Vegan Jackfruit Burgers

These vegan jackfruit burgers are tender and flavorful, complemented by black beans and BBQ sauce to create a satisfying bite!

Jump to:

• 💗 Why You’ll Love These Vegan Jackfruit Burgers
• 🥣 Ingredients and Notes
• 🛠 Tools and Equipment
• 👩🏻‍🍳 How to Make Jackfruit Burgers Step by Step
• 📝 Expert Tips
• 📖 Variations
• 🍽 How to Serve
• 🫙 How to Store and Keep
• 😋 More Vegan Burgers and Sandwiches You’ll Enjoy!
• ⚖️ Serving Size
• 🎥 Video
• Recipe

If you aren’t familiar with jackfruit, it is a fruit from Southeast Asia that has become popular as a meat alternative. Young jackfruit has a somewhat bland flavor and picks up seasonings well. Its meaty texture makes it a great stand-in for food like pulled pork or chicken, as it shreds easily. Jackfruit is mixed with typical burger ingredients and makes up a tasty, hearty, meatless patty. 

Tossed with spices and barbecue sauce, these jackfruit burgers have a great texture and taste, ready topped with your favorite burger fixings. Give them a try the next time you are looking for a veggie burger option. You won’t be disappointed.   

Easily prepared in a skillet over the stove, you can bake these in the oven or cook them on the barbecue. Make a batch to eat today and freeze the rest for another day.

💗 Why You’ll Love These Vegan Jackfruit Burgers

Hearty: Chewy and savory, these burgers make for a hearty meal.

Versatile: Change the spices to suit your taste or substitute different beans.

Protein-filled: Black beans make these burgers loaded with protein. 

Flavorful: Though jackfruit has little flavor, this combination of spices and barbecue sauce creates a sweet, smoky, and savory taste.

🥣 Ingredients and Notes

Young green jackfruit: Look for jackfruit in water or brine and drain and rinse. Make sure not to buy sweetened jackfruit that’s packed in syrup. Use frozen or freeze-dried jackfruit instead of canned.

Barbecue sauce: Choose your favorite vegan-friendly brand. 

Soy sauce: Choose a low-sodium soy sauce or tamari. For a soy-free version, use coconut aminos.

Spices: Smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and ground black pepper add flavor to these burgers.

Olive oil: I prefer extra virgin olive oil, but any kind will work. 

Black beans: Canned black beans, drained and rinsed.

Breadcrumbs: Any kind of breadcrumbs will work, gluten-free if needed, or make your own by toasting fresh bread and processing it into crumbs. Instead of breadcrumbs, use oat flakes. 

Cooking spray: Use a cooking spray for the skillet or additional oil for frying.

For Assembling: Whole wheat hamburger buns, lettuce, tomato, red onion, ketchup, and mustard.

🛠 Tools and Equipment

Mixing Bowl: Use a mixing bowl to combine all the ingredients.

Food Processor: The food processor helps break down the ingredients so they turn into burgers.

Saute Pan or Skillet: Use a large pan to give yourself plenty of space to place your burgers and easily flip them.

Colander: Use a colander or strainer to strain the beans.

👩🏻‍🍳 How to Make Jackfruit Burgers Step by Step

1. Prepare the jackfruit: Drain and rinse the canned jackfruit. Place it on a cheesecloth. Gather up the ends of the cheesecloth and squeeze out the excess brine. Remove from the cheesecloth, and break up the large pieces with a fork, tearing it apart until it resemble pulled pork. Discard any hard bits or seeds.
2. Combine the barbecue sauce, soy sauce, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper in a bowl.
3. Add the shredded jackfruit to the bowl and toss to coat it with the marinade. Let it marinate for about 15 minutes.
4. Add the marinated jackfruit, drained and rinsed black beans, and breadcrumbs to a food processor. Pulse a few times until the mixture comes together but still has chunks. 
5. Shape the mixture into burger-sized patties (about 6-8) using your hands. If the mix is too wet, you can add a bit more breadcrumbs to help with shaping.
6. Preheat a clean skillet over medium heat and lightly grease it with cooking spray or oil.
7. Place the jackfruit burgers in the skillet and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side until they are nicely browned and crispy. Alternatively, bake the patties on each side at 375° F for 8 minutes, flip, and bake an additional 8. minutes. 
8. Assemble the Burgers: Toast the burger buns lightly, if desired. Spread with mustard, ketchup, or whatever you usually put on your burgers. Place a jackfruit burger on the bottom half of each bun. Top with lettuce, tomato slices, and red onion. Place the top half of the bun over the toppings. Enjoy!

📝 Expert Tips

• Use wet hands to shape the burgers so the mixture doesn’t stick. 
• Ensure your spices are relatively new, as old ones won’t flavor much. 
• Don’t over-process the burger mixture; you want some texture. Over-processing may also lead to a mushy burger. 
• If you bake the burgers, drizzle oil on the cookie sheet so they crisp up.

📖 Variations

Different Beans: Change up the beans and use pinto or kidney.

Other Spices: Add some spice and stir in chipotle in adobo sauce or sriracha.

Gluten-Free: Use gluten-free hamburger buns and substitute the breadcrumbs for oats or gluten-free breadcrumbs.

🍽 How to Serve

Jackfruit burgers go well with a light salad like this Vegan Greek or Mediterranean Cucumber Salad. It also pairs nicely with fries.

🫙 How to Store and Keep

Refrigerator: Uneaten jackfruit burgers will be in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Freeze: You can also freeze leftovers for up to 4 months. Make sure to freeze with a piece of parchment paper in between so you can quickly grab one at a time. 

Reheat: Defrost burgers in the fridge overnight and reheat in the oven or stovetop. 

😋 More Vegan Burgers and Sandwiches You’ll Enjoy!

⚖️ Serving Size

You should get between 6 and 8 burgers. If you prefer to make them slider size you should get a few more. Slider size makes a nice snack or appetizer served on a mini bun. 

🎥 Video

Recipe