Dan and Annie Shannon are a fun, artistic, food-loving, vegan couple on a mission to veganize the entire Betty Crocker Cookbook on their blog, MeetTheShannons.net. They’re hoping to disprove the myth that veganism is a limited lifestyle by showing people that anything can be vegan. They hope that veganizing the Betty Crocker Cookbook from cover to cover will make people more open to considering a compassionate lifestyle.
Here’s what Annie says about coming up with Vegan Double Taco Burgers: “Now I’m not sure if this is a recipe as much as combo trick. A few months ago, I was shopping with my friend Marta. We were checking out a new grocery store in Norfolk and found a series of skillet sauces created by Frontera and Top Chef Masters winner Rick Bayless… and heaven to Betsy,* one of them is vegan.”
Vegan Double Taco Burgers (like I said this isn’t really a recipe as much as a combination of awesome into super awesome)
Ingredients:
• 1 Package Your Favorite Vegan Burgers (we used Boca’s Vegan Burger but one day we’ll find some of these Gardein Burgers that we hear are amazing or make this again making our our own patties with Match Vegan Meats or Litelife’s Gimme Lean Beef – I think that could be freaking delicious)
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• Dash of Liquid Smoke
• 1 Package Frontera Key Lime Cilantro Taco Skillet Sauce (again make sure and read your labels to make sure you get the right one)
• 1 Tablespoons Daiya Vegan Chedder Cheese (shredded) per Burger Patty
• 1 Avocado (sliced)
• 1 Tablespoon Your Favorite Salsa or Pico de Gallo per Burger
• 1 Tablespoon Cilantro (diced) per Burger
• 2 Burger Buns (we got these huge sesame rolls at a bakery in Brooklyn but we usually use Whole Wheat Buns)
• Sliced Jalapenos (optional)
• 1 Lime
Directions:
In your beloved cast iron skillet, heat Olive Oil and Liquid Smoke on a medium heat. Once the Oil is warm, add your Vegan Burger Patties and cook them until they begin to brown and have crispy edges. Then add the Skillet Sauce. Cook the Burgers evenly in the Skillet Sauce until the sauce begins to cook down and coat the Burgers.
Heat oven at 300.
Put your Burger Buns in the oven to toast slightly.Remove when they are slightly golden brown.
Once your Burgers are evenly coated in Skillet Sauce and browned, put one Burger Patty on the bottom half of the toasted Burger Bun and then top with 1 Tablespoon of Daiya and then put another Burger Patty on top of the Daiya. Top the second Burger Patty with a little more Skillet Sauce and a Tablespoon of Daiya. You can toss on some sliced Jalapenos at this point if you like things hot. Put your Burger – including the top of the Burger Bun – back into the oven and bake for around 8 minutes or until the Daiya is melted.
Once your Daiya is melted, remove all your Burger parts from the oven. Add sliced Avocado, Salsa and Cilantro and eat!
I’d recommend paring with some tortilla chips (I mean you’ll have some salsa left over) and a tall glass of lemonade or iced tea… and maybe a cookie for dessert.