Tuscan White Bean Burgers (18g Protein)

These are the gentle end of the veggie burger spectrum: cannellini beans, brown rice and a pile of finely chopped vegetables, baked rather than fried, with nothing rich or greasy to unsettle a GLP-1 stomach. The vegetables cook off their moisture first, which is the trick that keeps the patties from turning mushy.

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 100g chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 75g green beans, finely chopped
• 1 celery stick, finely chopped
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 x 400g tins cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 150g cooked short-grain brown rice
• 2 tsp dried Italian herbs
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• ½ tsp salt and plenty of black pepper
• 4 small wholegrain burger buns
• Lettuce, sliced tomato and red onion, to serve
• Mustard and ketchup, to serve

Method

1. 1Pulse the onion, mushrooms, carrot, green beans, celery, parsley and garlic in a food processor until everything is in small, even bits.
2. 2Tip the chopped vegetables into a large dry frying pan and cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring often, until the moisture has cooked off — don’t add any oil or water; dry is the goal.
3. 3Add the cannellini beans, cooked brown rice, dried Italian herbs, white wine vinegar, salt and black pepper to the pan. Mix well and mash coarsely with the back of a spoon, leaving some beans whole. Take off the heat and let the mixture cool enough to handle.
4. 4Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a baking tray with baking paper. Shape the mixture into 8 small patties and space them out on the tray.
5. 5Bake for 35-40 minutes until evenly browned and firm at the edges — no flipping needed.
6. 6Spread the buns with mustard and ketchup, add lettuce, two patties per person, tomato and red onion.

Tips for GLP-1 appetites

• Two small patties per serving beats one big one on GLP-1 — you can stop at one and save the second for tomorrow’s lunch without waste.
• The baked patties freeze well for a month; reheat from frozen in a dry pan for a low-effort protein hit on a flat-appetite day.