Vegetarian cauliflower and broccoli patties are delicious and flavorful, made with healthy veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach. These nutritious low-carb patties will be ready in less than 30 minutes and are gluten-free.
We love all kinds of fritters and patties for a quick weeknight dinner. From our Healthy Zucchini Fritters, Chicken Zucchini Fritters to our Fried Salmon Patties recipes. You'll love these broccoli patties.
Table Of Contents
Why it's Yummy
- Budget-friendly - These veggie patties require only a few ingredients, no hard work because they are very easy to make. They can be enjoyed as they are with dipping sauces, served with mashed potatoes, rice, crispy smashed potatoes, or with a burger bun.
- Versatile - make these patties extra thick to serve in a vegetarian burger or slightly smaller and thinner (fritters style) and kids love these too. I like to add some cheese inside or sprinkle grated parmesan on top. Cheese is the ultimate fix for any food! This helps to mask the broccoli flavor if it's something that your kids don't like.
- Juicy and tender - a combination of broccoli, cauliflower and spinach makes them extra juicy and very tender. Plus they are gluten-free and healthy!
- So, why else you should make these? These veggie burgers are made with plant-based ingredients and include a wide range of health benefits including Vitamin A, Vitamin K (especially high in spinach), Vitamin C and B, and many other nutrients.
Ingredients
- Broccoli and cauliflower - Broccoli florets and cauliflower - I used fresh veggies (but you can aslo used thawed frozen florets) and cook them until soft. Here's how: Bring water to boil in a medium-sized pot, cook florets for 4-5 minutes. We need them soft. Drain well. You can use a multicooker and make steamed broccoli and veggies instead.
- Spinach - fresh spinach leaves for sure. Because frozen will not work in those vegetarian patties as it releases too much excess moisture into patties. Frozen spinach is usually suitable for sauces, soups, and stews. For easy handling wash and properly dry the spinach with a salad spinner, and using a sharp knife cut it into smaller pieces.
- Bread crumbs and flour - any brand of gluten-free breadcrumbs should work here, but for the flour, I recommend my Homemade Gluten Free Blend or Schar bread mix or Universal.
- Sun-dried tomatoes - this is one of my favorite things! It's one of my secret ingredients that makes everything taste so good. Can't skip this one for sure! As a quick alternative, sun-dried tomato pesto or other red pesto choices are great too.
Equipment
- Medium pot
- Salad Spinner - for perfect washing and rinsing the spinach and any lettuce
- Non-stick skillet
- Steamer basket - for steaming veggies
Instructions
In a food processor or a large mixing bowl combine (cooked and drained broccoli, (and cooked) cauliflower.
Pulse until softened and broken down. (or use an immersion blender). Add (washed and properly rinsed) spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes, and pulse a couple of times more until combined.
A few chunks here and it is good, don't over pulse until it turns into a puree. You can also use an immersion blender for this.
Add salt, and pepper to taste, eggs, ½ cup gluten-free breadcrumbs, panko, and gluten free flour. Stir with a spatula until combined.
Shape about 2 tablespoon-sized balls.
Prepare a plate/bowl with ¼ cup breadcrumbs and generously dip each vegetable patty in it.
In a nonstick large pan or a grill pan, over medium-high heat add enough vegetable oil (about 1-1 ½ inches).
In a large non-stick skillet or a grill pan, over medium heat add enough vegetable oil (about 1-1 ½ inch).
And once hot cook each patty until golden brown and crispy on both sides (about 5 minutes per side).
You may need to do this in batches as the patties should be apart from each other to prevent sticking.
You may need to do this in batches as the patties should be apart from each other to prevent sticking.
Transfer to a large plate lined with a paper kitchen towel to remove the extra moisture and oil. Cover with aluminum foil while you finish cooking the rest of the patties.
You should end up with a nice textured, crispy exterior firm burger. Unless you make them very thin, but in this case there is a slight risk of them falling apart.
