The contrast in how these veggie burgers look on their packaging and then once prepared reminds me of the burger advertisements they used to play at the drive in theaters. The burger looked thick, juicy and delicious yet when you opened the wrapper it was usually thin, kind of dry from being over cooked and not so good. The expectation versus reality leaves you disappointed to say the least.
Here is a patty straight from the package to my skillet.
And here it is cooked.
Our spicy gourmet black bean veggie patty made with the finest blend of black beans, brown rice, savory onions, corn, fresh red bell peppers and Anaheim chilies with a touch of cilantro and garlic. Tex-Mex in true Gardenburger style.
I love peppers, especially hot peppers such as habanero. However, I like my peppers to compliment a dish and not over power it to where you cannot taste any of the other ingredients. If you really like a smoky chipotle pepper flavor, you will like these veggie burgers. If like me, you would like the peppers to compliment the other ingredients, you will be disappointed. The pepper flavor was too much of a good thing in my opinion. It was almost all I could taste except for a strong dose of onion too. Again, these should be complimentary flavors in my opinion, not the main thing you taste. As for heat, they had a little spice to them, actually I thought they were pretty mild, but bear in mind, I go through a couple bottles of habanero hot sauce each month. You might find them to be too spicy for your palette.
I am not going to let the remaining patties go to waste, but I am not going to make any sandwiches or wraps with them either. I believe I will chop them into small bite size pieces and add them to scrambled eggs or a bowl of beans in the future. They would also be good if added to a taco salad. Honestly, other than to use as a flavor enhancer in other dishes, I cannot recommend these to anyone for a sandwich.
Ingredients:
Cooked brown rice, onion, black beans, corn, water, red bell peppers, green chiles, soy fiber, soy protein concentrate, canola oil, onion juice concentrate, less than 2% soy protein isolate, salt, methylcellulose, spices, corn powder, sugar, onion powder, caramel color,dried red and green bell peppers, garlic powder, yeast extract, natural flavors, tomato powder, wheat gluten, citric acid
Seriously, Kelloggs who owns this brand, should immediately fire whoever came up with the recipe and those who signed off on it along with the ones responsible for the fake picture on the packaging.
Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Container 4
Serving Size 1 Burger (71 g)
| Amount Per Serving | ||
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 90 | |
| Amount/Serving | % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat | 3 g | 4% |
| Saturated Fat | 0 g | 0% |
| Trans Fat | 0 g | |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 0.5 g | |
| Monounsaturated Fat | 1.5 g | |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg | 0% |
| Sodium | 390 mg | 17% |
| Total Carbohydrate | 16 g | 6% |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g | 13% |
| Total Sugars | 3 g | |
| Includes 1g Added Sugars | 1 g | 2% |
| Protein | 5 g | |
| Vitamin D | 0 mcg | 0% |
| Calcium | 30 mg | 2% |
| Iron | 1.6 mg | 8% |
| Potassium | 160 mg | 2% |