Veggie burgers have come a long way since I was a kid. No longer a frozen and mushy mess, a good veggie burger can almost trick even the most devoted of carnivores. Almost.

Natural Living magazine knows that skipping the meat every once in a while is not only good for our health but also good for the environment. So they reached out to 100 of their favorite restaurants around the country to find the best of the best veggie burger recipes. They tested each of the recipes to find the five that stood above the rest, and in their July/August issue, they share those recipes with us.

Scanning these top five recipes, I looked for a theme. Yes, they’re all “veggie” burgers, but I was looking for that one ingredient that they had in common–the one that catapulted these five to the top of the list. I couldn’t find it. One burger included quinoa, red peppers, onions and panko breadcrumbs. Another was made with eggplant, cheddar and scallions. Still another got its bulk and flavor from lentils, carrots and nuts.

All five recipes sound totally different from each other but equally satisfying and delicious. If I made the Moosewood Mushroom Pecan Burger for dinner tonight, I wonder if my husband would ask, “Where’s the beef?”