Vegan Burger Buns
These Vegan Burger Buns are far superior to anything you can get at the store! A great crust and chew but are still soft and squishy!
Up until I’ve made these buns I’ve always bought store-bought buns. And while store-bought buns are obviously way more convenient, I do proclaim that these buns are worth the effort! In fact, I don’t know how I’ll go back to those crappy store-bought buns again!
These buns have a great crust and chew, but are still soft and squishy. They are very similar to a Brioche Bun and remind me of something you’d get a fancy pub! The good news is they are pretty easy to make! This recipe is just a vegan adaptation of THIS RECIPE by King Arthur.
It’s a fairly standard recipe. Mix flour, yeast, salt, sugar with some lukewarm water, eggs and butter. Then let that rise for an hour. Form it into bun shaped balls and let those rise for another hour. Then brush with an egg wash and bake for about 15 minutes. Brush with some melted butter and VOILA! Super delicious home made buns!
Of course since these are vegan we won’t be using eggs or butter, so let’s make a couple of swaps!
How to make Burger Buns vegan
All we need to do to make these Burger Buns Vegan is to swap out a couple of ingredients. The egg will be replaced with some good old aquafaba, aka the liquid in a can of chickpeas. We just need 3 Tbsp of it to replace 1 egg. I’ve made these with flax eggs as well, and they are good, but I prefer the aquafaba personally.
I haven’t tested these with using Just Egg, but I can’t imagine any reason why that wouldn’t work. I’ll run some tests and update the post ASAP!
What’s the best Vegan Egg Wash?
I tried out a few options and found that using aquafaba or some Just Egg mixed with either plant milk or aquafaba work the best. For the aquafaba, you don’t need to dilute it in anything, and don’t worry, you won’t taste it either!
For the Just Egg, you really need to dilute it in something as it’s too thick on its own. I found that the buns brushed with only Just Egg resulted in streaks since the Just Egg is so thick it won’t evenly disperse. Try either a 2:1 ratio with plant milk (so 2 Tbsp of plant milk for every 1 Tbsp of Just Egg) or a 3:1 if using aquafaba (so 3 Tbsp of aquafaba for every 1 Tbsp of Just Egg). Personally I got the best results with the aquafaba and Just Egg blend, but all three work great.
The Vegan Egg Wash will help you get a shiny bun, but to get it even shinier, brush it with some melted vegan butter right after you pull them out of the oven. This is optional of course, but butter does make everything BETTER!
how to make and form vegan burger buns
Here’s a few step photos. These are taken from my YouTube Video which is much more thorough, so check that out below!
First mix everything together. I prefer a stand mixer but you can do this by hand with a bowl and spatula and then knead with your hands. Not sure how long if you do it by hand, but the stand mixer takes about 8 minutes.
Once your dough ball is slightly firm but not hard it’s good. It should still be soft and supple, but hold it’s shape. If you press down on it with your finger, it should spring back up.
Let the dough rest in a greased bowl covered in greased saran wrap or a clean towel for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Punch it down to degas it, then add it to a lightly floured work surface and flatten it and shape it into a circle.
Then cut it into 8 equal pieces. They should be about 90 – 100 grams each.
Next form them into balls by tucking the corners underneath and pinching to create tension (this is much better explained in the video!)
Then roll the ball on the cutting board in between your thumb and fingers. Keep the ball in constant contact wit the cutting board as your rotate it to close up the seam and create tension. Repeat with each piece of dough and then place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Smoosh each ball down into a disk. Cover with another baking sheet or clean towel and let them proof and rise for about 1 hour.
Brush them with vegan egg wash and then bake at 375 F for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.
Brush with vegan butter if desired and let them cool on a wire rack and enjoy!
storage
Store these in an airtight container at room temp for 2-3 days. I found that they are still pretty good the next day. However, they get less fresh exponentially after that. By the 4th day they are noticeably stale, so try to eat them before then. I haven’t tried freezing them, but I don’t see any reason why that wouldn’t work to keep them longer!
handy dandy video here
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Vegan Burger Buns
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour (420g I recommend weighing)
- 1/4 cup Sugar
- 1 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Instant Yeast
- 3 Tbsp Aquafaba
- 2 Tbsp Softened Vegan Butter
- 3/4 – 1 cup Lukewarm Water
- 1-2 Tbsp Melted Vegan Butter (optional for brushing)
Vegan Egg Wash (option 1)
- 3 Tbsp Aquafaba
Vegan Egg Wash (option 2)
- 3 Tbsp Aquafaba
- 1 Tbsp Just Egg
Vegan Egg Wash (option 3)
- 1 Tbsp Just Egg
- 2 Tbsp Plant Milk (unsweetened)
Instructions
- I recommend weighing the flour, but if you don't have a scale you can just carefully spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level off the excess. Add the flour, sugar, salt and yeast to a bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk to incorporate.
