While sprouting is a great idea at any time of the year, the heat does the job much faster.
If you're a novice to sprouting, there's no better time to start than the summer. And although you can buy all kinds of fancy equipment to sprout, there's really no need for anything other than a colander, a kitchen towel, and a bowl to get the perfect sprouts. All you need to do is soak your beans or lentils overnight or for up to eight hours in enough water to cover them by at least three inches. Drain the beans in a colander, give them a thorough wash, and let them sit in the colander, covered with a kitchen towel, until little white shoots appear. Simple. You do have to rinse them a couple of times a day-- once in the morning and again in the evening -- which is easy enough to do in a colander. Then put them right back in their resting place, covered, and you should have perfect sprouts to cook with in a day or two.
There are a number of health benefits to sprouting:
- Sprouting increases the B-vitamin content of the bean-- astronomically.
- When a bean sprouts, it creates all kinds of good-for-you enzymes.
- Sprouting makes nutrients in the bean more bio-available, so they are better absorbed by your body.
- Sprouts contain even more fiber than the unsprouted bean does.
- Sprouts are a good source of essential fatty acids.
- The quality of the bean's protein improves when it sprouts, improving its nutritional value.
Plus, it doesn't cost anything to sprout, so why wouldn't you do it? If you're still not sure, start with sprouting mung beans which are the easiest to sprout.
And when you do, the first thing you'll want to try with them are these Sprouted Mung Bean Burgers.
These burgers spin off from a traditional Indian recipe, moong dal tikkis, and need no exotic or hard-to-acquire Indian ingredients to prepare. Even the turmeric is optional. But they are so flavorsome, you will be in love with them right from the moment they send their fragrance wafting through the house as they sizzle in the pan.
Jay gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up, so this recipe is kid-friendly as well.
This burger is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, thanks to the potatoes. and it can freeze beautifully, separated by wax paper. But if you're looking for a burger to grill, you might want to try my Chana Masala burger or one of these many other grillable veggie burger recipes I've posted in the past which tend to be more hefty and chewy. I served these on all-whole-wheat burger buns. Slather them with the green chutney recipe below or with this easy mint chutney.
More recipes with sprouts
Recipe card
Sprouted Mung Bean Burgers
Ingredients
For the burgers:
- 1 cup dried mung beans
- 2 medium potatoes (peeled, cooked, and mashed well)
- 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
- 2 green chillies like serrano (very finely minced)
- 1 small onion (finely minced)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric (optional-- I just like the color, but you can leave it out)
- 2 tablespoon cilantro (coriander leaves, minced)
- 2 tablespoon mint leaves (finely minced)
- Salt to taste
For the Chutney:
- ¼ cup cilantro
- ¼ cup mint leaves
- 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- Juice of ½ lemon
- ½ cup grated coconut
- 1 green chilli, like serrano or jalapeno, chopped
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Make the burger:
- Soak your mung beans overnight or for up to eight hours in enough water to cover them by at least three inches. Drain the beans in a colander, give them a thorough wash, and let them sit in the colander, covered with a kitchen towel, until little white shoots appear. It should take no more than a full day in summer. If they haven't sprouted yet, rinse them a couple of times a day-- once in the morning and again in the evening -- cover again, and wait.
- Once the beans have sprouted, cook the sprouts with just enough water to cover them, for 30 minutes. You want the beans to be al dente and not too mushy. Pulse the beans in a food processor or mash them to break them into smaller pieces, but leave some whole for texture)
- In a large bowl, mix the mung beans with all of the other ingredients. The mixture should hold together when you form a patty.
- Form 10 burger patties, patting them out on your palm and shaping the edges with your fingers.
- Heat a non-stick or cast-iron griddle. Spray or brush on some oil. Cook the burgers over medium-high heat until golden-brown. Flip over and cook the other side.
- Serve hot or cold. These are delicious on a whole-wheat bun, but they are just as good bunless, with some chutney.
- Make the chutney:
- Place all of the chutney ingredients in a food processor or blender, and process until smooth. Add just enough water to keep the blades moving, or more if you like your chutney thin.
Nutrition Information
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Amy says
Hello and please could I check what two medium potatoes weigh? Thank you in advance!
Vaishali says
Approx 200 grams per potato, so 400 to 450 grams for two.
Shaila Chauhan says
Hi Vaishali,
Thanks for the recepie for these burgers. Can you suggest alternative to potato to make it low calerie burger?
Thanks
Vaishali says
You can use cooked brown rice. Make sure it's very soft so it will help the burgers bind.
Starchild says
what can i substitute for potatoes cause i cant eat nightshade; tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, and peppers are night shade
Vaishali says
Use sweet potatoes, I am pretty sure they are not a nightshade vegetable.
Letycia Taylor says
These look great. Are they freezable?
Vaishali says
Yes, absolutely, you can freeze them for up to three months. Flash freeze first or separate with parchment or wax paper before freezing.
