If you're obsessed with fun-sized appetizers like I am, then you're in LUCK! Once summertime hits, I just love sinking my teeth into a giant burger. But sometimes I wish I could dunk the whole thing into a bowl of sauce without getting ridiculously messy! That's why these vegan cheeseburger bites make the perfect dip-able appie or snack. They're cheesy, packed with flavor, and easy to dip and devour in just a couple of bites!
These perfect dough balls are filled with your fave burger ingredients like veggie ground round, vegan cheese, pickles, onions, and spices! Then they're fried to perfection with hardly ANY oil so you get that crispiness without sacrificing brownie points for healthiness. This recipe also comes with an amazing special sauce recipe that's creamy, tangy, and super easy to throw together! Whether you eat one bite or the whole batch, you'll love these vegan cheeseburger bites as an easy alternative to regular burgers. Serve these hotties up with some french fries and people really won't be able to keep their hands off!
You might remember in my T-Fal test kitchen series that I used the T-Fal ActiFry to make this. Watch the video below to see how, or keep scrolling for the recipe!
vegan cheeseburger bites
Ingredients
dough
- 3 C all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 C warm water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch (to prevent sticking)
special sauce (makes 1 ⅓ cups)
- 1 C vegan mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoon sweet green relish
- 2 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 tablespoon dehydrated minced onion
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce (optional)
filling
- 1 C finely diced onion (about 1 onion)
- 1 ActiFry spoon vegetable oil
- 2 C veggie ground round, thawed in the fridge overnight if previously frozen
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire
- ½ C finely diced pickle
- 1 C vegan cheddar style shreds
Instructions
- Prepare the dough by combining flour and sea salt in a mixing bowl. Create a well in the middle of the flour and add water and oil and stir to combine. Once the mixture is just combined but still in pieces you can gather the dough with your hands and knead to combine it into a ball. Then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it about 10 to 15 times until it’s a smooth ball of dough. Wrap it in a tea towel or plastic wrap and let it rest for 20 minutes in the fridge.
- Meanwhile combine the ingredients for the special sauce in a bowl or jar and refrigerate before serving.
- Add the onions and vegetable oil to the basin of the ActiFry and set timer for 10 minutes. After 6 minutes add the veggie ground round, sea salt, spices, and Worcestershire and continue cooking another 4 minutes.
- Empty this mixture into a large mixing bowl and combine with pickles and cheese.
- Wipe out the basin of the ActiFry and place it back in the base with the snack tray.
- Have a large cutting board or baking sheet dusted with cornstarch prepared. Portion the dough in half. Roll out one half onto a lightly floured surface to ⅛-inch thick.
- Cut out 4 ¼ to 4 ½-inch wide circles with a cookie cutter. Remove excess dough and press together to form a ball of dough. Place cut out rounds onto your sheet or cutting board dusted with cornstarch. Continue to roll out the dough and cut out circles until the dough is used up.
- Scoop a heaping tablespoon of filling on top of each cut out circle. Gather and pinch all the edges of the dough together around the filling creating a bundle of dough at the top that you can pinch and twist to seal. Gently place the gathered side down onto the surface dusted with cornstarch. You should have nice rounded mounds but they don’t have to be perfect. Just ensure there’s no gaps or holes in the dough. At this point you could freeze the cheeseburger bites between layers of parchment paper. Cook from frozen as instructed below.
- Lightly oil the snack tray of the Actifry and place 5 to 6 bites slightly spaced apart on the tray. Brush or spray the tops with oil.
- Set the timer of the ActiFry for 15 minutes and cook until evenly golden brown on top. Continue cooking in batches. If cooking from frozen it may take up to 20 minutes per batch. Serve immediately with special sauce.
Caroline Martin
If you don’t have the air fryer DO NOT bake them. The dough surrounding the bite gets too hard and is tasteless (they need oil). They also broke open when I baked. Definitely fry them in a oil. If you don’t have enough oil to submerge them completely, instead of shaping them into balls, shape them into flat disks that way more surface can be cooked quicker.