These are veggie burgers made of cooked quinoa, a baked potato, ground pumpkin seeds, cheese, spinach and spices. They're served with a mustard-yogurt sauce.
These quinoa potato patties are ready in less than 40 minutes if you need to cook up the quinoa, and only 20 minutes if you already have it on hand.
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Many veggie burgers are all about beans, often black beans, like these Spicy Bean Burgers with Mexican flavors. But I also like patties where veggies are the star, like these sweet potato cakes.
As in the sweet potato cakes, the protein in these quinoa potato patties comes from quinoa.
Eat them unadorned with a salad, in a bowl with other veggies, topped with a Mustard-Yogurt sauce (recipe included in the Recipe Card at the bottom), or even as a burger in these arepas !
🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
The secret to faster and easier meals often lies in the ingredients. Shortcut store-bought options and ingredients you can make ahead and save in the refrigerator can turn a dish that takes 60 (or more) minutes to make into a 30 minute meal or less.
For the all of the ingredients, measurements and directions, go to the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post.
- Quinoa - white quinoa is best in this recipe, not red quinoa.
- Russet potato - don't substitute Yukon potatoes. They won't have the right texture. A russet potato is more fluffy than the denser Yukon.
- Yellow onion
- Baby spinach - I use the pre-washed baby spinach that comes in the plastic cartons or plastic bags to make it a little easier.
- Pumpkin seeds (optional) - unsalted.
- Swiss cheese
- Orange juice - you don't need much, so it best to just squeeze it from an orange rather than buying a carton of orange juice.
- Dry mustard powder
- Nutmeg
- Egg
- Mustard - Yogurt Sauce (ingredients in the Recipe Card)
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products and foods I use in my kitchen. This means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. To view my entire storefront of recommended kitchen tools and equipment, check out my shop on Amazon.
🔪 Recommended Equipment
- Large pot - for cooking the quinoa.
- Chef's knife
- Large skillet
- Mini-chopper - if including the ground pumpkin seeds in the patties. (I use the one that comes with my immersion blender set.)
- Cheese grater
- Wooden spoon
- Metal spatula - for flipping the veggie burgers.
- Whisk - for making the sauce.
📝 Instructions Overview
Detailed instructions for making these quinoa potato patties are in the recipe card below, but here's a quick overview!
Step 1
Make the quinoa. If you don't already have cooked quinoa on hand, make it first. Drain any excess liquid, and add to a bowl.
Step 2
Bake the potato. Bake the potato using your favored method. I bake mine in the microwave oven because it's so quick. Scoop the potato out into the bowl with the quinoa.
Step 3
Sauté. Sauté the onion, and add it to the same bowl. Toss with the baby spinach to wilt the leaves.
Step 4
Make pumpkin seed meal. If you use this ingredient in the patties, grind the pumpkin seeds in a mini chopper to a fine meal. Add to the bowl, along with all of the remaining ingredients for the patties.
Go to this pumpkin seed meal post for more details on how to make this ingredient.
Step 5
Make veggie burgers. Mix all of the ingredients together with a wooden spoon, and form patties using your hands. Heat a little olive oil in a skillet and sauté the patties.
Step 6
Make the sauce. Whisk together all of the ingredients for the Mustard - Yogurt Sauce. Serve with the veggie burgers.
⏰ Tips to Simplify and Save Time
- Make the quinoa ahead of time, and store in a container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Don't have time to run to the grocery store? Order the ingredients for this recipe using Instacart (affiliate link). Just click on the Instacart button in the recipe card below, and the ingredients will all be organized for you on their site. Plug in your zip code, choose the store you prefer, and select the ingredients you want delivered to your home.
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Quinoa Potato and Spinach Patties
Ingredients
Quinoa Potato and Spinach Patties
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 1 large large russet potato baked until completely soft
- 4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil divided
- ½ medium onion finely diced (about 1 cup)
- 1 cup baby spinach leaves
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seed meal (optional)
- ⅓ cup grated Swiss cheese
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard powder
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 large egg whisked
Mustard Yogurt Sauce
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- Squeeze of lemon juice to taste
- Salt to taste
- Pinch cayenne optional
Instructions
Quinoa Potato and Spinach Patties
- Cook the quinoa if you don't have any on hand.
- Bake the potato until completely soft. I bake mine in the microwave oven: Scrub the potato with cold water, and puncture the potato a few times with a sharp knife or a fork. Wrap in a paper towel. Microwave on high for about 5 minutes, turn it, and microwave another 3 minutes. The exact timing depends on the size of the potato, and how powerful the microwave oven is. Gently squeeze the potato to check how soft it is.Slice the potato in half lengthwise, and scoop the baked potato out of the skins into a medium bowl.
- Warm 1 teaspoon of the olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold 5 patties, and add the finely diced onion. Sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer the onions to the bowl with the quinoa and potato.Stir in the baby spinach, and toss everything together to wilt the spinach.
- Using a mini-chopper, grind 3 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds to make pumpkin seed meal.
- Add 2 tablespoons of the pumpkin seed meal, cheese, orange juice, salt, dry mustard powder, nutmeg, and whisked egg to the potatoes and quinoa, and mix well. Form 5 patties.
- Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet over medium heat, and sauté the potato cakes until lightly browned, about 4 minutes per side.
- Serve warm, topped with the Mustard Yogurt Sauce.
Mustard Yogurt Sauce
- Whisk together all the ingredients with a fork until completely blended. Chill until read to serve.
LiztheChef
Such an original recipe - I wonder what would happen if I skipped the pumpkin meal and used flour, just because I have everything else on hand...
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks Liz! Any kind of breadcrumbs will do in this recipe. Pumpkin seed meal isn't nearly as fine as flour, and flour could make it kind of gummy.
