Gordon Ramsay’s veggie burger is chickpeas and Puy lentils with fried onion, garlic, jalapeños, red pepper, cumin and paprika, bound with breadcrumbs and an egg, then pan-fried and finished in the oven with Cheddar on top. It comes with a chipotle mayo that makes you forget there’s no meat. Four burgers, about 40 minutes.
This is his Lentil Burgers from the Meat-free Mains chapter of Quick and Delicious, and his headnote says what I’d say: “in my restaurant kitchens, we have spent a lot of time trying to develop the ultimate vegan burger, and I think this is a pretty damn good one.” The lentils give it a bite that chickpeas alone can’t, and the jalapeños and red pepper do the heavy lifting on flavour so the patty doesn’t need to prove anything.
His one instruction I underlined in the book: “pulse just until the mixture combines, you want to retain some texture.” Every bad veggie burger I’ve made was because I blitzed the chickpeas to paste. His version keeps them coarse, so you get pieces in every bite instead of hummus in a bun.
Gordon Ramsay Veggie Burger Recipe (Lentil and Chickpea)
Course: DinnerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy4
15
minutes20
minutes520
kcal35
minutesHis restaurant-developed veggie burger from Quick and Delicious: chickpeas pulsed with spiced peppers and onions, Puy lentils folded through for texture, pan-fried then finished in the oven with Cheddar, and served on wholemeal buns with a chipotle mayo. Drop the cheese, egg and mayo to make it fully vegan.
Ingredients
- For the burgers:
4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 green jalapeño chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 x 250g packet of cooked Puy lentils
50g fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
30g plain flour, for dusting
4 slices of Cheddar cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the chipotle mayo:
100ml mayonnaise
2 tsp chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 tbsp Frenchy’s mild American mustard
- To serve:
4 wholemeal burger buns, split
Little Gem lettuce leaves
2 large gherkins, thinly sliced lengthways
1 ripe avocado, sliced
Directions
- Fry the base: Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a non-stick pan over high heat. Add the onion and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until softened. Add the garlic, chillies and red pepper and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the cumin, paprika and a big pinch of salt, then take off the heat.
- Pulse, don’t blitz: Put the chickpeas into a food processor and tip in the onion mixture. Pulse just until the mixture combines, keeping it coarse so you still see pieces. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Fold in the lentils: Add the Puy lentils, breadcrumbs and beaten egg to the bowl, season with salt and pepper, and mix with clean hands. Shape into 4 burgers and dust both sides with flour, brushing off any excess.
- Pan then oven: Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in a large non-stick pan over high heat. Add the burgers and cook for 2 minutes each side until golden. Transfer to a baking tray, lay a slice of Cheddar on each one and finish in the oven for 5 minutes.
- Mix the chipotle mayo: Stir together the mayonnaise, chipotle peppers and mustard while the burgers are in the oven.
- Toast and build: Toast the buns cut-side up under the grill until lightly golden. Spread both halves with chipotle mayo, then lettuce, burger, gherkins, avocado, and lid. Serve straight away.
FAQs
Why does the recipe use both chickpeas and lentils?
Because they do different jobs. The chickpeas blitz into a sticky base that holds everything together, while the Puy lentils stay whole and give each bite an actual texture. A burger made with chickpeas alone turns soft and pasty. One made with lentils alone crumbles. His combination fixes both, which is why he says it gives the burger “an authentic texture.”
Chickpeas also carry spice better than almost any other ingredient, which is something he notes in his Fit Food book. The cumin and paprika land properly because the chickpeas absorb them rather than letting them sit on the surface.
Can you make this fully vegan?
Yes, and he says so himself in the headnote: “leave out the cheese and sauce if you’re vegan.” Drop the egg, the Cheddar and the mayo. Without the egg, the chickpea starch and the breadcrumbs still bind the patty well enough, just handle them a little more gently when you shape them.
For the sauce, mash half an avocado with lime, salt and a dash of chipotle in adobo. It covers the same smoky-creamy ground the mayo does, and you’ve already got avocado in the build.
What’s the chipotle mayo, and is it worth making?
It’s three ingredients stirred together while the burgers are in the oven: mayonnaise, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and American mustard. The smoky heat from the chipotle turns plain mayo into something that actually stands up to the cumin and paprika in the patty.
Chipotle in adobo comes in small tins from the world food aisle. You’ll use 2 teaspoons and have the rest of the tin left, which keeps in the fridge for weeks and goes into everything from scrambled eggs to his pork burger sauce.
Why finish in the oven instead of just frying longer?
Because 2 minutes a side on high heat gives you a proper crust, but the inside of a thick chickpea patty needs longer than that to cook through. Frying for 8 minutes would burn the outside. The oven at 200°C finishes the job gently while the cheese melts on top.
It’s a restaurant technique carried into the book: sear for colour, oven for doneness. His chicken burger from Healthy Appetite does the same two-stage approach.
Does he have another vegetarian burger?
Yes, the Halloumi, Courgette and Herb Cakes from Ultimate Home Cooking. Grated halloumi with carrot, courgette, spring onions, coriander and mint, bound with eggs and breadcrumbs, chilled for 25 minutes and fried golden. Completely different from this one, more of a cheesy fritter than a burger, and served with a chilli-ginger dressing instead of in a bun.
If you’re choosing between the two, this lentil burger is the one that eats like a proper burger. The halloumi cakes are the one that goes with salad and a glass of wine.
What should you serve alongside?
His own suggestion from the same book is courgette fries, which he cross-references on the lentil burgers page itself: “they also go really well with burgers.” A sharp, crunchy side cuts the richness of the chipotle mayo and the melted Cheddar.
His light yoghurt coleslaw does the same job if you’d rather skip frying. And if someone at the table wants meat, his turkey thigh burger with lemon zest sits in the same lighter corner. The full lineup is in the burger recipes roundup.
