The Key To Mouth-Watering Vegan Smash Burgers Lies In The Seasoning

A vegan lifestyle is gaining popularity as many individuals choose to go the non-animal-product eating route, whether for personal, environmental, or health reasons. A stereotypical belief about plant-based products is that they're bland-tasting, without many options to make them more flavorful and interesting. Aha — but that is simply not true. Plant-based foods, including our tasty vegan smash burger recipe, all have an inherent natural flavor that is brought to life with seasoning. 

Seasoning is key with plant-based dishes. It's often done in the prep phase of your meal, as well as throughout the cooking process, to allow flavors to develop and enhance as they cook. Seasoning is the unicorn dust of all foods, revealing layers of flavors that are sometimes unexpected.

This delicious smash burger that we fell in love with the moment we tasted it is packed with flavor because of the seasoning combo — garlic and onion powder, smoked paprika, and salt and pepper. Such simple ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry, but they turn a plain veggie patty into something extraordinary. Once the patty is packed with flavor from the seasonings it better complements the other burger ingredients. From the crisp lettuce and toasted bun, to the tangy pickles and creamy sauce (which is also seasoned), every element complements its peers.

Flavor is broken down into five categories: Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami — the meaty, savory, brothy flavor picked up by our taste buds. The important thing to remember with seasonings is that they need to work with the base flavors of the food you're adding them to. 

With this vegan smash burger, you're getting all five flavor categories in one, which is what makes it so delicious. Seasoning is used in all the primary elements of the burger. The sauce, which is a mixture of various condiments, has salt and pepper, garlic and onion powders, and smoked paprika added. This flavor combo runs through into the veggie patty too. Keeping the flavor profile consistent in a dish creates balance and harmony, and allows the dish to make sense to the diner.

The patties are then cooked until they have a crisp layer on the edges, which complements the crispness of the accompanying lettuce and onion, and the snap of the pickles. And voila — you have mouth-watering vegan smash burgers that are absolutely packed with flavor, and that you'll want to make again, and again, and again.