- Make a well and then pour in the lukewarm water (it should be about 110 F degrees). Start off with 3/4 cup and use more as needed.
- Add the aquafaba and then gently fold everything together with a spatula.
- Add the bowl to a stand mixer with the bread hook attachment. Mix on Speed 2 for 1-2 minutes and then add in the vegan butter.
- Let the machine knead the dough for about 6-8 minutes or until a firm but smooth, soft and supple dough ball is formed. It shouldn't be sticky and should hold it's shape.
- Add the dough ball to a greased bowl and cover with greased saran wrap or a clean towel. Let it proof and rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size. I usually do mine in the oven with the light turned on.
- Once doubled, punch it down and degas it. Then dump it out onto a floured work surface. Flatten it more and degas it. Then cut it into 8 pieces. They should be about 90 – 100 grams each.
- To form the pieces into balls, tuck each corner under itself and pull the edges to form it into a ball. Then rotate the ball in between your thumb and finger. Keep it in constant contact with the cutting board / work surface. Keep rotating the ball to create tension and to close the seam up on the bottom.
- Add it to a parchment lined baking sheet and flatten the ball out with the palm of your hand. Repeat with the rest of the dough and then cover them with another sheet tray or clean towel to second proof for about 45 mins – 1 hour.
- After they have puffed up, brush them with the vegan egg wash of your choice. Then bake in an oven preheated to 375 F for 15 – 18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and brush with some melted vegan butter if you wish. Let them cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then dig in!
After a failed attempt to bake my own buns ten years ago, I’ve stuck to the store bought stuff. While it’s easy to find basic vegan burger buns, accidentally vegan brioche buns (or other fancy options) are not available where I live. This recipe convinced me to give baking another try, and I’m happy to report that my burger buns turned out fantastic! I sprinkled sesame seeds on top of the aquafaba eggwash and they did stick perfectly to the bread. Thank you very much for the recipe!
Awesome! Yeah I tried a few recipes with less than stellar results a while back, so I’m glad this one worked out for you too! I need to do sesame seeds for a Fuddrucker’s burger!
WOW! All I cna say is WOW! I’ve been making my own burger buns for years and I can say that every one of those recipes pales in comparison to these! These buns are what all buns want to be. I’m in love 😍
Yay! Glad we got you an upgrade!
Me again 🙂 I have made these buns multiple times now and want to add that they freeze perfectly. It’s really convenient to have a batch of them in the freezer that you can use anytime you want a tasty burger. Freeze them right when they’re cooled, and they taste fresh after thawing
That’s awesome, I need to make and freeze some too, what a great idea!
Has anyone tried this recipe with Gluten Free Flour? I am a big fan of King Arthur’s 1:1 GF Flour.
You would want to use the gluten free BREAD flour since this is a yeasted dough. It’s a new product from King Arthur Flour and they are usually on point! The 1:1 is better for non yeasted baked goods like cakes and cookies.
Very good – but you forgot to add sesame seeds on the top! 🙂
I am vegetarian but not strictly vegan and I make burger buns every week. I have a quick recipe that takes < 45 min but the "beautiful burger bun" is my favorite.
Coconut oil also works as a 1:1 substitute for the butter – I've made the KAF cinnamon rolls using coconut oil and coconut milk and could barely tell the difference. Highly recommended!
Thanks so much for this recipe! I decided to treat myself to homemade burger buns because I had a great burger at a local vegan restaurant recently and realized how important a fresh bun is to the whole burger experience!
This recipe was very easy to follow and yielded amazing results. I topped them with sesame and poppy seeds. They were well enjoyed by the whole family and also worked very well for sandwiches for the next couple of days. This was also my first time using aquafaba as an egg wash, and it will definitely be my go-to from now on!
