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Veggie burgers have been around for decades, but it's only recently that they started to… bleed. You've probably spotted these bleeding plant-based burgers at restaurants (these days, there’s even an Impossible Whopper on the menu at Burger King), but chances are, a few new brands of meatless burgers have finally landed in your local grocery store, too.
Access to these new brands means our idea of what a plant-based burger even is is changing. Today’s meatless burger options go far beyond your traditional mushroom or black bean or lentil patty. They’re heartier, juicier, and um, meatier than their predecessors—or at least they strive to be.
So unlike our last veggie burger taste test, this time we focused on the new lineup of imitation meats that tout, at times, uncanny beef-like qualities. We sampled 12 varieties of faux meat to find the best option for burgers, chili, tacos, and whatever else you’d use ground beef for. Some brands were dense, dry, and reminiscent of old-school soy patties. A few tasted undeniably like elementary school cafeteria burgers. And our favorite, the Impossible Burger, almost hit the nail on the head. If you’re looking for a meat-like meatless burger, keep scrolling to read our testing methodology and why Impossible earned the top spot.
The Best Plant-Based Meat: Impossible Burger
One word, two syllables: beefy. The Impossible Burger won the faux-beef competition almost unanimously. The package of raw Impossible meat resembled real raw ground beef, complete with bright red "blood" and little white particles of fat. The raw material was a little mushy and greasy; shaping it into patties felt similar to handling any ground meat. This brand was also the most beef-like in the way that it cooked—fat excreted from the patties, which sizzled and seared nicely along the edges. The center of the patties remained pretty moist, while the outsides became slightly crumbly.
In the blind tasting, the Epi staff was pretty impressed with the Impossible Burger’s flavor, noting that it was “fatty, savory, and meaty.” The product was nicely seasoned straight out of the package and had a whiff of smokiness that paired well with its umami-rich, slightly gamey flavor. Impossible credits this quality to the use of heme, an iron-containing compound that’s found in meat (and is responsible for the metallic tang of blood). They’ve concocted a man-made version by inserting soybean plant DNA into a genetically engineered yeast that can ferment to produce the molecule. After one bite, one tester said, “This is straight-up beef!” (While some tasters found it a bit odd, it did make matters even beefier that gristle-like nubbins were laced throughout the meat, as well.) You’ll find Impossible Burger at grocery stores in 12-ounce portions, which allows you to form patties of your preferred thickness. (Or use it for other dishes.)
The Runner-Up: Beyond Burger
The Beyond Burger came in at a close second in our taste test. It was also the only other brand that “bled” (thanks to beet juice, this time). Like the Impossible Burger, the Beyond Burger browned nicely and remained pleasantly moist in the center. The most appealing aspect of this burger was its texture—meaty, but not too meaty. Testers liked it for its bouncy chew and outer crust, saying “it’s tasty with a nice level of salty juiciness.” These burgers were arguably the best-seasoned, but their intense smoky flavor was divisive—a few testers were into it, while others deemed it too artificial-tasting. And although testers agreed it was certainly meat-like, many felt it was equivalent to a mediocre cookout burger at best.
What We Were Looking For
In an effort to find the best option for beef-like plant-based ground beef, we asked ourselves two questions: First, does this taste remotely like real ground beef? And second, is it delicious enough to swap in for the real deal? While some of the meat brands we tried were dry and aggressively-seasoned (tasting more like chorizo than all-purpose ground beef), the best meatless meats were succulent, fatty, and perfectly salty. Additionally, we assessed the products’ overall texture and how well it charred, ruling out any options that were mushy or too dense.
How We Tested
We cooked each plant-based burger patty and loose ground beef product in a lightly-oiled cast iron skillet as directed by the packaging instructions. No salt or seasoning was added to the samples. The products were tasted blind by a panel of Epicurious editors and staff in no particular order.
Other Plant-Based Meats We Tasted
- Lightlife Burger
- Pure Farmland Burgers
- Uncut Burger
- Sweet Earth Awesome Burger
- Abbot's Butcher Ground Beef
- Lightlife Ground
- Pure Farmland Protein Starters
- Uncut Ground
- Sweet Earth Awesome Ground
