Meatless Mondays are easier than ever thanks to the bevy of look-alike burgers in your supermarket that feature zero meat. Yep, I'm talking about Beyond Meat and similar companies producing plant-based burgers, which are still very much on the rise.
After years on the market and a solid IPO showing, Beyond Burgers are available in more places than ever these days. You can throw some in your cart on your next Target run or click Buy Now from Amazon Prime Fresh. Plus, Carl’s Jr., Bareburger, and Just Salad are among the many fast-food chains with delish Beyond Meat options on their menus.
Beyond Burgers have a lot going for them—and they meet a legitimate need, says nutritionist Vanessa Rissetto, RD, co-founder of Culina Health. “People want to be more plant-based, but also want quick and easy,” she says. “It's easier to throw a fake burger in a pan and cook it up than to get creative with beans and tofu.”
That said, though, there are some very real pros and cons to consider before diving in. “These ‘meat’ products have potential to be healthier than regular animal meat because they can be engineered to contain more protein, essential amino acids, and vitamins while reducing the amount of saturated fat and minimizing the chance of animal-borne illnesses, such as salmonella and E.coli,” Rissetto says.
But faux-meat products like Beyond Burger aren’t perfect. “They’re highly-processed foods and typically are high in sodium, which could be a problem for people with high blood pressure,” she adds.
Want the full rundown before taking a bite? I've got you covered.
What is the Beyond Burger, exactly?
It may look like raw meat in the package and cook up all juicy to "medium-rare" perfection, but this trendy burger is actually totally plant-based. The company says on their website that they wanted to make a burger that “looks, cooks, and tastes” like a beef burger but without the environmental and health problems that can come from red meat. With beets as one of the ingredients, it even changes color as you cook it, to mimic the bloodiness of beef.
What is the Beyond Burger made of?
What else is in the beef doppelganger? Beyond Meat says it sources all the building blocks of meat (protein, fat, minerals, carbs, and water) from plants.
The brand recently updated their formula, for what they claim to be an even "meatier" flavor and texture than the original product, according to a press release. Their goal: to create "marbling designed to melt and tenderize like traditional ground beef."
Here’s the full Beyond Burger ingredients list: water, pea protein, expeller-pressed canola oil, refined coconut oil, rice protein, natural flavors, cocoa butter, mung bean protein, methylcellulose, potato starch, apple extract, pomegranate extract, salt, potassium chloride, vinegar, lemon juice concentrate, sunflower lecithin, beet juice extract.
The protein in this new formulation comes from peas, mung beans, and brown rice—which create a complete protein, or a protein that has all nine essential amino acids. This is significant, because few plant proteins are complete on their own. (Complete proteins include eggs, cheese, and fish.) But this clever combo pairs two incomplete proteins (rice and beans) together to create a complete one.
Cocoa butter, coconut oil, sunflower oil, and canola oil provide the fats. (The cocoa butter and coconut oil, specifically, add marbling and a satisfying pan sizzle.)
Curious about that beet juice extract? It's there to mimic the bloodiness of beef.
Note that there are no actual vegetables present, unlike other veggie burgers on the market. It's also worth noting, though, that these patties are one of the only plant-based burgers made without genetically modified organisms, soy, or gluten.
How is the Beyond Burger made?
Beyond Brands won't reveal exactly how they create their products (fair). But the company site does offer up some info online about how the Beyond Burger is made: “We use a simple process of heating, cooling, and pressure to create the fibrous texture of meat and layer in plant-based fats, binders, flavors, and colors.” A little cryptic.
So, can you eat Beyond Burgers raw?
Technically, Beyond Burgers don't contain anything that could be harmful if consumed straight out of the package. "As far as I can tell from looking at the list of ingredients, it appears that these would be safe to eat raw," says nutritionist Keri Gans, RD. "But I'm honestly not sure why anyone would want to."
Still, the company recommends cooking your Beyond Burgers—and refrigerating 'em until you’re ready to cook, since they ~are~ perishable.
Is the Beyond Burger actually healthier than a beef burger?
Per four-ounce uncooked Beyond Burger patty, you’ll get:
- Calories: 270
- Fat: 20 g (6 g saturated fat)
- Sodium: 380 mg
- Carbohydrates: 5 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Sugars: 0 g
- Protein: 20 g
As for other highlights, the Beyond Burger packs in 30 percent of your daily iron quota and an impressive amount of phosphorus (which is found in your bones and teeth), along with some vitamin C.
Compare that to four ounces of raw beef (80 percent lean):
- Calories: 287
- Fat: 23 g (9 g saturated fat)
- Sodium: 75 mg
- Carbohydrates: 0 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Sugars: 0 g
- Protein: 19 g
The downer: Fat and calorie-wise, the Beyond Burger is about on-par with a beef burger, says Dallas-based nutritionist Amy Goodson, RD. And it actually packs way more sodium. Also, a regular (bun-less) beef burger doesn’t have carbs, while the Beyond Burger has five grams.
So if you’re turning to the Beyond Burger to save on fat or cals, you’ll be disappointed, Goodson says. Plus, you can make or break the health of any burger with what you pair it with. (She recommends choosing avocado and mustard for toppings and slap it all on a whole-grain bun, FYI.)
