You mean vegetarian burgers can be Paleo too?
That’s right. Vegetarian burgers aren’t usually Paleo. They tend to be made of tofu, more than anything else, which is neither Paleo nor appetizing. Instead, you can whip up a batch of these Paleo Apple Meatless Vegetarian Burgers when you’re looking for a healthy alternative to your ground beef patty.
What Are Apple Burgers?
Well to explain that let me go back a little to how these came about. We recently started using a new app called Periscope to broadcast live from the Paleo Porn kitchen.
I was making all things zucchini and made these Apple Burgers on Periscope. If you download the app, you can follow us (screen name: PaleoPorn) and get notified every time we go live! The recording will only be available after we finish broadcasting for 24 hours.
Pancakes or Burgers? You Decide
I made Paleo Zucchini bread and remade my Zucchini Apple Paleo Muffins, so we could reshoot them and update the photos and I had some leftover chopped apples, so I decided to make Apple Paleo Pancakes.
I used plantain flour so I could make a nut free pancake and because I wanted them to be mostly apple (hint: real food based!) instead of all flour with a little apple scattered on top. But that meant the batter wasn’t very liquid-y and had to be molded into pancakes by hand.
So I called them burgers because they look more like burgers than pancakes and also because you really have to mold them with your hands to shape them properly.
These pancake/burgers make for a hardy meal regardless of whether you have them for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Refined Sugar and Sweetener Free Paleo Pancakes
I didn’t use any sweeteners to make these bad boys so if you’re currently reducing your sugar content or you’re starting the 21 Day Sugar Detox these are fair game!
You can prepare a fairly simple Paleo breakfast by topping them off with a drizzle of maple syrup or spread some homemade or stone-ground mustard on top (we enjoyed both!). Or you can even use them as a bread-like source to make a sandwich out of them.
You definitely get the taste of apple, which is what I was going for, but when you don’t use any sweeteners they don’t become super sweet which is why they’re so versatile and you can mold the flavors how you’d like.
Resistant Starch and Carb Conscious
The plantain flour that holds it all together gives this recipe a pretty high carb content. The eggs act as a binder and also provide enough fat and protein to mitigate the effects of the carbs.
Despite being high in carbohydrates, plantain flour is also rich in resistant starch, a type of prebiotic that feeds the beneficial bacteria in our guts. Resistant starch helps keep blood sugar low, even in the presence of carbs.
In the end, these patties can be whatever you want them to be. You can eat them like pancakes first thing in the day or you can serve them to your vegetarian friends at your next get together. You can even eat them as dessert after a big juicy protein-filled burger.
