--- title: How to Make the Perfect Veggie Burger: Engineers Found The Formula description: Om nom nom canonical: https://time.com/46988/perfect-veggie-burger/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-02T18:05:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:08:25.929Z og:title: Here's How to Make the Perfect Veggie Burger, According to Science og:description: Om nom nom og:url: https://time.com/46988/perfect-veggie-burger/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How to Make the Perfect Veggie Burger, According to Science twitter:description: Om nom nom twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Engineering Students Have Dedicated Their Brainpower To Creating the Perfect Veggie Burger by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Apr 2, 2014 6:05 PM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Apr 2, 2014 6:05 PM UTC It’s a truth commonly acknowledged by vegetarians everywhere that every time you buy a mass-produced meatless patty, you risk subjecting your taste buds to something that resembles chick pea infused tree bark. Things get more dire for vegans. And so a group of [engineering students from Lund University in Sweden](http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24890&news%5Fitem=6138) decided to find the formula for a perfect, additive-free vegan burger that could be both mass produced and distributed in a frozen form. [The end goal is to sell it ](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/10736902/Engineering-students-crack-secret-of-perfect-veggie-burger.html)to a distributor, because if you crack the veggie burger code, you’d have to be a monster to keep it a secret. “The first real problem was actually getting it to hold together,” one of the engineers said in a video explainer. They mastered the sticking formula (it took some potato starch manipulation) and tested various blanching methods to keep the cauliflower appropriately crunchy. This scientific masterly led to the birth of the “yellow beet chili burger,” made of yellow beets, potatoes, carrots, cauliflowers, fresh chili, lemon pepper, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and salt. Sounds almost as good as a real meat burger! [(H/t: _The Telegraph_ _)_](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/10736902/Engineering-students-crack-secret-of-perfect-veggie-burger.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/46988/perfect-veggie-burger/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/46988/perfect-veggie-burger/"},"headline":"Engineering Students Have Dedicated Their Brainpower To Creating the Perfect Veggie Burger","datePublished":"2014-04-02T18:05:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:08:25.929Z","description":"Om nom nom","url":"https://time.com/46988/perfect-veggie-burger/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink","Food","Science topic","Vegan","Vegetarian"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/46988/perfect-veggie-burger/","name":"Engineering Students Have Dedicated Their Brainpower To Creating the Perfect Veggie Burger"}}]}] ```