When you read the name ‘Southern Fried Bean Burgers’, you expect something a bit obvious. A bit boring, even. Or at least I do. Just a simple burger is what I infer from that name – nothing very exciting at all. That’s why the team behind this product have really made a big mistake: because there is something really quite interesting about these burgers, that you would never guess at all from the name.

These burgers have a little pocket of hot, spicy nacho-style cheese right on top of the actual burger filling. When you cook them in the oven, this pocket gets gooey and melty and delicious. Then when you start to cut into the burger, it all spills out. I have to say this is one of my favourite things to have in a piece of food. Just like with escalopes, there’s something really exciting about having the sauce provided on the burger, rather than having to add your own. Plus there’s a little element of surprise when you first cut into it.

I served up these burgers in wraps (after sampling them whole first). When you cut them up into pieces, there’s even more of an opportunity to enjoy the way that the sauce tastes against the rest of the burger. You can spread it out a bit more, too. I added some spicy Quorn chorizo sausages sliced up small, gruyere cheese, and fresh spinach to complete the wrap. I also added a little sour cream and chive sauce to complete the Southern tastes.

The burgers themselves (sans sauce) are really quite simple. They’re just a slightly spicy bean burger with Southern-style coating; quite similar to the Quorn burgers of the same seasoning in taste terms. They just have that extra element of the beans instead of Quorn. But really, what makes them interesting is the nacho cheese. There’s no getting around it. Without that I might not have found them remarkable at all. But with it, you’ve got a burger that I will no doubt be buying again next time we need to stock up the freezer.

On the VegBurge Scale, I give this…

Taste – 7/10

Price – 6/10

Rest of experience – 7/10