Metabolomic insights into the impact of cooking technologies on plant-based burger composition

This study evaluated the impact of different cooking methods (air frying, grilling, oven baking, and microwave cooking) on the metabolite profile of chickpea-based burgers using untargeted metabolomics. The results revealed that the primary source of variation was the thermal treatment, with raw samples clearly separating from cooked ones. Notably, heat-sensitive compounds such as lipids and several flavonoids were degraded across all cooking methods. In contrast, some phenolic acids (caffeic acid and hydroxycinnamic acid) and flavonoids (apigenin, luteolin, apigenin-7-apioglucoside, and apigenin-7-O-glucoside) increased after cooking. Among the evaluated techniques, grilling induced the most pronounced metabolic alterations compared to raw samples, whereas microwave cooking had the least impact, showing better preservation of certain lipids and phenolic compounds. These findings demonstrate that cooking methods can significantly modulate the metabolomic composition of plant-based products, with microwave cooking standing out as the gentlest approach for maintaining nutritional quality.