Drum Roll… BEST Burger Results

Here are the results of The BEST Burger Challenge held on June 10, 2018, at the beautiful Royal Canadian Yacht Club on Toronto Island. We had a fantastic line up of family and friends with Jerry Agar, host of NewsTalk1010 Radio, and I.

I came up with this idea because Jerry and I have a history of discussing (and disagreeing) about burgers! Well, we disagree about food in general. I would love for him to eat even healthier so he continues his weight loss after losing 35 pounds in a year, and finding him foods that he likes and will eat without grumbling is a challenge. If I agreed to try all the meat burgers, he agreed he’d try all the plant-based or veggie burgers. We had a deal. We had listeners of NewsTalk1010, viewers of CP24, and the community of LiannePhillipson.com and SproutRight.com submit their favourite burgers for us to try. They came up with almost 20 entries and we ended up with 6 plant-based, 6 meat, 3 turkey and 2 salmon burgers to taste test and find the BEST Burger to grace your grill this summer.

We had 15 taste testers who had criteria of smell, taste, look, and texture to score from 1 to 10, with 1 being awful and 10 being amazing and you could eat it all day long. The overall score could be a maximum of 40.

Listen to the big reveal on NewsTalk1010 with Jerry Agar:

Below are the results from our 17 strong burger taste test with special mention of my favourite and Jerry’s favourite in all three categories.

Plant-based Burgers

THE WINNER is….

#1 – Beyond Meat – The Beyond Burger from Yam Chops: Score 25
Comments: looked and tasted substantial, looks like meat, most flavourful, really tasty!

A very close second…

#2 – Yves Veggie Cuisine – The Good Veggie Burger: Score 24.5 (Lianne’s Favourite)
Comments: Doesn’t taste plant-based, looks like a meat burger, good but not delicious (Jerry), seemed to be super close to meat.

Loved by some if you like the more traditional veggie burger…

#3 – Dr. Praeger’s California Veggie Burger: Score 22.5
Comments: definitely a veggie burger, very tasty, tastes better than expected, crunchy – a good plant patty.

For the mushroom fans…

#4 – PC Portobello Swiss Burger: Score 22 (Jerry’s Favourite) 
Comments: greatly awesome, looked like a meat burger but tasted like mushroom, mushroom taste.

Another mushroom flavour…

#5 – Sol Cuisine Portobello Mushroom Burger: Score 18
Comments: looks like a chicken burger – not bad, tastes weirdly like mushrooms.

There has to be one that didn’t quite cut it…

#6 – Cardinal Roadhouse Brown Rice + Mozzarella Veggie Burger: Score 15
Comments: confused about the cheese.

Salmon Burgers

THE WINNER is….

#1 – President’s Choice Blue Menu Wild Sockeye Salmon Burger: Score 25.5
Comments: tastes like salmon, like a salmon steak on a bun, it was ok, it fully delivers as a salmon burger, more salmon flavour, it’s definitely salmon.

#2 – Steak and Chops Salmon Burger with Veggies: Score 22
Comments: way better than the other salmon burger, I like the dill touch, more interesting – I had seconds (Jerry), a distant second to the above, more fishy, tastes so much better, I don’t like salmon but it was good.

Beef Burgers

THE WINNER is….

#1 – St. Jamestown Steak & Chops Grass-fed Beef Burger: Score 32 (Lianne’s favourite)
Comments: THE BEST, the best so far, YES finally a juicy burger (Jerry),  delish, tastes sweet, juicy and thick, super juicy, licked my fingers, my favourite.

A fairly close and solid second…

#2 – Farm Boy Caramelized Onion Swiss Burger: Score 29.5
Comments: good burger – a bit runny, pretty good, very good, good burg, decent burger.

Loved by some, and not so much by those that aren’t a fan of blue cheese…

#3 – Denninger’s Fresh Portabello Blue Burger: Score 27
Comments: good burger – not sure about the cheese taste, it’s a burger (Jerry after eating veggie burgers!), excellent, great flavour and solid burger.

The surprisingly salty taste was mentioned by all…

#4 – Sanagan’s Meat Locker Fresh Burger: Score 26 (Jerry’s favourite)
Comments: salty, juicy, real good – juicy and stronger taste (Jerry), drier and salty, good taste but too salty.

Consistency was like just ground beef that wasn’t combined yet…

#5 – Cardinal Roadhouse Angus Burger: Score 23
Comments: decent, bland, good taste – less lean ground beef, nice crunch – weird consistency otherwise.

Again, there has to be one that comes in last…

#6 – Medium Rare Burger: Score 18
Comments: too dense, not a fan, juicy but confused on flavour.

Turkey Burgers

THE WINNER is…

#1 – Hayter’s Farm Onion & Parsley Turkey Burger: Score 22
Comments: It was pretty good, too sweet for my taste, it’s ok.

One for those who love spicy…

#2 – Farm Boy Thai Turkey Burger: Score 16
Comments: spicy smell, spicy taste, spicy, salty, alright burger.

Not much to say about this one…

#3 – Hayter’s Farm Spinach & Cranberry Turkey Burger: Score 15

Taste Test Partners

Thank you so much to our amazing, healthy-food partners for helping to make this fun event even more delicious!

MadeGood

Squares, Bites, Bars, Cookies
www.madegoodfoods.com

Wonderful Pistachios

Pistachios
www.getcrackin.com

CEDAR

Cold Pressed Juice, Spreads
www.cedarjuice.com

SodaStream

Sparkling Water Makers, Sparkling Drinks
www.sodastream.ca

Farm Boy

Farm Boy Burgers, Hayter’s Farm Burgers, Buns, Condiments
www.farmboy.ca

One Comment

  1. Thank you, Lianne – very interesting. We are now aware of a greater choice of “meats” to bbq.
    We probably used the same grills on Father’s day!
    Ann