Nina’s Berliner Burgers + A Giveaway
Nina’s Berliner Burgers- inspired by old-school Berlin kiosk foods, this modern burger is topped with purple kraut and curry ketchup, two iconic German street foods. Packed full of flavor and plant-based protein, it’s sure to be a favorite!
Are you guys ready for a bangin’ veggie burger? Grab your buns and let’s do this!
Your hamburger buns…not your butt. Just wanted to clarify.
So this awesome recipe comes from the book Veggie Burger Atelier by Nina Olsson of the blog Nourish Atelier. Her publisher reached out to me a while back asking if I’d be interested in checking it out and I jumped at the opportunity. I mean, an entire book about veggie burgers? Sign me up.
What’s so fascinating about Nina’s approach to her recipes is that they are inspired by her travels around the world. Each section of the book is based on flavors from regions that include Northern Europe, Southern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Asia, and The United States and Latin America. I love that each recipe makes me feel like I’ve gotten a little taste of the region that inspired it.
It was hard to choose which one to share with you guys but ultimately the Berliner Burgers won me over for the hearty combination of mushrooms, leeks, and lentils topped with pink kraut and curried ketchup. Oh yes, it is just as incredible as it sounds.
Like most veggie burgers I make, I used my food processor to help me finely chop everything in a jiffy. I also used my favorite Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste for the chili paste because it’s what I always have on hand and it was SO good in this recipe.
I hope you guys get a chance to try these because I have a strong feeling you’re going to love them!
**GIVEAWAY**
If you would like to enter to win a copy of Nina’s gorgeous book, please leave a comment below letting me know your most memorable meal from your travels. I’ll pick a winner one week from today and notify you via email. Good luck!
The giveaway is open to resident of US and Canada only.
Nina's Berliner Burgers
Yield: 4 to 6 burgers
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 7 ounces mushrooms (220g), finely chopped
- 1 cup (100g) finely sliced leek
- 1 and 1/4 cup (250g) cooked and drained green lentils
- 1/2 cup (100g) roasted and ground sunflower seeds (or nuts)
- 1 tablespoon (11g) mustard (I used Dijon)
- 2 tablespoons (8g) nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon (15g) chili paste (I used this brand)
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) white vinegar
- 2/3 cup (30g) panko or regular breadcrumbs
- 3/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, plus more tot taste
- toppings: pink kraut and curry ketchup (see notes)
Directions:
In a large skillet, warm the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and mushrooms then cook until the mushrooms have softened and the excess moisture has evaporated. Add leek and cook for another minute then remove from heat and set aside.
In a food processor, lightly pulse 3/4 cup of the lentils for about 5 to seconds. Transfer to a large bowl along with cooked vegetables and remaining ingredients. Stir to combine. Taste test and add more salt & pepper, to taste. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes, or up to overnight covered.
Using your hands, scoop out about 1/2 cup of the mixture and shape into patties. I made about 6 patties while Nina states the recipe should make 4. This will depend on how big you like to make your burgers. Warm a little more oil in the skillet over medium heat then cook the patties for about 5 minutes on each side. Serve warm on toasted buns with vegan mayo, pink kraut and curry ketchup.
Rather than follow Nina’s recipes for the condiments, I took a few shortcuts because I’m lazy. For the pink kraut I made my cabbage slaw from this recipe. For the curried ketchup I combined 1/2 cup ketchup with 2 tablespoons red curry paste.
Reprinted with permission from Veggie Burger Atelier copyright © 2018 by Nina Olsson. Published by Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.
Did you try this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out by leaving a comment below or sharing a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #makingthymeforhealth. I love hearing your feedback! 
Probably one of my favorite meals is one of the simplest! My family and I were on a trip in the south of France and at our Airbnb there was an amazing outdoor grill area with a view of the sea. We got a bunch of delicious breads, cheeses, fruits and veggies from the local grocery and made ourselves a simple, but oh so delicious feast :)
One of my favorite meals while traveling was a visit in California. I was staying with family, and I was introduced to cabbage rolls. I still rave about them till this day. My goal is to learn how to make several variations of the meal and share them with as many people as I can. Looking forward to making more recipes!
I have yet to make cabbage rolls but I can imagine they are delicious!
One of my favorite meals that I remember from a trip was at the Rutherford Grill in the Napa area. I had a beet burger which was the first time I had ever had one of these. The taste was absolutely amazing and I would never have known I was eating beets had I not seen the name! I have tried duplicating this at home without much success. I have traveled a lot so when this stands out of all my travels, I know it was delicious!
I remember you mentioning that burger before, Carolyn! You’re making me want to go back to Napa just to try it. :)
Favorite meal while traveling has to be a shawarma from the big market in Tel Aviv, Israel. It’s the perfect combination of cooked meat and fresh veggies, with just the right amount of spice. I could eat shawarma every day.
