The Easiest Veggie Burger Is a Juicy Slice of Tomato

Our team tastings in the Test Kitchen are very telling. Both about the recipes and the people eating them. Hana keeps our salt levels in check. Shilpa makes sure we are using the right knife. Jesse knows the best way to plate anything. And me? I am the grim reaper of meat.

If we’re trying a sausage pasta, I can’t help but ask, “Do we need the sausage?” (Yes, my colleagues insist.) If there’s chicken, I wonder aloud if it could perhaps turn into tofu?

So it surprised no one when I shared my dream burger for the summer simply skips the burger. No beef, no turkey, not even a veggie patty (though I do have a fondness for Amy’s mushroom-bulgur patties after our vegetarian burger taste test). Instead, I lean on one of the oldest tricks in my book: Ditch the meat and carry on.

Think of it like a Southern-style tomato sandwich joining forces with a fast-food or diner-style burger. If you’re on the West Coast, you may have spotted a similar hack at In-N-Out Burger, where the not-so-secret menu offers a Grilled Cheese: melted American, lettuce, tomato, sauce, onion, bun. This is all well and good with California produce, but gets trickier when you shift location and season.

Most of the year, in most of the country, tomatoes are too sad to include at all—making something like a veggie burger or portobello mushroom a crucial replacement in lieu of ground meat. But come summer, when tomatoes are at their sweetest and heaviest, ready to burst just from the bore of your gaze at the farmers market, there is no need to complicate things.

Instead of cutting a thin slice of tomato, slice a dramatically thick one and layer it on a squishy bun with your choice of cheese, lettuce like iceberg or Little Gem, sweet pickles, raw onion, and a hodgepodge sauce (I like ketchup plus mustard plus mayo, maybe a shake of garlic powder or splash of pickle brine).

The cheese is at your discretion. You could melt a slice on one or both halves of the bun if you want some goo (nice with a variety like American, like at In-N-Out). Or you could leave it as is for a speedier situation (works well with cheddar or Muenster). Or you could skip it entirely. This is a tomato burger, after all—there are no rules here.

But for the record: This is not the same as the trend for a tomato bun burger. That has you ditch the bread and replace it with tomato slices. Scandalous, if you ask me! Though I suppose if my suggestion to skip the beef has distressed you—it does this to some people—how about you take my patty and I take your bun? Win, win.