How to Cook Impossible™ Burger at Your Restaurant

Consumers are increasingly seeking out food that tastes great and aligns with their values of environmental sustainability and health. Incorporating Impossible Burger into menus in familiar and fresh ways is one way restaurants around the world are shifting to new consumer trends and boosting their brand’s perception and bottom line—all while taking better care of the planet.

For the eager chef or restaurant owner wanting to learn more about cooking with Impossible™ meat made from plants, we’re answering all your questions plus serving up inspiring dishes from our foodservice partners to get you started on your own menu creations.

• If you’re looking for an even deeper dive, check out our Back of House cooking guides in our Foodservice Hub

• If you’re looking for more tips on how to cook Impossible meat at home, check out our cooking guide for home cooks

How to cook Impossible Burger

If you know how to cook beef from cows, you know how to cook Impossible Burger, which comes in two forms: a 5 lb brick or pre-formed patties (1/4 lb or 1/3lb).

Shelf life & freezing/defrosting: Impossible Burger is perishable and should be kept frozen or refrigerated. We recommend putting frozen Impossible meat in the refrigerator 24 hours before you plan to use it. Do not thaw and refreeze. You can store thawed Impossible meat in the fridge for a maximum of 10 days unopened or 3 days opened.

General handling: Treat Impossible Burger like any other protein and follow food safety guidelines of your restaurant. For best performance, we recommend working with Impossible Burger from a cold, refrigerated state. Like beef, you may choose to serve Impossible Burger at varying degrees of doneness (Hello pink, juicy center!) and it should be handled with the same caution.

Cooking methods: Just like beef, Impossible Burger can be cooked with a variety of surfaces including flat top griddles, open flame grills, sauté pans, and ovens. It can be cooked as a Burger patty or crumbled to use in sauces, fillings, braises or even roasts.

Doneness: There are multiple ways to assess the doneness for burgers made with Impossible meat. Impossible Burger is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 160ºF.  We have found that the typical “touch test” works great to assess firmness, as well as using color to gauge the desired doneness of the meat.

Impossible Burger Replaces Beef In Any Recipe

If you cook with ground beef, you’re already an expert at cooking with Impossible Burger. From grilling to braising, you will be amazed at its versatility. 

Grilling: Gently place a burger patty on a pre-heated open-flame grill or flat-top griddle and cook for 2-3 minutes per side or until you see a nice sear. Cook to desired internal temperature.

• Menu Inspiration*: Impossible™ Gyro, an Impossible Burger

Sautes: Preheat a pan, then crumble Impossible meat and let it cook undisturbed until it starts to brown. Add seasoning of your choice, stir and cook for an additional few minutes until cooked to your desired doneness. 

• Menu Inspiration*: Impossible™ Italian Meatballs, Impossible Taco Salad

Soups and Sauces: For your favorite soup and sauce recipes, we recommend browning the meat in the pan before adding any liquid, just as you would with ground beef. Because Impossible meat does not release as much water during cooking, there is no need to drain excess liquid after browning. 

• Menu Inspiration*: Impossible™ Chili Cheese Fries, Impossible™ Tortilla Soup

Fillings: Impossible meat can be used in dishes like ravioli, dumplings and pastries exactly as you would use ground beef from cows.

• Menu Inspiration*:  Impossible™ Stuffed Peppers, Impossible™ Dumplings, Impossible™ Samosas

Braising: Impossible meat can also be braised to infuse your desired flavors and typically does not take as long to braise as conventional beef. We recommend browning the meat in the pan before adding the liquid.

Bake/Roast: You can bake or roast Impossible meat in an oven the same way you would ground beef. We suggest oven temperatures between 350- 400 °F. 

• Menu Inspiration*:  Impossible™ Meatloaf, Impossible™ Thai Lemongrass Skewers, 

*Note: all recipes can be easily scaled for use at restaurants

Why Chefs Love Cooking with Impossible Burger

In their own words, chefs from top restaurants around the United States discuss why they love cooking with Impossible Burger.

“Customers are really happy to see Impossible™ products on the menu and love that they have a choice. We started by offering the Impossible Burger as a substitute for beef in our Chile Relleno burger, and it was so popular that we incorporated it into the menu in many different ways. Now we offer Impossible™ Smashed Potatoes & Cheese, an Impossible™ Empanada, Impossible™ Albondigas (meatballs)...it’s not just burgers anymore!”

• Chef/Owner Mary Sue Milliken of Border Grill

“As you physically mold the Impossible Burger into your hands, you feel the same fat and texture [as ground beef]. Then when you season it and put it on the plancha, it sizzles and sears...like your burger. When I tried this burger, I was like “Woah, what just happened?!”

• Chef/Owner Chris Shepherd of Underbelly and The Hay Merchant

“For our Spicy impossible™ Rice Cakes, we make a ragu using the meat as the foundation that's based around szechuan peppers, thai chilis, roasted onions, and roasted garlic -- it's a variation on gnocchi and bolognese with a szechuan kick. Impossible meat is able to carry those same flavors in almost the exact same manner as ground beef or ground pork would do, so we’re able to replicate those flavors and those textures almost exactly.” 

• Chef Matthew Rudofker of Momofuku Ssam Bar

“Getting my hands on the Impossible Burger was a lot of fun. What makes a good burger is a good char so you get that textural difference... The Impossible Burger aligns itself well with what I want to do as a chef, which is to continue to push the boundaries of not just what’s possible, but delicious and sustainable. “

• Chef Brad Farmerie of PUBLIC and Saxon + Parole

Ready to get cooking? 

Watch this video of Chef J Michael cooking with Impossible Burger at his restaurant.