With summer now in full swing, this is the time to fire up the grill (or frying pan) for vegan burgers. There’s no reason for meat eaters to have all of the fun when the possibilities for animal-free burgers are endless.

Building a great vegan burger is easy; all it takes is the right ingredients and a good appetite. Today, I’m sharing tips and techniques to help build a better burger so you have no more excuses for mediocre burgers.

There are 4 components to a great burger:

1. The patty
2. The bun
3. The condiments
4. The fixin’s (That’s right, there’s no G in fixin’s)

Some people say that 3 and 4 above count as one component. I say they’re important enough to be considered separately.

The Patty

If it isn’t already clear as it is with everything, homemade beats store bought anytime, anyplace and anyhow. Sometimes there just isn’t time to make your own, and thankfully for those times there are several decent burgers that can be bought in pretty much any major supermarket.

When you have the time, there are so many vegan burger recipes that you could cook one daily for several years and not cook the same burger twice. One of my favorites is the black bean burger from the Rebar Cookbook, and for a low fat healthier alternative, there’s the Chicago Diner burger. A grilled portabello mushroom also makes a fine burger, and opens the door to a great variety of options for condiments and fixin’s. You’ll also find dozens of burger recipes on VegWeb.

The Bun

Seeded buns rock, but the single most important thing when it comes to buns is softness. Maybe you want your spouse or partner to have rock hard buns of steel, but for a burger, hard means trouble. Serve your burger in a hard or crispy bun and 9 times out of 10, the burger will squirt out the back and sides on the first bite. Not only is it messy, but it’s also really difficult to reconstruct. You might as well get a knife and fork and give up on holding it in your hand.

A good bun will be soft enough so when you bite into it, the burger and fixin’s stay in their proper place: between the bread. A little drip of sauce or ketchup is not a problem, a big chunk of burger flying out is. While bagels may seem to be tailor made for burgers, despite the appropriate size and shape, most of them are too hard and dense. Plus, if you’re not careful, the hole can cause all kinds of trouble.

The Condiments

Ketchup is the old standby, and while there’s nothing wrong with it, there are many other possibilities. In the burger pictured above, I opted to use ketchup mixed with two parts of Vegenaise and a spoonful of relish for a creamy and slightly tangy thousand island dressing. The secret to the tang is using dill pickle relish instead of sweet relish.

But there’s no reason to stop there. Blend half of a roasted red pepper with Vegenaise and you’ve got aioli. Add some hot sauce to give it a little kick. Want a little Mexican flavor? Use salsa. Using a portabello mushroom as your patty? Spread some pesto on your bun, and then go really Italian and put your burger on focaccia. We’re just scratching the surface here. Romesco sauce, chutney, barbecue sauce, stoneground mustard…even a mole can take your burger out of the ordinary.

The Fixin’s

I stuck to the basics in the photo above, but there’s no need for you to do that. In fact, this is where you can really go nuts. Sure there are the old standbys like lettuce, tomatoes, onions (unless you’re Scott Conant), and pickles, but why limit yourself? Sauerkraut, roasted peppers and avocado will add new flavor and textures to your burger. Caramelized onions? Yes! Tempeh bacon, slaw or sautéed spinach? Yes, yes YES! Marshmallows? NO! We’re making burgers here, not s’mores!

And yes again: Cheese! Daiya melts so easily that it’s not even necessary to do anything other than flip your burger, add the cheese on top, and close the grill or put a lid on the pan to keep the heat in to melt the cheese. With other vegan cheeses, it’s usually necessary to put a little water in the pan to create enough steam to achieve melt.

Be sure to match the cheese to your sauce and burger. If you’re preparing a portabello and pesto burger, mozzarella is going to be a much better match than cheddar. Doing a Mexican burger? Cheddar and salsa are the ticket. You can even use a tortilla instead of a bun.

It’s hard to over stress the need to use quality ingredients. Ripe tomatoes will add an amazing sweet juiciness to your burger that you’ll never get from one of those hard, pink objects that pass for tomatoes in some stores. Don’t settle for iceberg lettuce when there are so many other varieties that actually have flavor.

When putting everything together, it’s important to put all of the components in the proper place. Thicker, fattier condiments can go right on the bun, preferably on top and bottom. Condiments that are thinner and more watery such as salsa are better when placed on top of the patty and below the fixin’s so they don’t make the bun soggy.

While this is far from exhaustive, it should be enough to get you started making great burgers. They can be healthy or decadent and everything in between. Have a favorite burger? Leave a comment and tell me what it is.