15+ Mouth-Watering Beyond Meat Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How much water do you need to make Beyond Meat burgers? ›

The Water Footprint of a Beyond Meat Burger is 1.13 gallons per burger. The water use of a Beyond Meat Burger is 58.6 times lower than a beef burger.

Plant-based meats are considered a processed food because they are largely changed from the original form of the ingredients. Additional ingredients, such as seed oils, are added to make the product seem more like animal meat.

Beyond Meat recommends thawing burger patties before cooking them for the best taste and texture. However, you can cook frozen Beyond Burgers in the air fryer. You'll need to cook them longer than refrigerated Beyond Burgers.

Some popular seasonings to use on Beyond Burger include garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, cumin, chili powder, and black pepper. You can also experiment with different herbs like oregano, thyme, or basil to add more depth of flavor.

Compared to a ¼ lb. U.S. beef burger, producing a ¼ lb. Beyond Burger requires: 99% less water.

Plant-based meat can reduce water use by up to 99 percent and cultivated meat by 66 percent (compared to conventional beef). As water becomes a limited resource, alternative proteins offer a water scarcity solution.

The problem, critics say, is that neither Beyond Meat nor Impossible Foods discloses the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions across all of its operations, supply chains or consumer waste. They also do not disclose the effects across all of their operations on forests or how much water they use.

While the current study found no clear difference in inflammatory markers between plant-based imitation meat and animal meat, a few clinical trials have found a reduction in inflammatory markers when legumes are eaten in place of meat (typically red meat):

Lentils. “Lentils are natural foods, rich in fiber, protein, and potassium,” says George. Lentils are also pretty much the most unprocessed forms of plant protein you can find. Limiting processed foods is helpful so that you can avoid excess sugar or sodium.

Can You Undercook Beyond Meat? Yes, you can. Cooked beyond Meat should have a crisp-cooked exterior portion, while the interior should be slightly pink. In your eyes, it might appear to be uncooked, but that's what you're supposed to be able to see.

Can you undercook a Beyond Meat burger? ›

What about undercooked plant-based meat? As with real meat, undercooking plant-based meat can come with the risk for foodborne illness. It's recommended that all plant-based meats be cooked according to the package instructions.

You could air fry Beyond Meat Burger patties either thawed or frozen, but I recommend cooking them frozen. With an air fryer, the patties taste just as good whether you thaw them or cook them straight out of the freezer. No need to wait 30 minutes to an hour for them to thaw.

Season patties all over with salt and pepper. Heat a drizzle of oil in pan used for onion over medium-high heat. Add patties and cook until browned, 3-5 minutes per side. Top each patty with cheddar.

While your grill preheats, you can season your Beyond Burgers. I like to use salt, pepper, cumin, garlic, onion powder and a pinch of smoked paprika. Grill your Beyond Burgers for three minutes on each side, or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

I went with a mixture of garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, black pepper and Trader Joe's mushroom umami seasoning. This combination, as you might guess, absolutely slapped, but it's far from the only way to go. I want to try a more herb-y mixture soon, incorporating rosemary, thyme and garlic.

While any plant-based food still requires water to produce, the inefficiency of animal products is staggering: compared to the 660 gallons of water required for a hamburger, an Impossible plant-based burger patty only uses about four gallons, and a Beyond plant-based burger patty only uses about one gallon.

Just to get a sense of how much water goes into growing and processing what we eat, here's a list of the water footprint for some common foods, via National Geographic: A 1/3-pound burger requires 660 gallons of water. Most of this water is for producing beef (see below).

According to the Sierra Club, the average cheeseburger requires 698.5 gallons to produce. That includes 22 gallons to make the bun, 4.5 gallons to grow the lettuce and tomato, 56 gallons to produce one slice of cheese and a whopping 616 gallons, from start to finish, to make the meat patty.

Good thing this recipe is comprised of veggies and grains. When you calculate the water footprint of this recipe as is, it comes out to something around 800 gallons of water or around 1/7 of the water used for a beef burger.