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I add chopped onions, garlic, grated carrots, some flour and spices to pre-soaked TVP. Onions add a bit of texture but after baking tvp densifies becoming like soft rubber.

I think mushrooms, beans, corn and peas can make it more texturized but I'm not a big fan of all those ingredients. Anything else you can think of?

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Variants of tofu skins are great for meat-like textures. If you look up chinese buddist cooking or monastery cuisine, you will find many imitated meat and poultry dishes that are often called "vegan duck roast", "vegan abalone" etc (probably by non-practising consumers). One of the best for this is dried tofu skin sticks (not promoting the seller, just a random search result for a picture). Fried tofu skins pockets and pressed tofu also work pretty well. You will need to cut them into tiny shreds or chop them up coarsely to get the effect. These ingredients have plenty of surface area and are great at taking up seasoning and sauces to mimic meat juices.

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  • An excellent suggestion! I know what tofu skin is, they make a super delicious Korean salad. May 21, 2017 at 17:31
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Instead of adding ingredients as an answer, how about tackling the TVP texture?

Try many-hour soaking first off. Drain and let steam in it's own 'juice' in a tight-lid pan (not too big) on low for just a few minutes. Done at your desired chewiness.

This has the effect of giving off some of the soaked up liquid that would otherwise wick off during burger frying.

Can add in your seasoning while cooling. Binders best added when room temp.

Now, for texture and sogginess prevention, my fav vegburger addition is cooked brown rice. A little goes a long way. Also, terrific crunchy chewiness with fine chopped raw broccoli. Raw sunflower seeds add meaty-ness if burgers are fried several minutes. If quicker fried then maybe soak them first. Pumkin seeds too.

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You could dip in egg wash (or other liquid if vegan), then breadcrumb before frying/baking.

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Try adding grains like cooked rice, quinoa, bulgur, unripe spelt, oatmeal. With grains that can be used soaked raw, undercooked, or cooked, consider all three as separate options adding different textures.

For binders, legume flours (red lentil flour, chickpea flour) tend to do a great job.

One special kind of beans is worth trying: Douchi (chinese salted black soybeans) - just rinse and mince. Not too much, these are flavor and texture intensive, a tablespoon to a pound of mixture is a lot!

Also, a classic ingredient in meatballs (and old-school burgers) works brilliantly in veggie burgers too: breadcrumbs.

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