There is just something incredibly comforting about eating a delicious burger, and most of the joy comes from biting into a giant, soft bun. At least that is what I look for the most. I want a delicious bun that is sturdy enough to hold the burger together but soft enough to sponge up all the delicious sauce and juices that tend to spill out when you bite into a giant burger. These vegan burger buns with poppy seeds are just that. Deliciously soft and pillowy.
For years I bought my buns at the store due to sheer convenience and frankly why wouldn’t I. They are cheap and just need slicing. In fact, most of them are already sliced. That’s how lazy you can be. So why would anyone want to skip those and make their own? There are two reasons. Taste and availability.
If you are here because you’re vegan, then you know what I mean with availability. Finding vegan brioche buns is rather hard, at least where I live. They tend to have egg wash on them and dairy in them. So here’s the solution, just skip those two. They are not necessary by any means.
Making them vegan is rather simple because you can replace the wash with whatever you like and substitute the butter and milk for water and coconut oil or vegan butter if you please. I tend to stick with the coconut oil because that is what I always have at home.
So what if you do not care about them being vegan, why still make them from scratch? Simply, because homemade buns taste so much better and are not much work. There is admittedly some waiting time because the dough needs to rise, but there is very little work involved in making these. Whenever I plan on making burgers or invite friends over for a bbq, I make these buns while cooking all the other things.
Even if you are not very kitchen savvy or have not made bread before these are easy to make because the dough is very forgiving. So don’t worry if you do not shape your buns perfectly. These vegan burger buns will turn out great because the dough is getting two rounds to rise and the second time it will even out little bumps and dents. But even if they are not picture perfect, they will taste great, and there is a certain charm about homemade food that has its little imperfections. What are your favourite burger combinations? Tag me in your Instagram posts with #gloriathegreedyvegan because I would love to see all your mouthwatering pictures.
- 550g (4¼ cups) strong bread flour
- 350ml (1½ cup) lukewarm water
- 2¼ tsp dry active yeast
- 2 tbsp coconut oil*
- 2 tbsp agave syrup
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1.5 tbsp poppy seeds
- for the vegan egg wash:
- 3 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
- 2 tsp agave syrup
- 1 tsp mild mustard
- To make the dough pour the flour into a bowl and create a well. Add the water and yeast, give it a gentle stir and let it rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes. It will be bubbly when ready.
- Add the coconut oil, agave syrup and salt and mix with a fork or hand mixer with dough hook attachments until it forms a sticky mass. Lightly dust your work surface with flour and tip the dough onto it. Knead it until it forms a soft and smooth dough. Don't add too much flour, just enough to stop it from sticking.
- Grease the dough ball lightly to prevent it from sticking to the bowl and place it back into the mixing bowl. Cover it with a cloth and let it rest at room temperature for about an hour.
- Tip the dough onto a very lightly dusted work surface and press it down and knead it gently a few times. Cut the dough into 8 pieces. I do that by cutting it into 4 first and then half each piece.
- To shape the dough into round balls simply place it into your palm and pull the dough from the side to the centre and pinch it together. Repeat until you are happy with the shape.
- Place the balls onto a baking tray that is lined with baking paper. Cover them with a cloth and let them rest for another 45 minutes.
- Mix the ingredients of the vegan egg wash.
- Brush the unbaked buns with your vegan egg wash and sprinkle with poppy seeds.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 15-18minutes at 200°C (400°F) until golden brown on the sides and lightly browned on top.
Those look delicious (and fairly easy to make). Does the coconut oil add extra flavor or does it keep it neutral?
Hello Blanca, (((the coconut oil is just there to hold the bar together. You can not really notice a coconut flavour from it. If you want a stronger coconut flavour, then substitute some of the seeds for shredded coconut or add coconut extract. …))) LOL! Never-mind me, my wordpress app showed this as comment under another post of mine. Leaving it for sheer amusement. Now to your question about the buns: the coconut oil in these buns is a butter replacement. It doesn’t flavour the buns in any way. – Love, G.
I love making bread. I need to try making these buns.
I applaud you for taking the time to make your own buns. I am not so patient with cooking things like this. It sure sounds delicious though.
