What Is the Sweet Earth Awesome Burger?
The Awesome Burger is a frozen, pre-formed plant-based patty made by Sweet Earth Foods, a California company that started as a small organic food brand before Nestle bought a majority stake in 2017 and acquired it fully by 2019. That ownership detail matters to some shoppers: your grocery money for this product ultimately flows to Nestle, a company that also owns dairy and meat-adjacent brands, even though the Awesome Burger itself is formulated to be entirely plant-based. Sweet Earth positions it as a direct competitor to the Beyond Burger and Impossible Burger, aiming for the same “cooks and bleeds like beef” experience rather than a traditional veggie burger like a black bean or grain patty.
The Awesome Burger launched nationally in 2019 and has stuck around through several plant-based meat shakeouts that killed off weaker competitors, which says something about its retail staying power even if it never became a household name the way Beyond and Impossible did. It's sold frozen, typically in a two-patty, 8-ounce box, at large grocery chains including Kroger-owned stores, Safeway, Albertsons, and via delivery services like Instacart and DoorDash.
Ingredients
According to the product's ingredient panel, the Awesome Burger is made with: water, textured pea protein, coconut oil, wheat gluten, natural flavors, canola oil, distilled vinegar, methylcellulose (2% or less), sea salt, fruit and vegetable juice concentrate (for color), dried malted barley extract, and a cultured corn starch and salt “corn sauce” used to help build savory flavor.
A few things stand out. Pea protein and wheat gluten (vital wheat gluten, essentially concentrated gluten protein) do the heavy lifting for texture and protein content, which is why this patty is not suitable for anyone avoiding gluten. Coconut oil and canola oil provide the fat that gives the burger juiciness and a beef-like mouthfeel when it cooks, similar to how Impossible uses coconut and sunflower oil. Methylcellulose is a plant-derived binder widely used in veggie burgers, including Beyond's early formulations, to help the patty hold together and firm up as it heats. Fruit and vegetable juice concentrate replaces beet juice or heme as the source of the burger's reddish, meat-like color.
Compared to the ingredient lists on Beyond and Impossible burgers, the Awesome Burger sits in the middle: fewer proprietary components than Impossible's soy leghemoglobin-based formula, but more processed than a simple black bean patty. It's a shorter list than some competitors, though “natural flavors” is doing some undisclosed work, as it does on nearly every packaged plant-based product. If you want to check any packaged product's ingredient list against a strict vegan standard yourself, the spvegan.com ingredient checker is a fast way to flag anything questionable.
Is the Sweet Earth Awesome Burger Vegan?
Yes, the Sweet Earth Awesome Burger is vegan. Every ingredient on the label is plant-derived: pea protein, wheat gluten, coconut and canola oils, vinegar, plant-based flavoring, and corn and barley derivatives. There's no dairy, egg, honey, gelatin, or any animal-derived processing aid in the formulation, and Sweet Earth markets the product explicitly as a “meatless vegan burger patty” on retailer listings.
The one caveat worth flagging, as with any product made by a large multi-brand manufacturer, is that Sweet Earth's broader product lineup is not exclusively plant-based across every SKU, and the company operates within Nestle's much larger food empire. There's no public indication of shared-line cross-contact issues specific to the Awesome Burger, and the product carries no meat or dairy allergen warning beyond the expected wheat and coconut (tree nut) declarations. Strict vegans who care about corporate ownership, not just ingredients, may want to weigh the Nestle connection separately from the vegan-formulation question, since the two are different concerns.
Nutrition Facts: How It Compares
Here's how one Awesome Burger patty (113g) stacks up against a Beyond Burger and an Impossible Burger patty of the same size, using each brand's own published nutrition data.
| Nutrient (per 113g patty) | Sweet Earth Awesome Burger | Beyond Burger | Impossible Burger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | ~260-280 | 230 | 240 |
| Total Fat | 15-16g | 14g | 14g |
| Saturated Fat | 7-8g | 2g | 8g |
| Sodium | ~360-400mg | 310mg | 370mg |
| Total Carbs | 9g | 8g | 9g |
| Fiber | 2-6g | 2g | 3g |
| Sugar | 1g | 0g | 0.5g |
| Protein | 25-26g | 21g | 19g |
The standout number is protein: the Awesome Burger's pea-protein-and-wheat-gluten combo pushes it noticeably higher than either major competitor, largely thanks to the added gluten. Saturated fat is roughly on par with Impossible (both lean on coconut oil) and meaningfully higher than Beyond's reformulated, lower-sat-fat recipe. If you're tracking saturated fat intake, that's the number to watch across all three; if you're prioritizing protein per patty, the Awesome Burger wins this comparison, though the wheat gluten means it's not a fit for anyone avoiding gluten for health reasons.
Taste and Texture
Cooked in a skillet, the Awesome Burger browns and develops a crust reasonably close to ground beef, and it holds together well enough to flip without falling apart, which isn't a given with plant-based patties. The texture leans a little denser and more uniform than Beyond or Impossible, less “shreddy” and closer to a well-packed diner burger than a fresh-ground one. Some reviewers note it can taste slightly more pea-forward out of the package than Beyond, though a solid sear, a slice of vegan cheese, and normal burger toppings mostly cover that up, as they do for most pea-protein-based patties.
Where it noticeably differs from Impossible is juiciness: Impossible's soy-protein-and-heme formula tends to stay juicier and more saturated in flavor throughout the bite, while the Awesome Burger can dry out faster if it's overcooked, which is true of most bean- and pea-based patties without added fat reservoirs. Cooked to medium and rested for a minute like any burger, it holds moisture fine. It's not a patty that's trying to trick a dedicated carnivore into thinking it's beef; it reads more as a well-made, hearty veggie burger with beef-adjacent styling, which is a fair way to think about where it sits in the category.
How It Compares to Other Vegan Burgers
| Burger | Protein (per patty) | Best For | Where to Find |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweet Earth Awesome Burger | 25-26g | Highest protein per patty, budget-friendlier than Impossible | Kroger-family stores, Safeway/Albertsons, delivery apps |
| Beyond Burger | 21g | Lower saturated fat, soy-free and gluten-free | Most major grocery chains nationwide |
| Impossible Burger | 19g | Closest texture/juiciness to ground beef | Most major grocery chains and many restaurants |
Who Should Buy the Awesome Burger?
The Awesome Burger makes the most sense for people who want a high-protein, meat-style patty and aren't concerned about gluten, since it edges out Beyond and Impossible on protein per serving while typically landing in a similar price range as those two brands. It's also a reasonable pick for anyone who's already tried Beyond and Impossible and wants a genuine third option to compare, rather than defaulting to whichever is on sale. It's less of a fit for anyone avoiding gluten, anyone specifically trying to minimize saturated fat (Beyond's reformulated recipe is the better call there), or shoppers who prefer to avoid buying from brands under large conventional food conglomerates.
Final Verdict
The Sweet Earth Awesome Burger is a solid, straightforwardly vegan plant-based patty that holds its own against the two biggest names in the category, particularly if protein content is your main metric. It won't out-juice Impossible or out-lean Beyond, but it's a well-formulated middle ground that's easy to find at mainstream grocery chains and cooks reliably on a stovetop or grill.
Rating: 7.5/10 — A genuinely good, high-protein vegan burger that deserves more attention than it gets, held back slightly by gluten content and a texture that's a notch behind Impossible's juiciness.