Louise says
Hi! I tried this recipe and it was delicious! Thanks, it's even tastier than the last burger I ate at a vegan restaurant 🙂
Vaishali says
Awesome!
le says
I substituted sweet potato for the potato and, while delicious, these would not stay together as burgers at all. fyi to anyone going for that...
Vaishali says
Sweet potatoes are much softer than potatoes and do not have the necessary starch for burgers made with it to hold as well. If you used sweet potatoes, you should have added some flour, like chickpea.
Nancy says
These look great. Are they freezable?
Tina says
Wondering if cauliflower could be an alternative for the potatoes? Potatoes are my diet Kryptonite and will lay ruin too my vast accomplishments rather quickly. Lol
TIA, Tina
Vaishali says
Hi Tina, cauliflower would be too grainy or watery to hold the beans together. Can you use sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed? Another alternative is lima beans--cook them until really soft, then mash them up as in this following recipe. You don't need to season them, just add them instead of the potatoes. https://holycowvegan.net/mashed-lima-bean-potatoes-onion-gravy/
Melanie Schwall says
Wow! These were amazing! Spicy? Yes. We love spicy. So easy to make for lunch!! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Vaishali says
So happy you loved them!
Lisa says
These are so good. I have made them twice and they turned out just like the picture. I left out the Serrano peppers the second time so everyone would be happy, but I personally like them spicy.
Vaishali says
Awesome! So happy you loved the burgers. We like them spicy too! 🙂
Ella says
Can you use sprouted mung beans fresh or do they have to be cooked?
Vaishali says
Fresh beans won't hold together as well.
Nina says
Great recipe! I made a few tweaks - used sweet potato because I didn't have white potatoes at home, no mint but doubled cilantro, and added 1/4 cup of chickpea flour. I had trouble keeping the burgers together when I tried to cook them on the stovetop, so I ended up baking them at 400 for 45 minutes, flipping after 30 minutes and they came out perfect! Thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe for sprouted mung beans!
Vaishali says
Awesome, good idea to add chickpea flour with the sweet potatoes.
Ramona says
Can you please give amounts for the mashed potatoes and minced onions? I have a lot of small new potatoes, and big onions, so the end quantity of these in cups would be helpful.
Thanks, Ramona
Brandy says
This is a great recipe!
Nihou says
Thanks so much for the mung burger recipe. The children and my husband loved them. I substituted potatoes for sweet potatoes and it was great! Bless you.
Tati says
Amazing recipe!! i have prepared these burgers like 4 times already and I love them. Greetings from the Republic of Panama 🙂
Onumpteenthboil@gmail.com says
AQUAFABA! There is a a group,on Facebook and they are all very helpful too.
And, I do hope your dog got through surgery safely.
We still grieve for best friend of many years but were informed by astonished vet hat he was about 17 or 18 but like you, just knew he was the one,
Anonymous says
Hi vaishali I am new comer to your blog and tried ur sprout burger receipe it came very nice .Thanks for sharing such a healthy receipe. Will try all ur receipe 1/1
pallavyk says
Those burgers look great. I like sprouting too. I have made moong sprout stuffed tikkis in the past.
I must start making patties, I love burgers and you have a great collection of recipes 🙂
Pavani says
Yummy looking burgers Vaishali. Love the idea of using sprouted moong beans -- will definitely try this one out soon. Enjoy your summer!!
Vaishali Honawar says
Thanks, Pavani, and have a great summer too!
Priti says
The burgers look delicious! I love sprouting beans but often wonder if their nutritional content is reduced by cooking, steaming, boiling like we traditionally do for usals and curries. What do you think?
Talking about beans, did you read about whipped chickpea liquid (aquafaba) being a great replacement for 'egg whites' to be used in desserts? I instantly thought of you when I read about it.
Vaishali Honawar says
Hi Priti, never heard of the chickpea liquid-- sounds like a great find and I'll be looking for it on my next trip to the grocery store. I would imagine Whole Foods would stock it?
About cooking sprouts, yes, I do hear that some enzymes are destroyed while cooking, but then again my digestive system wouldn't be too happy with raw sprouts, so I guess it's a compromise to make. 🙂
Priti says
I meant Chickpea broth that one gets after cooking chickpeas or the liquid in canned chickpeas. It is called aquafaba. It is revolutionalizing vegan baking. Once whipped the liquid turns light and fluffy and behaves exactly like egg whites so can be used to make meringues, macarons, pies, buttercream, in cakes and other bakes. Just google it to know more, I am so excited to know about this amazing find that I just had to share it with you.
Vaishali Honawar says
Oh, wow, that's even better. Gotta research and try it. I love free. 🙂
wawa says
looks amazing.
Do we add raw onions though or cook them first?
Vaishali says
wawa, I used the onions raw, but if you prefer a more caramelized taste you can certainly saute them first.
Dawn Hamilton says
Can I use peeled mung beans? Obviously they aren't going to sprout. I'm trying to use what I have on hand.
Vaishali says
Yes that's fine!