Let’s face it…who doesn’t love a good burger?! I love picking it up and taking that first massive bite with all the flavours mixing together and the inevitable drip of sauce dripping down your chin! It can be really difficult to find a decent veggie burger and then trying to make your own ones from scratch can be a huge faff as vegetables don’t bind together as well as meat so you have to get creative. Ciao Gusto – the Italian Deli on Ocado got in touch and asked if I’d like to try out their new range of vegetarian burgers from Italy’s leading frozen produce brand, Orogel. Full of grains, seeds and veggies they are super healthy and could be eaten alone, but where’s the fun in that? So I decided to bring together some of my favourite ingredients to make 5 AWESOME veggie burger recipes using the burgers from Orogel at the Ciao Gusto Italian Deli!

Blue Cheese Burger

Blue cheese is one of my favourite things…ever! So why wouldn’t I want to put it in a burger! So cook your Orogel burger of choice and then do the following;

1. Make a roux sauce by melting some butter, adding some plain flour and mixing to form a paste and then slowly adding milk whilst stirring until it makes a nice thick sauce.
2. Crumble in a good amount of strong blue cheese like a mature Stilton or gorgonzola and allow the sauce to just come to the boil and keep stirring to cook off the flour.
3. Pop your burger in it’s bun with the fillings of your choice, I like grilled mushrooms with this and then spoon over some of the blue cheese sauce before adding the bun lid… delicious!

Avocado & Red Pepper Burger

Avocado is so “on trend” right now but whether it is or it isn’t, I LOVE it so I had to make an Avocado Ciaoo Gusto Burger really and this one is super simple too!

1. Pre-heat an oven to 180 degrees and in an oven tray, add  some halved and deseeded red peppers with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and black pepper and roast until softened.
2. In a bowl, add your peeled avocado, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice and then mash it all together.
3. In a dry pan, grill some halloumi slices until it has that nice golden outer crust.
4. On the base of your bun put your roasted red pepper, then your Ciao Gusto burger, some sesame seeds, your sliced halloumi then your avocado smash before popping the lid on. So good you’ll be begging for another!!

Garlic & Spinach Burger

Probably the easiest of them all, and by far the healthiest as well, this is a really simple burger that is packed full of flavour and really compliments the Ciao Gusto burgers!

1. In a pan, put about a teaspoon of olive oil and add 2-5 crushed cloves of garlic, depending on how much you love your garlic, and fry for a few minutes.
2. Add the spinach to the pan and toss through the garlic and oil, wilting it down and finishing with a crack of salt and pepper.
3. On the base of the bun, add some fresh, uncooked spinach, your burger and then the cooked garlic and spinach on top with some sliced tomato before adding the bun lid. Fresh, delicious and full of flavour!

There you have it… 3 utterly delicious Veggie Burger recipes that take no more than 15 minutes thanks to the Ciao Gusto burgers and taste absolutely amazing.

Which one will you try?

*This is a collaborative post