Chargrill style veggie burgers

ASDA has come out with a new range of vegetarian just-add-water mixes. The range includes burgers, sausages, falafel and nut roast.

When I first spied them in the store, I perused the ingredients list and noticed the presence of soy. It was not specified if this was genetically modified or not, so I called the ASDA help line on the back of the packet to enquire. Unfortunately, despite a 12-minute phone call at my expense, the customer “service” rep could not tell me if the soy was genetically modified or not. I asked if ASDA had a blanket policy on GM foods, but the rep was clueless on that as well. He took my contact details and promised a response within a couple of days, which (weeks later) I am still waiting for. Zero out of 10 for customer service on that one, ASDA!

We bought a couple of the packet mixes anyway, with the idea that we’d return them if it turned out they contained GM soy. After several days, and having received no response from ASDA, I searched the internet for the information. Turns out ASDA does have a GM-free policy, which applies to all of their own-brand food ingredients, but does not extend to  “the feeding of GM derived materials to livestock”. No GM worries for vegans, then!

Back to the food. The mixes sell for 78p, but are currently on offer at two for £1. Depending on the mix, they make from two to four servings each, so are really good value, and are a great idea when you’re pressed for time and want something quick and nutritious.

The first one in the range we tried was “Chargrill style meat free burger mix”, and we were not disappointed.

Preparation couldn’t be easier, as you simply add water to the dry mix and let stand for 10 minutes. You can then form the mixture into burgers. The directions called for making eight small burgers, but I made four “normal”-sized ones instead. I made the burgers using my burger press, but you can also form them by hand. They were then pan-fried until golden on each side. I fried two of the burgers; the remaining two were frozen uncooked for another meal.

I was pleased that the burgers held together nicely in the frypan. Both Mr Thrifty and I loved the savoury, delicious taste that was a bit reminiscent of fried onions.

When the time came to use the frozen burgers, I partially thawed them before frying, as I didn’t want them to overbrown before being hot inside. This worked beautifully, and were indistinguishable from the freshly-made burgers.

I highly recommend the new ASDA Chargrill style meat free burger mix as a quick, convenient, delicious and thrifty purchase. Reviews of other products in this range are forthcoming!

12 Comments

  1. I love these burgers too. I generally cook mine in the oven and serve them with fried onions. I (sort of )reviewed them here
    I have tried the sausages also but did not like them at all!

  2. I love this! I was looking for reviews of these products just this morning and had the nut roast for dinner. I didnt really enjoy it purely for the large peices of peanut in it, but it was tastey and even my meat eating boyfreind liked it.
    I will be buying more of these to try after such a good review!

  3. Carol — They would be great with fried onions. I see that you’ve successfully made them into meatballs as well, I am going to have to try that too.
    katie — I was really surprised at how tasty the burgers were; I wasn’t expecting that from a packet mix. I remember trying veggie burgers from a packet years ago and was not very impressed, but these were a hit.

  4. It’s so interesting to see what products are available in the UK..I don’t think we have this brand here. Looks delicious!

  5. I have never seen this brand before. I wonder if it is carried by Vegan Essentials? I will have to look because this sounds great!

  6. Hi CM — I don’t think Vegan Essentials would have it because it’s a supermarket’s own brand, so only available at that one specific supermarket (ASDA). The other products in that line are really good as well: nut roast, sausages and chicken-style bake.

  7. I pretty much live on these burgers – they’re gorgeous and a pleasant change from the usually tasteless ready or semi-made offerings in supermarkets. (I also like the sausages, but they give me serious indigestion. The falafel is good, the nut roast was disappointing.)

    I find the burgers are better still if you add garlic to the mix before the water. 🙂

  8. I tried this product today and was very pleasantly surprised, very tasty with a chargrilled & slight fried onion flavour, certainly no funny aftertaste like some dried soya products and it held very well together in the frying pan. In over 20 years as a vegetarian I have never had a good experience with dried soya based food but this is an exception. It will certainly be a lifesaver on week long camping trips when frozen or fresh meat free substitutes are no-no, I might even use it at home. With fried onions and ketchup in a bun these burgers were delicious! I would say the packet makes 4-5 quarter pounder sized burgers, it says 8 on the packet but these would be quite small burgers I think. Well done Asda!

  9. Enjoyed these for the last few years, but it seems Asda now no longer carry them.

    • The Granose Brand have the same sort of thing it’s a Chargrill Burger Mix which is also delicious!
      Look out for them too.

  10. I have had a similar product to these which are almost the same – Granose Chargrilled Meat Free Burger Mix. These are really tasty too – you should try them if you can’t get the others in Asda anymore.

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