Battle of the Burgers: Impossible Burger vs Beyond Burger vs Beef

How do the leading plant-based burgers stack up on taste, environment, and health?

Chana Davis, PhD
13 min readNov 13, 2020
With the launch of Impossible Burger in Canada, Beyond burger has tough competition. Photo: White Spot

Next-generation veggie burgers are taking off in a big way, with Impossible burger and Beyond burger leading the pack. Both plant-based patties mimic the taste and texture of meat, and promise fewer downsides than the real deal.

Which burger is best?

Let’s see how the plant-based leaders compare to each other, and to beef, across taste, environment, and health.

Taste

Next-generation veggie burgers can be as indulgent as you want. (Beyond Meat)

Both Beyond and Impossible burgers are excellent ground beef imposters, offering similar taste, texture, and even a bit of sizzle. They are nothing like a traditional bean, rice or mushroom-based patty.

Which plant-based patty is the most realistic?

Most journalists (e.g. Today.com) have reported that Impossible has an edge when it comes to meatiness; my own informal testing of (non-vegan) family members reached the same conclusion.

“Impossible is the most like a beef burger by far.” New

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Chana Davis, PhD

Scientist (PhD Genetics @Stanford) * Mother * Passionate about science-based healthy choices * Lifelong learner * Founder: Fueled by Science