As I believe I have mentioned in at least one previous review, my wife has recently gone on a vegetarian diet. While she’ll still make me the occasional meat dish just for me, I like to compromise by at least trying all the veggie things she eats. Some of the things have been pretty bad, but for the most part, I’ve been surprised with a lot of the meat substitutes that are available. I don’t think most of them taste anything like meat, but they’re good for what they are.
So when I saw Aldi offering Kale Veggie Burgers, I really wanted to give them a shot. They are offered in four-packs for $3.99, which in the realm of vegetarian meat substitutes, certainly isn’t bad at all (I had just tried some expensive local vegetable patties that tried too hard to be like meat; when I kept spitting up sunflower seeds because they felt like they should not have been there, that kind of ruined the whole experience for me). They seem to be about standard size for patties of this type–maybe around an inch thick, and ever-so-slightly wider than the hamburger buns I used.
They look and smell delicious, with all the vegetables clearly visible from inside the patty. Since these are predominantly made up of kale, the inside of the patty is mainly green, but you can still see corn, peppers, etc. The outside of the patty itself is dark, like charred meat; I’m assuming it might be the combination of rice and quinoa in the ingredients list, because I don’t see evidence of those anywhere else.
The taste lives up to the hype rather well: It’s a pretty light flavor, and again, it’s nothing at all like meat, but the blend of spices and vegetables come together really well. I felt like I detected some potato in there, which is used in some vegetarian burgers, but there’s none listed; instead it has some of the aforementioned peppers, and corn, and some added spices (such as garlic) for flavoring. It actually ends up tasting kind of sweet, which I liked. I cooked them up in the microwave, which is never the recommended prep method, and sure enough, the texture comes out really soft; I’m sure cooking them in the oven would lead to a crunchier patty if that‘s more your prerogative.
Overall: 7/10. As a meat eater that occasionally stumbles into the vegetarian world, courtesy of my wife, I have to say that these are pretty good. I don’t think they’re the best veggie burgers I’ve ever had, and they taste nothing like meat, but they have a delicious, almost sweet flavor thanks to the nine included vegetables and blend of spices. For $3.99, you get four patties, which shouldn’t break the bank for most people, and are decent-sized; they don’t fill me up, and function more as a snack, but one should probably be enough for the average person. Worth a try, for sure, regardless if you identify as vegan or not.
