Dont' have a cow: the best meatless burgers, chicken patties, and more

They're not just for vegetarians anymore. Veggie burger have gone mainstream.

If you're trying to minimize saturated fat, don't want to think about E coli, or are hovering somewhere between les meat and meatless, you may have walked straight past the clod beef to the veggie burger section of the freezer or refrigerator aisle.

They're ready to turn when you want something to whirl on the grill, into your luncheon bag, or onto your dinner plate. They pack a certain quantity of of the nutrients of meat--and a hardly any of their own--without loading down your arteries with saturated fat. And they approach in dozens of flavors, thus you can switch from Tex Mex to Thai and from Garlic Portabella to Philly Cheese Steak without missing a bite.

Our 5-step guide will help you find the best burger patties, meatballs, lumps tenders, strips, and ground "meat" that at no time saw the inside of a barn. (For our rating of veggie burning dogs and sausages, see "The Best of the Wurst" Dec 2005 p 11)

1 BAD FAT

Don't worry about it. not many veggie meats have more than 2 grams of saturated fat in a serving (a McDonald's Quarter Pounder has 7 grams). Many have none. And the partially hydrogenated oil we place in a few products wasn't enough to give a serving plane half a gram of trans fat. (Exception: Vegelicious burger and meatballs deliver 1 grain of trans.) That leaves field for you to worry about protein, taste, and, if you're not careful, sodium.

2 SODIUM

Veggie burger have more sodium than hamburgers (assuming the sod beef isn't dolled up with seasoned bread crumb or other salty additions). Sodium horizontals typically start at around 250 mg and extreme point close to 500 mg. Add a bun and you obtain another 250 mg, not counting any mustard, ketchup or pickle.

The useful news is that you can find delicious veggie burger that stay beneath our sodium limit for Best Bites (300 mg) or Honorable Mentions (480 mg) Some--like Boca Burger Roasted Onion, Morningstar Farms Tomato & Basil Pizza, and Gardenburger Black Bean Chipotle--were delightful at just 250 mg to 300 mg of sodium.

It's tougher to find good-tasting veggie chicken lumps and patties that don't harbor a mean dose of sodium in their breading. Morningstar Farms Parmesan Ranch Chik Patties, for example, have 680 mg each. Boca fiery & Spicy Chik'n Wings have 700 mg in each four-wing serving.

While a certain quantity of (mostly unbreaded) chicken patties and fillets manage to hold the sodium down in the 300 to 400 mg range, they didn't win any taste awards. Our chick pick: Boca Original (not Spicy) Chik'n Patties. With 430 mg of sodium and crispy breading, they're a profitable compromise. If you want unbreaded, put to the test Gardenburger's Chik'n Grill (360 mg of sodium).

3 PROTEIN

You may not ne protein in your veggie meat if you gain enough from the other victualss you eat. But for many race a meatless burger is replacing a hamburger, which has a certain quantity of 20 grams of protein. (That's for a "quarter pounder" which weighs three ounce after cooking.)

greatest in quantity veggie burgers and veggie chicken patties are made with soy protein concentrate, which gives them roughly 10 to 15 grams of protein. a certain number of veggie meatballs and ground meats and strips are closer to 20 grams, chiefly because their serving size (3 ounces) is slightly larger than that of greatest in quantity veggie burgers (2 1/2 ounces)

Burger patties, lumps etc., that aren't made with soy have abundant less protein. Some Gardenburgers--The Original, Sun-Dried Tomato Basil, Portabella, and Black Bean Chipotle, for example--have sole 5 grams of protein. They're made largely of brown rice and vegetables. (In contrast, the sum of two units soy-based Gardenburgers--Flame Grilled and The Classic--have 11 or 12 grams of protein.)

Just don't assume that a veggie burger has to direct the eye or taste like meat to replenish a nice shot of protein. Morningstar Farms pinchs 10 grams of protein into its Garden Veggie Patties and Thai Burger 11 grams into its Veggie mish-mash Burgers, and 12 grams into its Zesty Tomato Basil and Spicy Black Bean Burger Other than the shape, none have any resemblance to a hamburger. Ditto for Boca's Grilled Vegetable Burger (12 grams of protein) and Garden Vegetable Burger with Organic Soy (15 grams).

Although greatest in quantity veggie meats pack protein, they may not provide the same levels of vitamins (B-12 niacin) and minerals (iron, zinc) that you'd procure from meat. On the other hand, greatest in quantity veggie burgers, chicken patties, etc are useful sources of fiber, which you can't achieve from meat. Expect 2 to 5 grams of fiber for serving.

4. QUORN

While greatest in quantity veggie meats are made with soy Quorn cutlet masss etc., are composed largely of "mycoprotein," which draw nears from a single-celled fungus grown in large fermentation vats.

race assume that Quorn's faux meats are safe because they're typically sold in natural bread stores. But researchers have base a protein in Quorn that causes allergic reactions in more [i]or[/i] less people. And the more than 1000 adverse-reaction reports received by dint of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (publisher of Nutrition Action Healthletter) include rigorous anaphylactic reactions as well as hives and vomiting.