Nutrition Faceoff: Amy’s All-American Veggie Burger vs. California Veggie Burger

It’s time to fire up that grill! Whatever your reason may be for not eating a meat patty, we decided to take a closer look at two different veggie patties from the same company. Are all veggie patties created equal?

​Nutrition Faceoff: Amy’s All American Veggie Burger vs. California Veggie Burger

Dietitian’s Take: Amy’s All American Veggie Burger vs. California Veggie Burger

Here are some highlights from comparing the ingredient lists:

• Both burgers are vegan. However, Amy’s California is a true veggie patty made with vegetables, where as All American is essentially a soy burger! It contains partial soy ingredients in the form of textured soy protein and organic soy fiber. This explains the higher protein content per serving. It takes a lot of processing to get textured soy protein from whole soybeans, so it is certainly not the same thing as consuming soybeans.
• Amy’s All American veggie burger has 26 ingredients, while Amy’s California has 13 ingredients, which are all either vegetables, grains, or nuts. Both burgers also contain wheat gluten, so they are not gluten-free products.
• Both products use expeller-pressed safflower or sunflower oil, which means the oil was extracted without the use of solvents.
• There’s significantly more Vitamin A in Amy’s California burger. There is no way to confirm where exactly this comes from since the ingredient list doesn’t show proportions. We suspect the vegetables in the California veggie burger are responsible for the high Vitamin A content.

​Our Pick: Amy’s California Veggie Burger

While it’s true that our pick has higher sodium content, it has a shorter ingredient list consisting mostly of vegetables, nuts, and grains and does not use soy protein isolates. If you want to get the benefit of soy foods, opt for “whole” soy foods such as edamame, tofu, soy nuts, or tempeh instead of a veggie soy patty made with isolated soy ingredients.

Sofia Layarda, MPH

Alumni: University of California, Berkeley – Sofia believes in bringing back fun and pleasure into everyday eating. She loves cooking, and is constantly experimenting with ingredients, creating recipes and trying them out on family and friends. Her latest interest lies in finding realistic and practical ways of environmentally-friendly food/eating habits.