Norma Chang
Adding orange juice to the mix that's a neat idea.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks Norma! I find that it brings a nice hint of caramelized fruit to the cakes that I really like. I do this with a lot of other dishes too - especially since we're still in citrus season.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks Suzanne! Chickpea flour could be a little fine (see my response to Liz's question. I'd go with breadcrumbs to be sure. I hope you try these little guys. They're really, really good.
California Callie
This is a nice idea!I wonder why that never occurred to me... Thank you for the suggestion..
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I hope you try it, California Callie! Thanks for stopping by.
HeathersCreativeConcoctions
Yum! Gruyere, quinoa, pumpkin seed flour?? Put my favorite things into a burger why don't you? Making this with sweet potatoes tomorrow- thank you!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I hope you like it as much as we did!! Using sweet potatoes will be quite a bit healthier too 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Heather.
Andrea
Very interesting recipe. Thanks, I will try it soon...:)
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks so much Andrea! I hope like them as much as we have!
sandyh
do you have any nutritional info on this dish? sounds very enticing!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I don't, but you ask a really good question. I'll post a great site to use for this. You insert the ingredients and ingredient amounts, hit the enter button and presto! You have all the nutritional information you could want. I've thought about doing it for all my recipes, but is a time consuming to do it every time. But I might reconsider that now.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I just redid the recipe and included a bunch of nutritional information on the dish! I hope that helps. Sorry for the delay in getting this to you!
sandyh
thanks for finding the nutritional info! what a great website that is ( Self Nutrition Data website)!!! i will have to scout around there for a while!
sandyh
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Great! I've searched through a few of them over the last few years, and I tend to like this one the best. I think they do a pretty good job on both a detail level and summarization. And they frequently update it for information. I'd put all my recipes through it but it's a pretty laborious process. I'm always looking for good sites like this if you run into any others too.
Joni
Looks delicious, wondered if I could use sweet potatoes instead?
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Absolutely! I think they would be great in this instead of the russets.
Joni
Thanks for replying...I'll be sure to try it with sweet potatoes since my daughter prefers them over russets.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
And frankly sweet potatoes are healthier. The yogurt sauce feels like it could still work, but I'd consider maybe a pinch of nutmeg in it instead of the cayenne. And maybe a little orange zest. I'm going to have to try these with sweet potatoes next 🙂 Would love to hear how they work for you.
Sam
How about almond flour? That's a similar (ish) texture to bread crumbs and I imagine similar to pumpkin seed meal?
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Almond flour is very similar in texture to the pumpkin seed meal, and is a great suggestion. We unfortunately are a nut-free family here with allergies, but I think it would work very well!
Colleen
Hi, looks delicious -- could you suggest something in place of the egg? Or perhaps try it without? Thanks!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
The egg is the glue that holds them together, and it provides some moisture. It's not so important in eating them, but in the saute/fry process, you don't want them falling apart as you flip them. So I would suggest either 1) eliminating the egg, browning them on either side quickly in a saute pan, then transferring them to a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F; or 2) use a vegan egg substitute. Common substitutes are 1/4 cup applesauce, soy yogurt, or silken tofu; or 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds mixed with 2 -3 tablespoons warm water. Among these choices, the applesauce might be my last choice unless I change out the white potatoes for sweet potatoes. I haven't actually made them this way, but it feels like to me that the other choices would work very well with the white potatoes. Or you could try it without the egg altogether and see what happens :-).
Marcia Wittmann
I made this dish yesterday, subbing a large yam for the russet potato and smoked mozzarella for the Swiss cheese (smoked gruyere or any smoked cheese would also be good). The patties have a softer texture than a typical veggie burger, and I might add more pumpkin seed meal next time to bind them more (plus, I love pumpkin seeds!) and perhaps more quinoa (I had some quinoa left over, which I pressed on the outside of the patties before sauteing). My yam was quite large, so that might have contributed to the looser texture. The interesting combination of ingredients really worked well, savory and satisfying. My husband and I agreed that this dish is a keeper, and the patties would also work well in a mini size as an appetizer.
Susan Pridmore
Thanks so much for your feedback on this recipe! It's one I haven't made in awhile. I'm going to remake them this weekend and get more specific about the measurements. I'm so happy you and your husband like the combination of flavors!
laura
These sound great!
I wonder if these could also be baked?
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I definitely think they could be baked. I haven't done them this way I admit, and you might want to brown them first with a quick 1 - 2 minute saute on each side. Otherwise bake them at 400 degree F to get a good browning. You'll notice I recommended 350 degree F oven to Colleen above. I recommended a lower temperature to her because she would be eliminating the egg that provides some moisture. If you keep the egg in, I'd move the heat up to 400.
Maria @ Box of Stolen Socks
Wonderful recipe! I am going to "Pin" it and definitely make it soon. I am a huge fun of quinoa but my husband cannot have eggs so I will try the egg-less version you mentioned above. Thank you.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
The consistency should not be too dry or crumbly. There should be some good moisture from the egg and from the steam of the cooked quinoa and potato. The egg and the potato should hold the patties together pretty well. I did not chop the spinach - it wilted from the warmth of the potato and cooked quinoa so that chopping wasn't needed. Were your ingredients at room temperature by any chance?
Alyssa | Queen of Quinoa
These look absolutely amazing! Any way to combine quinoa and spinach is a win in my book. Two powerhouse ingredients - in a dish that would be perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I love it!
And thanks for sharing this awesome recipe!
Patti Gobler
Sounds wonderful! I was wondering if flax seed meal might be a good substitute for the pumpkin seed meal??
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Flax seed meal is an excellent substitution! Enjoy!