It wasn’t a particular meal that’s memorable for me. It was a trip to California 13 years ago shortly after becoming a vegetarian family & it was the first time traveling. I had concerns about eating. We live right in the middle of beef/pork country & eating out had become rare for us given that we wanted more than sides of corn, peas, green beans & potato, etc as our meal. (it was a much different time)
Well…I searched online for places to eat to get a plan for meals. And I discovered entire restaurants devoted to vegetarian/vegan meals…lots of them…that sounded so tempting & good. I soon had close to two dozen places to choose from.
Exploring the variety of vegetarian meals became a fun part of our trip. It was so much fun. And I came home with particular dishes in mind that I wanted to try to duplicate. Which still today are some of our favorites & in frequent rotation.
So…not one meal/dish that was memorable, but an entire experience. :-)
((tho there is this cream of mushroom soup that is still made in all our kitchens today)
It’s always so exciting discovering new vegetarian restaurants! And even more so during that time when there was so little to choose from.
My most memorable meal was in Mexico some years ago. I was starving and ordered bean and cheese tostadas . I took my first bite, started to chew , then I grabbed a napkin and spit the tostada out . When my friends asked me what was wrong, I exclaimed” There’s a cow in my beans!”
Fortunately, I’m heading to Europe this summer- Germany first, Poland, Italy, Holland..maybe France and a few others . I’m going for at least a month so I’m sure to have better meals!
This burger sounds tasty. I made some black bean burgers for my co-workers recently that were delicious.
Oh no! That’s the not best memory, lol. Your summer travels sound like they’re going to be awesome! :)
I have way too many delicious memories from my travels, but I will share my latest one. Next Level Burger in Seattle (based out of Portland I believe), has the most amazing menu of all plant-based options, mostly burgers but also delicious appetizer options and shakes. Although very indulgent, nevertheless the most delicious veggie burger experience I ever had. My favorite part though, is that they’re teaching people that they can have a delicious meal, one that consists of plants only. It seems to me, that to most people it’s still a very foreign concept. This joint is located within a whole foods, and everyone who is hungry, is forced to have a plant based meal! They try it, and then there’s no going back.. unless it’s coming back for seconds and thirds of delicious burgers. Oh and they also have this amazing secret special sauce, unfortunately they weren’t willing to share the recipe.
YES! We ate at Next Level Burger in Bend, Oregon and it was incredible!
My favorite travel memory is when I visited Tel Aviv and ate at Abu Hassan’s in Jaffa, which was one voted the best hummus in the world! It was a very unassuming storefront right near the waterfron but literally the best I’ve ever tried. I hope I can go back someday :)
I was in New Orleans over the weekend and had an amazing sauted shrimp Po-Boy and a dessert of warm chocolate chip cookies served with a beater full of cookie dough and vanilla infused milk. It was all SO delicious!
I would love this cookbook!
this recipe looks awesome & the timing perfect. I just came from the dietician’s office trying to find out how to switch to a plant based diet. My most memorable travel meal was a mushroom soup I had in a pub in Ireland.
One of my favorite meals ever was a lunch at a small place called The Foodbarn in a farm village outside of Cape Town. We shared a family-style salad (that was incredibly fresh), had baked bread and wine, and I had the most delicious risotto. Not to mention the restaurant was in the cutest little white farmhouse, and the food was presented beautifully!
My favorite travel meal was at a stop on my way to Yosemite. I knew I would be hiking for quite a while so I got simple carry snacks, almonds, crackers and an aged English cheddar. Cheese probably wasn’t the best choice but i love it so much so it felt right. Haha. Love the photos by the way!
Favorite travel meal was a creamy truffled wild mushroom polenta I had last year when visiting San Diego with my sister. Not only was the meal perhaps one of the richest, most delicious meals I have ever had, but it also signified our first real together as ”adults” (we’re 24 and 27 lol), and was really so symbolic of our independence, our relationship, and how much we just enjoy each other’s company – which is certainly not something we could always say as kids!
Pesto pizza in Florence!
I’ve not traveled much or far from where I live but my favourite meal was Sunday dinner at my moms. I miss her home cooking and conversation. Everything she cooked was memorable.
I haven’t traveled much since going plant-based, but I do remember when I was studying Spanish in Madrid a few years ago going to a couple’s apartment for a traditional Spanish 7 course meal they prepared for me and a few other people one night. None of it was really anything I ate, but I did try everything as part of the experience. They were so lovely and even printed off a menu of everything for each of us explaining what each dish was and what part of Spain it originated in. It was probably one of the most amazing nights! I learned so much from speaking with them over a dinner that lasted well into the night and it was just so wonderful of them to prepare such an incredible meal and open up their home to us!
Shio Ramen from Tadamasa in the Bay Area in California!!! They made it vegetarian for me and I could eat it all day!
My most memorable meal was the Omakase I had for my birthday on March 24th in Tokyo. My husband made a surprise and booked this fabulous restaurant on the 60th floor of this building in the Roppongi Hills area. We had a dedicated chef who was chosing and preparing each piece of the meal in front of us, explaining how he was going to do it. Everything we had was so different and just so delicious, with the right touch of wasabi and ginger. The chef really took pride in the preparation, and we could really feel that.
