Our Veggie Kitchen

We discovered these at my a family reunion last year.  My wife's cousin (Jeff) brought these amazing oat burgers that may have been more popular than the regular burgers.  Since discovering them I've literally made hundreds of them.  For a while, I'd fill the freezer with a double batch every couple of weeks.  I've made some alterations to the original recipe (which was gluten free) and the result is a great tasting burger with a wonderful texture and surprising bites of hazelnut.  This is by far, my girls' favorite burger.



Oat Burgers with Hazelnuts (aka Jeff Burgers) 

3/4 cups hazelnuts (or chopped walnuts)
3 cups water  
1 medium onion, chopped  
2 cloves garlic  
1/4 cup soy sauce  
1 tsp Marmite (or beef flavored bouillon)
3 Tbs nutritional yeast  
1 tsp rubbed sage  
1 tsp dried basil  
1 tsp liquid smoke  
1/2 tsp salt  
2.5 cups oatmeal  
1/4 cup ground flax seed  
1/3 cup vital wheat gluten
1-2 Tbs vegetable oil for baking 

Toast the Hazelnuts.  Put them on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, until the hazelnut skins begin to split.  Take them out of the oven and allow to cool slightly.  Wrap them in a hand towel and rub them together so the skins come off.  Pick the nuts out and throw away the skins.  Pulse in a food processor until they are coarsely chopped.  If you don't have a food processor, you can put them back in the towel and whack them a few times with a mallet or the side of a hammer.

Combine the water, onion, garlic, soy sauce, Marmite, nutritional yeast, spices, liquid smoke and salt.  Bring to a boil and simmer for a couple minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in the oatmeal, hazelnuts and flax seed.  Set a site and allow to cool to room temperature, about half an hour.  Stir vigorously to break up the oatmeal a bit.  Stir in the vital wheat gluten.

Now you are going to have a thick, sticky pan of stuff, a little thicker than oatmeal cookie dough.  From here spray oil will be your friend.  Spray it on your hands (or whatever you use to shape the patties) on your spatula, on the chop block and anything the dough may come in contact with.


Put a cookie sheet into the oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Divide into 12 balls (about 1/3 cup per ball).  Form each ball into a patty.  Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and add 2 tbs vegetable oil.  Swirl around to coat and add the patties.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Take them out, brush the tops with oil (or spray with cooking oil) and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Serve hot, or refrigerate/freeze.  

12 Servings:  227 cal (9g fat, 27g carbs, 11g protein)