Awesome! Yeah, I really love these homemade buns, I wish we had some at the store that were this good! Glad you dug it!
Can you substitute almond flour?
I’m not sure as I’ve never tried that!
In my attempts to lower plastic consumption I try to make as many of my own bread products as possible. These were so easy to make and very easy to eat. I had no canned chickpeas on hand so I used Just Egg in place of it (and also in the egg wash). These will be my go to hamburger buns!
Heck yes, glad you liked em!! Thank you!
A great slider bun needs to be super squishy. This was the ticket! Made about 30 buns from this recipe – beautiful dough. I glazed them with maple syrup for a really nice shine, sprinkle of seeds. Proofed btw 90˚-100˚. Going to slice them in half, then freeze. Thank you so much!
Phenomenal. I was worried that my dough was still too sticky before the first rise, but I didn’t want to add even more flour than I already had, or mix it anymore and have it be too tough. It was perfect and no longer sticky after it rose. After baking they were perfectly soft and bouncy. 100% worth the effort. I sprinkled on some sesame seeds after brushing with butter and they stuck pretty well. Thank you for the recipe 🙏
Glad it worked out! Thank you!
Currently smashing burger on one of these f*@king awesome buns!!! Best buns!
Nice, so glad you like them, thank you!
Oh man, these turned out so badly for me that I assumed I missed an important ingredient. I didn’t. They didn’t rise and were flat, doughy and pale white despite using the aquafaba wash.
Hmmm, that’s a bummer to hear, I’m sorry, I haven’t experienced anything like that. It could be that your yeast had expired, you can proof it with some water and sugar to make sure it’s still good! Again, sorry to hear they didn’t work out!
hey zo i dont have any aquafaba on hand but i do have a vegan powdered egg replacer meant for baking. can i replace the aquafaba for 3tbsp of that?? was that the purpose of the aquafaba? cheers
Hi yes that should work, but I’ve never tested it so I can’t say for sure, but I would think it should be fine, thanks!
These are fantastic! Tastes better than most non-vegan buns.
I did not want to use aquafaba, so I subbed a mixture of 1.5 TBSP water + 1.5 TBSP vegetable oil + 1 TSP baking powder to replace it in the dough. I used unsweetened soy milk as my egg wash. Highly recommend!
Oh nice, glad that substitute worked out! Thank you!!
Hi there! I love the idea of this recipe but I’d like to watch the video you mention. The problem is, that there is no link for me to go to it. I see where you say “handy dandy video here” but there is no link, at least in my browser which is Firefox. Do you mind updating this so I can watch?
Oh, it shows up for me, but if you have an adblocker it won’t show up. You can also see it on YouTube if you search “thee burger dude vegan burger buns” thanks!
I bought a stand mixer to start baking more, and my first attempt at buns (submarine buns) turned into rock hard logs. Tried this recipe today, and it worked so well. I am shoving an impossible burger on a fresh bun into my face hole as I type this.
Oh nice, glad these worked out better than those sub buns!! Thank you!!
brillant! the wait time – 1 hour rise and another for the buns/hotdog shape gave me pause but definitely worth the wait. Delicious! never going back to shop ones!
Glad it was worth the wait, thank you!
Glad to see that you’re keeping your buns vegan. Many vegans use regular store-bought buns thinking that because they don’t have dairy, eggs or honey that they are vegan. But I’ve learned that there are additives to most store buns that are animal derived. Things like enzymes, dough conditioners and such – I have now made a list of them to carry with me when I’m shopping for breads to make sure I’m staying with the plan.
Omg, these are awesome! I realized I only had active yeast, so I mixed the water, sugar, and yeast right away to proof it. Worked out fine! So soft and fluffy. YUMMM!
Oh nice, glad it worked out still, thank you!!
This recipe has been my go-to burger bun recipe for over a year now, I probably make it multiple times a month because we love burgers and it is so much better than store bought. At some point I also realised that it’s basically just fluffy sweet bread… So I started adding chocolate to it, for some easy to make and absolutely perfect chocolate buns. If you haven’t tried that yet, do it! It’s literally the best chocolate buns I’ve had in my life 😀
Oh nice, I should try that, I wanted to make them into garlic butter dinner rolls but still haven’t yet, thank you!