How the Impossible Burger Stacks Up to the Competition

Other types of veggie burgers?

"A black-bean burger ... has to be processed,” Blake says, because the beans need to be mixed together. “The black-bean burger could be healthy, but maybe it won't be if it's made with coconut oil and cheese and a lot of sodium.” Nutritionally, “it may come to be similar to a regular burger,” she says.

Boca Burgers are “made of highly processed ingredients, not whole plants. They do have less fat and saturated fat, and a little less sodium, compared to regular burgers,” says Alissa Rumsey, a dietitian who runs a nutrition and wellness center in New York City.

Blake tells consumers to look at nutritional facts so they can make an informed decision. At the grocery store, she says, compare prices and focus on getting the most nutritional value for the money spent.

"Some people buy what's on sale to make their dollar stretch farther. That could be a concern for a lot of people, especially for people who are retired or on a fixed budget. You need to be doing a lot of comparisons here based upon your wallet and your health, and that's very personalized,” she says.

The four types of nonmeat burgers we cooked up for our taste test.

Aaron Kassraie

Other consumers may seek out plant-based burgers in an effort to protect the environment.

A plant-based burger generates 90 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions, requires 46 percent less energy, and has less than 99 percent impact on water scarcity and 93 percent less impact on land use than a quarter pound of U.S. beef, according to a study by the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan that was commissioned by Beyond Meat.

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Taste

In the end, it's all about whether a burger appeals to the palate. So we taste tested four different types of popular nonmeat burgers: Impossible, Beyond, Boca and MorningStar's black-bean burger.

Of our 10 testers, seven preferred the Impossible Burger. “If I hadn't been told it's not meat, I never would have known,” said writer-editor Kenneth Terrell. Two testers most enjoyed the black-bean burger: “It had the best taste. I like Southwestern flavors,” said web designer Christine Charboneau. SEO specialist Alyson Klush thought the Impossible Burger's texture was more like beef, but she said the Beyond Burger had “more flavor.” The Boca Burger was the testers’ least favorite.

Six of the 10 said they would choose to have a plant-based burger over a regular hamburger. Three said they'd go for a traditional beef hamburger. One tester was on the fence. “There's no need to replace your beef burger if you don't enjoy [substitutes],” New York dietitian Rumsey says. “You'd be OK to keep eating beef burgers and then include more whole-food forms of plant-based protein like [beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas], nuts and seeds, and certain grains like quinoa.”