Air Fryer Vegan Lentil Burgers. You will love these delicious homemade vegan lentil burgers. Loaded with green lentils, sweet potato, carrots, and red onion, they are absolutely delicious.
Also, unlike many vegan and vegetarian burgers these plant based air fryer burgers bind well and don’t fall apart at all during cooking or eating.
We originally shared with you how to make vegan burger patties back in the summer of 2017 and wanted to update it today for you with new photos and extra ideas.
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Vegan Lentil Burgers
Why is it that the best creations are those that are unplanned and are just done at random, when we have unusual ingredients in the kitchen and we bind them together and they just work?
Well, that is me with these vegan lentil burgers.
I had NEVER made a lentil burger before. I had NEVER made a vegan burger before and found myself playing about with leftovers that were sat there in my fridge.
I had mashed sweet potatoes, cold green lentils, steamed carrots and a few other bits and pieces.
I found myself binding these ingredients together to make delicious vegetarian burger patties and cooking them in the air fryer.
They were amazing and I just wanted to binge on them everyday and since then it has become my thing to make them whenever I have spare lentils and spare root vegetables that need using up.
If you are looking for the best ever lentil burger recipe, then you have found it!
Plus, as well as our free newsletter, we also have a free air fryer mini course. It is ideal for air fryer beginners or those that want to get more confident with their air fryer. The free course runs for 5 days with a new lesson delivered each day to your inbox.
These Vegan Lentil Burgers Got The Man Vote!
One of the hardest things, when you are into vegan food, is convincing a meat eating guy, that is anti vegan food that your vegan recipe is worth eating.
Well, I didn’t tell my husband and eldest son.
I just told them that they must try this new air fryer burger I had made.
They both loved it, especially my eldest son, who loves healthy food.
It has now become his go to recipe for after a workout and that he can also eat cold after he has been to the gym!
Can You Cook Plant Based Burgers In Air Fryer?
Yes, you can. Though this is not my first air fryer plant based burger. I have cooked air fryer beyond burgers many times and they have always come out well. Though I did find that they were high in fat and caused the air fryer to smoke a bit.
But they did taste good.
The main thing to consider with plant based burgers in the air fryer, like our easy vegan lentil burgers, is that because of the texture that are likely to stick to the air fryer basket.
This problem is then solved by adding a layer of foil to your air fryer for cooking your lentil patties on like this:
Binding Veggie Burgers
This is probably what puts people off about making either veggie burgers or vegan burgers.
I also know this, because I have had trouble myself binding veggie burgers and it can create a lot of tears in the kitchen.
People go wrong with the binding process because they don’t have something thick and solid to bind it together with and they are using vegetables that are too mushy and not draining the excess liquid.
Here are how solid and easy our lentil burgers are:
We solve the binding issue in these easy vegan lentil burgers by:
Using root vegetables – Any combination of potatoes, carrots, swede, turnips etc will achieve this.
Using green lentils – They are much thicker than red lentils and are ideal for making vegan patties with because it binds together easily.
Using oats – By finishing by rolling in gluten free oats you can achieve a crunchy outside texture that is similar to a meat burger.
Vegan Lentil Patties Ingredients
Lentils – We are using already cooked instant pot green lentils that have been in the fridge overnight so that they are easy to handle and bind well.
Veggies – We are using mashed sweet potato and carrot, along with diced red onion. This provides the ideal veggie mix and makes delicious vegan burgers.
Oats – We use gluten free organic oats to roll the burgers and this will stop them from being mushy when cooked. They also give an amazing crispy coating on your lentil burgers.
Seasoning – You can keep it simple with salt and pepper. Or add in other favourite seasonings. One of my favourites for lentil burgers is to use garam masala and make Indian lentil patties.
Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this lentil burger, it has just been our Philips Air Fryer. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of air fryer recipes and perfectly fits 2-4 burgers in it depending on the size of them.
How To Cook Lentil Burgers?
- Pressure Cook. Start by pressure cooking some green lentils. It’s the quickest way to cook them and they don’t need soaking first. Then you can also pressure cook the carrots and sweet potatoes at the same time too to save on time.
- Production. Add to the instant pot, all ingredients apart from the oats that are going to be used in your vegan burgers. Mix them with your hands into burger patty shapes.
- Coat. Roll your burgers in oats and allow them to become well coated. Then place onto foil inside your air fryer basket.
- Cook. Air fry until perfectly cooked and serve either warm or cold. If you want to freeze them for later, allow them to cool before adding to the freezer.
Healthy Vegetarian Recipes For Air Fryer
Are you looking for more healthy vegetarian recipes (and vegan) for the air fryer? If so, here are a few of my all time favourites:
Air Fryer Vegan Lentil Burgers
Ingredients
Kitchen Gadgets:
- Air Fryer
- Foil
Air Fryer Lentil Burger Ingredients:
- Instant Pot Green Lentils
- 1 Large Sweet Potato
- 6 Medium Carrots
- 1 Small Red Onion
- 50 g Gluten Free Oat Flour
- 1 Tsp Garlic Puree
- 1 Tsp Basil
- 1 Tsp Oregano
- 1 Tsp Thyme
- 1 Tsp Paprika
- 1 Tsp Harissa
- Salt & Pepper
Instructions
- Peel and dice your sweet potato and carrots and pressure cook for 5 minutes to ensure they are soft and easy to mash. Load sweet potato and carrots, along with all seasonings into the instant pot inner pot with the green lentils. Peel and thinly dice the red onion and add this too.
- Mix with your hands and mush up everything, until you have a texture similar to regular meat burger patties. Make into burger patties and then roll in your oats. Place four lentil burgers on foil in the air fryer.
- Cook for 12 minutes at 200c/400f, turn and cook for a further 5 minutes on the same temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!
Hi Samantha
Hope all is well?
I really enjoy your site. I am interested in making the lentil burgers. Can l use any green lentils? What weight do l use?
Thanks very much
Sharon
Hi Sharon,
Yes we are ok thanks.
Yes any green lentils or brown lentils will work well in this recipe. Just make sure they are well drained. Then i used 1.5 cups/360ml worth of dried lentils in these burgers 🙂
Thanks very much
Regards
Sharon