Mash Direct Vegetable Burgers – review

Although I do eat meat I'm certainly not someone who demands meat at every meal. I really do like vegetarian food and often when eating out and left to my own choices I will opt for a vegetarian dish. I'm rather partial to vegetable burgers and I often order one when visiting a certain national pub chain. In fact I don't think I have ever tried their beef or chicken burgers. My liking of vegetable burgers is based on the fact that they must be made up of actual vegetables rather than some strange concoction trying to imitate meat.

When buying vegetable burgers in the supermarket most of them will be found in the frozen section. One producer I have come across recently is Mash Direct. Based in Northern Ireland Mash Direct are a family company using the vegetables and produce from their own farms. Not only do they have a wide range of vegetable based dishes in their product list but they are all gluten free. I have to admit I was surprised when I saw the gluten free label on the packaging since when you see a crispy crumb coating I automatically think breadcrumbs. The crumb coating is made up of rice flour, gram flour, maize starch, salt and dextrose.

Other potential nasty allergens which can often be found in vegetable burgers are yeast, mustard and nuts. These are all absent from these Mash Direct burgers. The packaging does state they may contain egg and milk which is why they are vegetarian but not vegan. In terms of vegetables they are mix of potatoes, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, cabbage, parsnip, spring onion with the herbs of parsley, sage and thyme.

There are various cooking methods which can be used for these vegetable burgers. Mash Direct are obviously hopeful for a good summer through promoting them to be good on a barbecue. Sadly the weather hasn't been good enough recently for us to get the barbie out so we oven cooked them. As the packaging states it does say these are vegetable burgers with cabbage and once plated up you can certainly smell the tang of the cabbage. I thought this would mean that it would overwhelm the taste but in fact it didn't. I will say if you don't like green vegetables these are probably not for you. Some vegetable burgers I have tried have their vegetable taste masked by the inclusion of curry power or other spices but these are purely vegetable based. The texture is quite moist inside rather firm. We had them on a plate to eat with a knife and fork and I did wonder if other cooking methods would make them slightly drier or firmer.

If you're looking for vegetarian alternative to meat burgers this summer certainly look out for the Mash Direct range. They are available from a number of major supermarkets plus independent local stockists.

We were sent the Mash Direct Vegetable Burgers for review purposes. All words, opinions and photographs are my own.