I get that. I didn’t cook most of my food until I changed my lifestyle. Convenience food was my bff. Took a while to get used to cooking from scratch but it is well worth it. – Love, G. <3
I do not follow a vegan diet, but these burger buns with poppy seeds look pretty good! My kiddos would eat these up!
I bet they would! My niece devours them and she’s not vegan either. – Love, G. =)
It looks delicious and so easy to make. I am gonna try this out this summer. I have never really tried a vegan recipe before. thank you
It looks delicious and so easy to make. I am gonna try this out this summer. thank you
My mouth is watering from the idea of eating this bread. Yum I just LOVE the poppy seed idea!
Yeah!
I am totally not a fan of poppy seeds but these buns look delicious. I am definitely going to have to try making them.
Awww! Don’t we all have something we can’t stand? Personally I am not touching savouy cabbage. No way! It gives me texture anxiety. – Love, G.
These buns, rolls look amazing. I would love to try and bake these. I have never tried to bake bread.
You should try it sometime. It’s lovely to make your own bread and these are very easy and forgiving. – Love, G.
These look delicious!! I think recipes like this prove to never under estimate the yummy potential of vegan food.
Thank you so much for the compliment. Made my day. =) – Love, G.
I love anything with poppy seeds on them. They seem to change the taste in a good way. The vegan burger buns I will have to try making. I have never made any type of hamburger bun before. Thanks for sharing the reicpe.
These sound awesome! It’s great to have vegan options for foods. Whenever I first went vegan I was amazed at how many things have eggs and dairy in them!
This is a great alternative to all those buns I usually buy in the nearby bakeshop. I might as well start doing my own bun to make sure what I consume is with quality and is clean.
Wow it looks so healthy and delicious at the same time. I can’t wait to make some for my family. Thanks for sharing!
I actually made the recipe and it works really great. I used organic sprouted spelt flour and the buns turned out great in flavor and were really soft, perfect for vegan burgers! I used half of the vegan wash and it was sufficient. Great recipe, thanks! I was unable to rate your recipe, but “Five stars” for a simple recipe that works!
550 grams is 2 1/4 cups right? Recipe states 1 1/4.
OH NO! I live in Europe and use grams. Total conversion error on my behalf. Thank you so much for pointing it out. – Love, G.
If agave is not available what’s a good substitute?
Hello Tina, when I don’t have agave at hand I use one of these three following substitutes: 2 tbsp maple syrup, 2 tbsp vegan honey OR dissolve 1 tbsp sugar in 1 1/2 tbsp hot water. You can apparently also use corn syrup in the same quantity to replace agave but I never have that at home so I haven’t tried it myself. Hope this helps. – Love, G.
I just made these and they’re beautiful just that mine rose upward so much they look like silicon implants LOL! I guess I shaped them into balls too well ^^; Also these are huge when made into 8 (comes to 310 kcal per bun which is just too much bread to eat in hamburgers imo). I’d make 10 – 12 buns out of the same recipe next time. Gonna slice away the middle portion and use them as breadcrumbs for my veggie burger 😀 Can’t wait to eat them tomorrow
Hello Adeline, you made me laugh out loud here. Silicone implants!!! 😂 I just realised I skipped adding the nutritional information for this recipe. I’ll have to add it later. Glad they worked out for you and yes they’re on the bigger end of buns, but you can always make them smaller as you digested. The dough can also be turned into a loaf that makes an excellent bread for fancy sandwiches for tea parties. Very similar to tramezzini. – Love, G.
If you use unsweetened coconut milk for the egg wash could you leave out the coconut oil in the bread mixture? Also are there other substitutes you can use for the coconut oil or just to add less?
Hello Jackie, you can use any type of oil that you like, but I would not recommend completely leaving out the oil in the mixture. It is crucial for the softness of the dough. You can try to gradually decrease the amount of it if you still deem it too high. I reduced it to a personal minimum while still keeping the softness intact. I checked numerous non-vegan recipes to compare ingredients while developing this one and they all asked for up to twice the amount. You can try and see how you like it with less oil. They will be nice but not soft like brioche buns. – Love, G.
Can I substitute the syrup for something else? And the eggwash? Would be so so happy if you answered quickly!