Ultimately, it’s hard to say whether the Beyond Burger or a regular burger is healthier; it depends on what you’re going for, says nutritionist Alissa Rumsey, RD. If you’re looking to eat more plant-based foods and still want to have a burger then, yeah, a Beyond Burger might be more in line with your wellness goals, she says. But if you’re cool with eating meat, having a Beyond Burger instead won’t suddenly turn you into a health ninja.
Are Beyond Burgers better for the planet?
Helping the Earth is part of Beyond Meat’s mission. The company says on its website that it aims to help relieve constraints on natural resources that raising cattle for beef can cause and promote animal welfare by, ya know, encouraging people to eat fewer cows.
According to Beyond Meat, creating a Beyond Burger uses 99% less water, 93% less land, and 46% less energy than producing a beef patty.
How does the Beyond Burger compare to the Impossible Burger?
You may have heard about another popular meat-alternative out there: Impossible Burger. This burger is also designed to look, taste, and smell just like a standard beef burger. It also appears to "bleed," thanks to special ingredient soy leghemoglobin, which is found naturally in the roots of soybean plants. Other than that, it's main ingredients are pretty similar to the Beyond Burger, and include water, coconut oil, sunflower oil, and natural flavors.
Its nutrition breakdown is similar, as well:
- Calories: 220
- Fat: 13 g (10 g saturated fat)
- Sodium: 430 mg
- Carbohydrates: 5 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Sugar: <1 g
- Protein: 20 g
The biggest difference: The Impossible uses soy, while Beyond does not. The Impossible Burger also contains slightly more saturated fat.
Like the Beyond Burger, Impossible Foods touts that it supports the health benefits of a plant-based diet and is environmentally-friendly. In fact, the company says that, compared to cattle production, "the Impossible Burger uses 95 % less land, 74 & less water, and creates 87 % less greenhouse gas emissions."
Bottom line: How healthy are Beyond Burgers, really?
Beyond Burgers are vegan and plant-based, so that means they’re healthy too, right? Not exactly. While the Beyond Burger may have a good amount of protein (20 grams), it doesn’t exactly have vegetables (pea protein isolate def doesn’t count). So despite being a "veggie burger," it's not getting you any closer to your five to seven servings of vegetables a day, says Goodson.
Watch Jenna Dewan taste-test a TON of vegan fast food eats:
“They are made of highly processed ingredients like protein isolated from plants,” says Rumsey. That means that while these patties are a meat substitute, they're not necessarily a healthier meat substitute.
“The Beyond Burger is a plant-based option for someone who is trying to reduce their intake of red meat, or for someone who doesn’t ever eat red meat and wants something close to a burger,” says Gans. But if those aren't your goals, it probably isn't worth the switch.
According to Beyond Burger reviews, people are (mostly) into it, though.
Listen, it could be the healthiest thing ever made, but if it tastes like cardboard, you're not eating it. Luckily, 82% of the Amazon reviews for Beyond Meat give it five stars—pretty good! Only about 2% of people really hated it, awarding only one star. Some highlights and lowlights:
- "I haven't eaten meat for 15 years and these freaked me out at first but once I cooked them, I thoroughly enjoyed it," wrote one reviewer, who called it the "best" veggie burger. "Don't let the look of raw hamburger scare you off."
- "I love my meat medium rare, more rare than medium, I'm a meat lover, and I could definitely give up beef hamburgers for those," wrote one reviewer.
- In the "hell naw" camp: "Texture looked like real meat but the smell was so repugnant when I was cooking it that I had to force myself to eat it," wrote a reviewer. "It smelled and tasted like cat food...To make matters worse it left a weird aftertaste in my mouth. Yuck."
Wondering where to buy the Beyond Burger?
If you're down to give it a try, you can actually find the Beyond Burger all over. Since it launched, the number of fast-food chains carrying it has skyrocketed.
Carl’s Jr., which was a pioneer in serving up the plant-based patties, has sold more than 4.5 million Beyond Famous Star burgers, according to a press release. It also added Beyond BBQ Cheeseburger, piled high with BBQ sauce, American cheese, and crispy onion rings on a sesame seed bun.
It’s also on the menu at select TGIFridays, BurgerFi, Hardees, Just Salad, Bareburger, VeggieGrill, A&W, Del Taco, Subway, and Dunkin’ locations.
Beyond Burgers aren't limited to vegan-friendly fast food restaurants, either. Bistro Bars at Courtyard Hotels have even added the Beyond Burger to the menu at properties across North America.
Of course, you can also buy 'em from Amazon Prime Fresh, Target, ShopRite, Giant, Safeway, Sprouts, Publix, Meijer, Harris Teeter, and Kroger to cook them yourself. (Find a complete listing here.)
Jessica Migala is a health writer specializing in general wellness, fitness, nutrition, and skincare, with work published in Women’s Health, Glamour, Health, Men’s Health, and more. She is based in the Chicago suburbs and is a mom to two little boys and rambunctious rescue pup.
Jennifer Nied is the fitness editor at Women’s Health and has more than 10 years of experience in health and wellness journalism. She’s always out exploring—sweat-testing workouts and gear, hiking, snowboarding, running, and more—with her husband, daughter, and dog.
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