These are from Whole Foods’ in house 365 brand and one of many in their plant-based meats product line up. In the past I’ve had some great experiences and not so fun ones. I found this duo in the freezer cabinet, a stay in the refrigerator over night was enough to largely defrost them.
Cooking: Pan fry or grill, in essence they cook up much like a Beyond Burger. Pan frying didn’t yield a great final crisp or char on the exterior, so I went with air frying on the second attempt. That was a little better and of course, a little less messy.
Taste and texture: I found the taste of these quite unpleasant – and it’s rare I say that. The flavor was bitter, weirdly plastic and altogether unappealing. In both instances I didn’t make it through the full burger. Frankly, it’s head scratching how this one made it past any taste testing or market feedback process. Either that or I’m wayyyy off base and have finally wrecked my palate with one too many jars of hot sauce.
365 have succeed with the texture mind you, there’s good tear and chew, but it doesn’t match the mouthfeel of the latest Beyond Burgers. It’s a solid veggie burger texture its just a shame the taste doesn’t match.
Verdict: These are a hard pass for me. Of all meat free burgers I’ve sampled, and I’ve eaten a lot, these were some of the most unappetizing from a flavor standpoint.
Here they are in pictures:
365 Plant-Based Burger Patties nutrition and ingredients
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Overall
Are 365 Plant-Based Burger Patties any good?
In a word, no. The texture is great, not the best out there, but very solid. It all falls apart on the flavor front. There are many better alternative out there,
Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC – Utah’s biggest and oldest online food magazine; I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune. I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV shows.
I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have covered the Utah dining scene for the better part of fifteen years. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. I started Shop Smart to catalogue my adventures in the grocery store and kitchen. Follow along on Instagram too!