Alternative protein company Lightlife announced yesterday the release of a new plant-based burger that, according to a press release, is meant to deliver “the sensory experience consumers crave from a beef burger.”
The so-called Lightlife Burger is made of pea protein, coconut oil, and beet powder. It has 20g of protein, no cholesterol, and is free from soy, gluten and GMOs. The burger will be the face of a new pea protein-based product line from the company, which meant to be more evocative of meat.
The launch is in tandem with Lightlife’s upcoming rebrand to mark its 40th anniversary. It’s also just a smart move on Lightlife’s part to try and compete with other meat-like burgers on the market, like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods — especially as Beyond prepares for an IPO and Impossible gears up for its retail launch. Composition-wise, the Lightlife Burger seems closer to the Beyond Burger, which is also pea protein-based and also uses beets for its “bloody” look.
But young upstarts like Beyond and Impossible aren’t Lightlife’s only competitors. Big Food has also been getting into the meat alternative space, releasing products that are more meat-like to capture flexitarians and cash in on the plant-based eating trend. Last month Nestlé released the Impossible Incredible Burger, just a few days after Unilever bought Dutch plant-based meat company The Vegetarian Butcher.
Lightlife could have an advantage, though. Both it and Field Roast are owned by Maple Leaf Foods, a major packaged meat company in Canada. That means that the company has the advantages that come with being part of a Big Food company, including supply chains, sales channels, and retail partners. But, since it’s also a veteran in the meat alternative space, it also has more plant-based street cred than, say, Nestlé. This could lead to less blowback from consumers who don’t trust Big Food to make their vegan meats.
Recently I predicted that veteran plant-based protein companies, like Lightlife, Tofurky, and Boca, would rebrand from “vegan” companies to “meat” companies–just ones who happened to make meat out of plants. It seems that, at least in the case of Lightlife, that prediction is coming true.
In the U.S., the Lightlife Burger will start rolling out in foodservice this month and hit grocery shelves in late March. It will launch in Canada in April. I couldn’t find any information about pricing, but I imagine it will be in line with other Lightlife vegan burgers (around $2.50 per patty). We haven’t tasted the Lightlife Burger yet, but as soon as it’s available in Seattle grocery shelves it might be time for an alterna-meat burger cookoff.
I tried it and it has almost no flavor to it at all. It is the same texture as the Beyond Burger, but the taste is very bland.
Agree. Not as good as Beyond Meat or Impossible Burger. Also burns in pan when cooking very easily compared to Beyond Meat patty
Interesting! How was the taste?
What about sodium ?
They priced the Light Life burger the same as the Beyond Meats burger in our grocery store. I didn’t like the smell (too much like real murdered cow burgers) so didn’t taste it.
According to the packaging: 540mg of Sodium (22% of daily value) per light life plant based burger (133 g)
In our grocery it’s about a dollar more than Beyond!
I dont know what yall tested but the lightlife burger was soooooo good now if u wanna be bland and put the burger between a bun and call it a day then thats bland no “meat eater” or someone who truly enjoys burger would eat a burger plain with the lightlife burger I treated it as if it was any other Burger I seasoned both sides with garlic powder pink Himalayan sea salt fresh cracked black pepper before I threw it on the stove caramelized some onions and mushrooms then I added the burger to the pan cooked both sides according to the directions (i think 3 mins on each side) then I seared it with barbecue sauce cooking each side for an additional one minute to let the BBQ sauce sink in and added the vegan “chao cheese” after the cheese was melted to perfection I assembled my burger adding a little bit more BBQ sauce to the caramelized onions and mushrooms I put vegan mayonnaise on a Sesame bun and add it two sanwhich sliced pickles to the bottom of the burger then whoa la! It was one of the best burger I ever had personally I like it better than the Beyond Burger because it doesn’t leave that smell the smell of the lightlife burger is undetected the Taste is phenomenal not Bland at all you guys just need to be introduced to seasoning is what it sounds like.. salt brings out the best flavor
Love you so much for letting everyone know how to make a burger!
Another burger masquerading as something healthy. Pea protein and canola oil?…give me a break
This was the best vegan burger I have ever tasted. No competition. I like beyond burger and impossible burger but this is so much better.
Definitely burns. The Beyond burger doesn’t need seasoning. I think this ones flavor is somewhat taken over by it burning quicker than other plant based options. Good texture. Oh and I don’t care for the impossible burger at all so… Just my thoughts on it…
I thought it wasn’t to bad. I had the ground and made a patty. Put a cast iron pan I. The oven and heated both sides for 15 minutes. It gave it a crisp top without burning. So half hour to cook. I didn’t mind it but once a few months would work. I think I prefer black been and quinoa burgers better.
I tried it when it first came out and like others I thought it had no flavor at all. However I gave it another go recently and they must have made changes because it was rather good.
The lightlife burger is the best one. Not sure what the other commenters are talking about. This one tasted great to me!