Serve the vegetarian patties warm as a delicious side dish, with your favorite dipping sauce, or as a part of a main meal with a portion of rice, mashed potatoes, and gravy or white sauce.
Air Fryer Instructions
Preheat air fryer to 380 F (190 C) for 5 minutes.
My favorite and one of the best air fryers on the market - Cosori 5.8 quart air fryer. Fits large quantities in one basket.
Place paper air fryer basket liners (recommended) into the air fryer and spray lightly with cooking oil.
We like to use avocado oil as it is the safest and healthiest option for frying or cooking of any kind.
Arrange the patties separate from each other and air fry for 6-8 minutes. (For medium-thick patties). The time will vary depending on the thickness and your air fryer model.
What I recommend is to air fry them for 5 minutes and check for doneness, they should be crisp on top, if so flip them over and air fry for another 3-5 minutes until cooked through.
I have a whole separate recipe index for Air Fryer recipes if you want to see more of those!
Oven Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C).
Arrange the patties in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, flip and bake more 10 minutes until golden brown and crisp on the outside.
Tips
- When shaping the broccoli patties - have a bowl of cold water prepared next to you to dip your fingers in between. Things will get sticky!
- You can add less breadcrumbs and flour to these for a lighter patties. But they will hold their shape better with the amount instructed in the recipe.
- These patties need a good amount of salt, we like to use our quick and easy season salt.
- Measuring - be sure to measure all your ingredients using the correct tools for this including a digital kitchen scale (measuring the ingredients in grams will give more accurate results). This chart is a quick reference for volume, ounces, and grams equivalencies for common ingredients.
- Vegan patties - these patties are mostly made with plant-based ingredients. I'd recommend 2 flax eggs in place of regular eggs. And also another dipping sauce, or using plant-based yogurt instead. I also have a delicious healthy vegetarian burger recipe made with chickpeas and with hints of Asian flavors. Try it next time!
- Air fryer tip - To keep your air fryer functioning longer, place special parchment paper air fryer basket liners at the bottom of the air fryer basket. You can even make this yourself by cutting out parchment paper according to the size needed and punching some holes in it!
- Eggs act as a binding agent and unfortunately, these can't be skipped.
- The secret ingredient - Also, I highly recommend not skipping the sundried tomato pesto, and we like to add plenty! The difference in flavor with and without it is huge!
- And more add ons we like to use to enhance the flavor. Red onion, onion powder, red chili flakes, black beans and chia seeds for added nutritional value.
- For extra savory flavor, stir in some cheddar cheese or parmesan cheese in the patties mixture or mix breadcrumbs along with parmesan cheese.
- If not serving for kids, add a pinch or two of cayenne pepper to the patties mixture. Delicious smoky flavor with a spicy kick to it!
Freezing And Storing Instructions
These patties are best consumed right away, freshly cooked.
If you do want to freeze them, I recommend freezing uncooked homemade veggie burgers first without cooking them.
Just pop them into freezer bag (I would also wrap each burger individually into plastic wrap or at least separate these with some parchment paper) or a freezer-friendly airtight container.
If you have leftover cooked vegetarian burgers, keep them refrigerated in a closed container and consume within 48 hours.
Reheat in the skillet over medium heat with some butter and oil. Or in an air fryer (my go-to method) at 380 F until warmed through or a preheat oven to 375 C. It takes about 10 minutes if not frozen. I don't recommend microwaving these, simply because the patties will lose their crisp exterior and become soggy.
Serving Suggestions
These meatless burgers are great for lunch to go and served in a vegetarian burger.
Served these patties with:
Side Garnish:
- Lime Cilantro Rice and Vegan Bechamel sauce (my preferred choice!)
- Creamy Mashed Potatoes With Cream Cheese And Garlic
- or this delicious Green Cabbage and Cucumber Salad With Dill
- Sweet potato fries in the oven or in an air fryer
- Twice baked sweet potatoes
Dipping ideas:
Serve them as they are with a cold creamy dip.