I’m not sure if this would technically count as my ‘travels’, but my favourite dish would have to be the oven-stone-cart roasted sweet potatoes found on the streets of China. The caramelized goodness and sweet flesh of the decadent and vibrant root vegetables are like I’ve never tasted before. They are far beyond what I’ve been able to make at home and simply taste like heaven. It’s so incredibly simple (and fortunately cheap too, or else I would’ve gone broke haha) but extraordinarily delicious. It’s a taste of home I’ll never forget. <3
I had a wonderful head of fish on Japan’s coast.
Wowsers, that book looks and sounds absolutely amazing! You definitely did these burgers justice, m’dear..those photos are driving my eyeballs wild and they look sooooo tasty! Must get my hands on that book and veggie burger it up!
Last week I got to go to New York with my son, daughter-in-law and their babe in arms. They took me to a gem of a place called Westville. I’d heard about it from two other people so I was quite excited. Westville is known for their vegetables. I had the market plate. You get four choicesfrom the ever changing menu of vegetables dishes. I chose soy glazed green beans, broccoli with garlic, roasted cauliflower with tahini, and lentils with carrots and onions. They were all so beautiful and my stomach was singing “Oh what a beautiful morning..” We finished off our meal sharing blueberry pie (the crust made from phyllo dough), a Nutella Whoopie Pie cookie, and our raging over the top favorite….the chocolate toasted coconut cake. Our forks were moving like the foils in an Oympic fencing match. Wow! I could eat at that place every dang day and my smile would never fail.
I loved them. If I want to freeze as I am cooking for just me, do I freeze before frying in pan? Looking forward to making them for my vegan son who will be visiting from France in the summer( I hope!!)
Yes, freeze them prior to cooking! I usually put a layer of parchment paper (or you can use tinfoil) between them to keep them from sticking together. I hope this madness clears by the summer so you can see your son!
Thanks.
This Berlin Burger looks like it has so much flavor and I love the added splash of color with the kraut, my mouth is already watering.
My most memorable meal overseas was my Aunty’s Minestrone when I went to visit her last year in Australia. I took my 12 year old daughter with me so that she could meet my Aunt for the first time, I had many fond memories of her cooking Italian food when I was young, I wanted my daughter to experience it and I was taken back when we all helped make the Minestrone – it was so delicious, all veggies but my daughter couldn’t get enough. We also made pizzas and spaghetti, I’m so happy that my daughter got to experience it all.
In 2008 I visited Chez Republic and my favorite was
their open faced sandwiches that looked so festive and desserts.
I had THE MOST DELICIOUS calamari burger from the Hula Grill in Maui, Hawaii! It was a big slab of calamari, not spindly little bits like I’ve had when ordering calamari at other restaurants. So yum!
breakfasts made over a old fashioned Coleman stove. for some reason the toast and the hot chocolate just tasted way better than when at home.
I tried a Southwest Quinoa Power Bowl on a recent vacation and really liked it!
A stuffed poblano pepper on Isla Mujeres Mexico. It has egg and cheese and is just amazing!
I’d love a copy of the book. My favourite meal, is simple but so good. It’s a Big Beef sandwich from Portillo’s in Chicago. We visit Chicago every year and this meal is always a part of the trip.
I’m ALWAYS down for a good veggie burger! Hmmm favorite travel food… that’s SO HARD! I have to say Indian food from Dishoom in London. It was out of this world AMAZING!
So glad I found this site and I can’t wait to try these burgers! I made your pumpkin muffins tonight with my 4 yr old son for probably the 4th or 5th time now (we absolutely love them), and it finally dawned on me that I should check out your blog and try some more of your recipes!!!
One of my fav meal memories is from my honeymoon. It was such a simple yet delicious meal at our hotel in Italy. It was the best veggie soup I’ve ever had. Even though the weather was hot I still craved and ordered this soup every day for 3 days!
Hi, my comments are about the Berliner Burger recipe….I have made it now twice for my gluten free son who is also vegan like me and my non-vegan husband and they both love it. I have tried other burger recipes like black bean, chickpea, blackeye pea and this is by far the best burger recipe. The leeks and ground sunflower seeds give the burger immense flavor. It is time consuming using a mortar and pestle to grind the seeds but well worth it. My son and I have a collection of recipes from vegan websites which we have tried, and we have labeled them as keepers or move on- this a keeper. My best traveled food is Ackee with onions, cho-cho, thyme and tomatoes. In Jamaica it is normally served with salt fish but we Vegan Jamaicans skip the salt fish and add chickpeas with some Jamaican curry (not Indian curry).
Once again thank you so much for all the research you do in putting these vegan recipes together.
Thank you so much for the review! I’m thrilled you and your son enjoyed the burgers. That Jamaican dish sounds incredible. I’d love to try it!
Made these for dinner tonight – YUM! I actually made the burger mix on Sunday and had the mixture covered in the fridge until I made the patties tonight. I will make again! I didn’t have leeks so used green onions, and didn’t have chili paste so used a squirt of Sriracha and Worcestershire sauce and I think the flavor was great. I think I could even sneak in some spinach or kale to the patties next time!
I love the idea to sneak some green in! Thanks for the review, Anna!
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