Don’t be put off by the number of steps this recipe requires when you get to the Eat Live Run website. These burgers are completely worth the effort. To make it even more worth your time, make a double batch and freeze a few. Also, I use pre-cooked beets found in the produce section to save time.

Now that that’s out of the way, this is why I’m recommending this recipe.

I first had this burger 10 years ago. I was in a heavy traveling phase of my life, and I frequented San Francisco a lot. On one of those journeys, I ordered The Plant Burger from The Plant Café Organic during a layover at SFO. I’m still not sure why I chose this particular item, but I did and thank goodness for that. It has been a decade and I’m still fawning over this burger. It’s that good.

Years after trying it for the first time, I’d daydream about this burger and living in Las Vegas instead of San Francisco wasn’t really conducive to satisfying this particular craving. I Googled it and came up with Eat Live Run’s version, which you can get here. I’ve made this recipe several times now, and it really is delicious. Jenna did a great job of replicating the recipe and thankfully, she decided to share her hard work with the world. It’s also vegan if you use vegan cheese and get a vegan bun.

The Plant has five locations in the Bay area, so I encourage you to try the real thing if you can. Until then, live a little and make the at-home version with the recipe provided by Jenna at Eat Live Run. She’s pretty much nailed the at-home version and it satisfies the craving until I’m in San Francisco again. If you need more of a reason or are a big meat eater and think this meal isn’t for you, think again. My husband is a self-avowed carnivore and asks me to make these. Repeatedly.

If you do make them, tell me so we can fawn over them together and plan our next trip to the Bay area to get them from The Plant.

Laura