OW Review - The Best Vegan Burger!

I am so excited about this post! I am one week into my veganism journey. This week I have been eating salads topped with Uptons Naturals BBQ jackfruit, vegan burritos and burrito bowls from my favorite tex mex restaurants (Chipotle and Barberitos), vegan fajitas from my favorite local Mexican restaurant (Don Tequilas) and vegan gumbo that I made with ratatouille veggies.

I also enjoyed a spicy chickpea with peach chutney bowl from Rosewood Market and Deli with one of my favorite yoga teachers and new found friend, Rachel of Reese Woods - Food, Fitness and Life Along the Way.This week has been a rich start to this journey.

When I was out grocery shopping for this week, I stopped by Whole Foods. I was so excited when I saw the Beyond Meat "Beyond Burger" on display. I was familiar with the product as I had seen it advertised as a plant-based alternative that even "bleeds" like beef burger patties. The Beyond Burger is a plant based burger patty made primarily of pea protein. It is soy-free (super important to me given my soy allergy), gluten free and GMO free. Other ingredients include coconut oil, potato and food starch and beet juice to name a few. Overall, the burger seemed like a good product to try out.

I decided to treat myself to this vegan delight this weekend. I also purchased organic shoestring fries from Whole Foods, Rudi's organic whole wheat hamburger buns, Hampton Creek "Just Mayo" vegan mayonnaise, Follow Your Heart and Daiya vegan cheeses, a tomato. an onion and pickled jalapeños to accompany my vegan burger. Here's a shot of some of the items I used for this meal:

The burgers were in the frozen section at Whole Foods so I stored them in my freezer until I was ready to prepare them. I moved the patties from my freezer to my refrigerator approximately 3.5 hours before I cooked them so that they could thaw for a bit. This is how the patties looked before I started to cook them:

I seasoned the patties with a a few of my favorite seasoning blends before putting them in my pre-heated cast iron skillet and avocado oil. The instructions said to cook each side for 3 minutes. This is how the patties looked in the skillet:

The patties smelled great when they were cooking! The patties seemed to produce a discharge similar to grease that comes of beef patties. It was not nearly as fatty as grease. They stuck to the pan a little so I had to be careful when flipping them. The patties are a bit delicate, I did not want them to crumple. Perhaps the sticking could have been avoided with a little bit more oil or a lower cooking temperature.

Once the patties were done cooking, I briefly placed them in the oven on broil to melt the vegan cheese. I used the Follow Your Heart Pepper Jack cheese on one patty and the Daiya Cheddar style slices on the other. They both melted nicely!

I decided to eat the patty with the pepper jack cheese first! I topped it with pickled jalapeños, a tomato slice, a few onion slices and the Hampton Creek vegan mayo. It was absolutely delicious. I am so pleased with this product! The patty had a meaty texture and savory flavor. It as better than any beef, turkey or veggie burger that I've had! The patty looks medium rare when you bite into thanks to the beet color. This contributes to the experience. I would highly recommend this to someone who is just starting to cut out meet or season vegans or vegetarians!

I was so satisfied with the first burger that I did not have an appetite for the second so I saved it for lunch my fiancé at the other two). The patty reheated well in the microwave! I place a fresh slice of Diaya cheese on the patty which melted just as well in the microwave as it did in the oven. My burger was just a delicious as leftovers!

The only concern I have with this product is the presence of Gum Arabic and maltodextrin. I have read that these additives may not be good for us but I need to do more research so stay tuned! If these or other ingredients turn out to be potential unhealthy then I would just say that this burger should be consumed in moderation just a beef or other meat burgers should be.

Overall, I am very excited about this product and plan to buy it again in the future. I look forward to continuing to share this journey with you!

Have you tried any new vegan products or meat replacement products that you are excited about? Comment below!