Best Meatless Burger Patties: Four Plant-Based Burgers Compared

Introduction

Plant-based burgers that try to imitate beef are everywhere now, but they are not all equally convincing. We compared four widely available options side by side, cooked the same way, to find out which ones come closest to the real thing and which are better treated as honest veggie patties.

The short version: two patties get close enough to beef that, with the right toppings, you would happily eat them; two others taste more like traditional veggie burgers. Here is how they ranked.

How the Patties Were Judged

Four things matter when evaluating a meatless burger. First is the protein base: soy, pea protein, wheat gluten, or mycoprotein from fungus. Soy and pea protein generally do a better job of imitating beef.

Second is flavor. The patties that aim to replicate the taste of beef succeed more than the ones where you can clearly pick out carrot, garlic, or onion. Third is fat: the best patties use coconut oil, which is solid at room temperature and melts when heated, delivering the lusciousness you get from a beef burger. Fourth is appearance. Some use beet juice or pomegranate juice for color, while others use heme protein, extracted from soybean plant roots, which is very similar to the hemoglobin in beef and gives a convincing look both raw and cooked.

One practical note on cooking: aim for a crispy, browned exterior, and cook them fully rather than serving them rare. Somewhere around 130 degrees works well.

Impossible Burger: The Closest to Beef

The Impossible Burger took the top spot. It uses heme protein, which gives it an appearance remarkably close to beef, both raw and cooked. The texture is impressively beef-like, and once you add any seasoning beyond salt and pepper, it gets very close to the real thing.

If you are looking for a genuine beef replacement, this is the closest of the four. It costs about $10 for a 12-ounce package, which makes it an easy one to try first.

Beyond Meat Beyond Burger: A Close Runner-Up

The Beyond Burger finished right behind the Impossible, and the gap is small. Sold pre-formed as patties, it has a milder, almost sausage-adjacent flavor that is pleasant in its own right rather than a pure beef imitation. The texture holds up well and browning develops nicely on a hot cooking surface.

Note that Beyond sells two versions: this patty-format burger, and a ground product sold in a brick for recipes like tacos. In dishes with bigger flavors, the texture difference from beef becomes genuinely hard to detect.

MorningStar Farms Veggie Burger: Middle of the Pack

The MorningStar Farms patty landed below the recommended pair. It does not come especially close to beef, but there is still something to like: it tastes like a well-made veggie patty with a pleasant flavor and a nicely browned, crisp exterior.

If you judge it as a veggie burger rather than a beef substitute, it can make a lovely dinner. If you are after meat imitation, look elsewhere.

Gardein Veggie Burger: Last Place

The Gardein patty finished at the bottom of the rankings. It is too thin and too wispy, it is not particularly beefy, and it does not come close enough to meat to justify buying it as a substitute.

There is little to recommend here for beef imitation purposes, and it was the least convincing patty of the group by a clear margin.

Buying Advice

If your goal is a burger that eats like beef, start with the Impossible Burger, then try the Beyond Burger if you prefer a milder flavor. Both benefit from the full burger treatment: a good brioche bun, ketchup, mustard, pickles, and tomatoes. With enough toppings, you may not be fooled, but you will be happy.

If you simply enjoy veggie patties on their own terms, the MorningStar Farms option is a reasonable pick. Skip the Gardein unless you specifically want a thin, light patty.

Conclusion

Plant-based burgers have split into two camps: those chasing beef and those embracing the veggie patty. The Impossible Burger and Beyond Burger sit firmly in the first camp and are close enough that seasoned dishes can be hard to tell apart from beef. MorningStar Farms and Gardein are better understood as veggie burgers, with MorningStar the more likable of the two.