A very easy healthy yogurt dip:
- 1 cup Yogurt
- 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Lemon zest
Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and serve chilled. Citrus notes in lemon go very well with those vegetable patties!
FAQ
The most practical and effective way to bind vegetable patties or any patties is with eggs, breadcrumbs, oatmeal, and flour. For a vegan option, flaxseed egg works equally well.
All vegetarian burgers can be made with almost anything plant-based. These include of course vegetables, legumes, beans, and grains. Our favorite vegetarian recipes are all veggie like this recipe or chickpea and black bean burgers.
The ingredients that would make a veggie burger taste better are pretty much the same as that of a regular meat burger. Think onions, especially red onions, seasoned salts, spices and herbs (especially we like taco or burrito and fajita seasoning blends), mushrooms or mushroom stock powder, veggie stock powder, garlic, pesto, and cheese (can be vegan cheese too). Try my easy vegan parmesan cheese recipe, which tastes so incredible on top of ANYTHING!
- Julia
I hope you enjoy these juicy vegetarian broccoli patties!
If you try this recipe, please leave a comment and a star rating below. Your feedback is so helpful and helps other TYB readers who are planning to make this recipe.
Recipe
Vegetarian Cauliflower And Broccoli Patties
INGREDIENTS
- 2 ½ cup fresh broccoli (roughly chopped)
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 5 cups fresh cauliflower
- ½ cup breadcrumbs (gluten free if desired) + ½ cup for dipping
- ½ cup all purpose flour ((gluten free blend) )
- 2 medium eggs
- 3 tablespoon sun dried tomatoes in oil (drained)
- salt to taste
- vegetable oil for cooking
- black pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a food processor or a large mixing bowl combine (cooked and drained broccoli, (and cooked) cauliflower.
- Pulse until softened and broken down. (or use an immersion blender). Add (washed and properly rinsed) spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes, and pulse a couple of times more until combined.
- A few chunks here and it is good, don't over pulse until it turns into a puree. You can also use an immersion blender for this.
- Add salt, pepper to taste, eggs, ½ cup gluten-free breadcrumbs, panko, and gluten-free flour. Stir with a spatula until combined.
- Shape about 2 tablespoon-sized balls.
- Prepare a plate/bowl with ¼ cup breadcrumbs and generously dip each vegetable patty in it.
- In a nonstick large pan or a grill pan, over medium-high heat add enough vegetable oil (about 1-1 ½ inches).
- And once hot cook each patty until golden brown and crispy on both sides (about 5 minutes per side).
- You may need to do this in batches as the patties should be apart from each other to prevent sticking.
- Transfer to a large plate lined with a paper kitchen towel to remove the extra moisture and oil. Cover with aluminum foil while you finish cooking the rest of the patties.
- You should end up with a nice textured, crispy exterior firm burger. Unless you make them very thin, but in this case, there is a slight risk of them falling apart.
- Serve the vegetarian patties warm as a delicious side dish, with your favorite dipping sauce, or as a part of the main meal with a portion of rice, mashed potatoes, and gravy or white sauce.
NOTES
PRIVATE NOTES
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
Note: Nutrition information is estimated and varies based on products used.
Full Nutrition Disclaimer can be found here.
Roxanne Kiekhofer
They taste great but I put them in a skillet on the stove with olive oil & fried. Outsides crispy but they are still soft & ready to fall apart no matter how long u cook. Don't look anything like pic. Not sure putting them in the oven would make them any less sset. Wish they could be more harder all the way thru since the taste is very good.
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
hi Roxanne, what temperature did you use to cook these? Perhaps increasing the heat to medium-high would help. It is hard to tell what went wrong, have you measured out your ingredients? Did you wash and then dry the veggies properly? I will add this recipe to my priority list to make again and find more tips for you!