Burgers that include insects blended with meat can be a tasty way to eat healthier, help the environment, and still get high levels of protein. (Photo by Charoen Krung Photography on Shutterstock)
Cricket hamburgers on the menu soon? Researchers say blending beef with insects and plants is a healthier and more sustainable way of life.
In A Nutshell
- Researchers are testing burgers that blend insect protein with meat or plants.
- Lab studies suggest up to 25% meat replacement is possible without losing taste.
- Insects offer protein with lower land, water, and emissions than livestock.
- Consumer acceptance, regulation, and cost remain the biggest barriers.
MEDFORD, Mass. — Crickets in sausages. Mealworms blended into beef patties. Grasshoppers ground up with kidney beans. These aren’t “Fear Factor” challenges nor novelty snacks marketed to adventurous eaters. They’re prototypes in a growing field of research aimed at solving one of the food industry’s biggest puzzles: how to feed a growing global population without destroying the planet.
Researchers David Kaplan (Tufts University) and David Julian McClements (University of Massachusetts) conducted a review of existing research, which shows that hybrid foods combining insects with traditional meat or plant proteins could offer a more sustainable alternative to conventional meat. However, cost and scalability remain major obstacles.
More than 2 billion people worldwide already eat insects regularly, but Western countries have been slow to adopt them despite their environmental advantages. Raising insects for food produces far lower greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and land and water use compared to livestock farming, according to a United Nations report. Many edible insects also pack high levels of protein, unsaturated fats, dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
The challenge? Most Americans and Europeans find the idea of eating bugs revolting.
Hybrid Diets Could Make Idea Of Insects Easier To Swallow
Rather than asking consumers to bite into a whole cricket, food manufacturers are developing hybrid products where insect ingredients are blended with familiar proteins and disguised in foods like burgers, nuggets, and protein bars.
Researchers have successfully created meat burger alternatives using a blend of mealworm flour, seitan, soy proteins, oat flakes, and binding agents. By adjusting the ratios of these ingredients, they produced hybrid burgers with texture, mouthfeel, and flavor resembling animal meat products.
Some studies suggest up to 25% replacement is possible in specific products like sausages without major sensory changes. One research team developed high-protein meat patties for the Indonesian market by combining Javanese grasshoppers with kidney beans and elephant foot yam, creating products with appearances and textures similar to conventional beef burgers.
Other hybrid research has focused on enhancing rather than replacing meat. Adding small amounts of insect protein raised phenolic acid levels, compounds linked to potential health effects, though no direct health outcomes have been confirmed. Another study showed that incorporating black soldier fly larvae into meat analogs created softer textures with lower cooking losses compared to pure beef patties.
Why Should We Be Eating Insects Anyway?
The review, published in Frontiers in Science, examines multiple approaches to creating sustainable protein sources beyond conventional animal agriculture. Besides insect hybrids, scientists are exploring combinations of plant proteins with cultivated meat cells grown in bioreactors, fungal mycelia that naturally form fibrous structures, and proteins produced through microbial fermentation.
Each alternative protein source has distinct advantages and drawbacks. Plant proteins are abundant and relatively cheap but often lack the sensory qualities consumers expect from meat. Cultivated meat cells can accurately mimic animal meat but remain too expensive and difficult to produce at scale. Mycelia have good nutritional profiles and natural fibrous textures but still struggle to match meat properties precisely.
These technologies vary in their development stages. Plant-based and mycelium-based products have reached higher technology readiness levels, with some already commercially available, while cultivated meat products remain at earlier stages of development. Combining different protein sources addresses the weaknesses of each individual approach. Plant proteins provide economic bulk and texture, while insect ingredients contribute specific flavors, nutrients, and functional properties that plants lack.
Some researchers are moving beyond whole insects or insect flour toward cultivating insect cells in bioreactors, similar to how cultivated meat is produced from animal cells. Insect cells adapt to a wider range of environmental conditions than mammalian cells, requiring lower process control and significantly reducing production costs. The pharmaceutical industry has already scaled insect cell production for therapeutics, providing precedent for advanced manufacturing. However, this approach remains conceptual rather than commercial.
What Stands in the Way
Consumer acceptance remains the largest barrier in Western countries, driven by food neophobia and disgust reactions. Many people associate insects with uncleanliness or disease, despite their nutritional merits.
Safety concerns also require attention. Some insect species may trigger allergic reactions in certain individuals, particularly those with shellfish allergies, since insects and crustaceans share similar proteins. Proper processing and labeling will be necessary.
Regulatory approval varies widely by country. While some insect-based foods have gained approval in parts of Europe and Asia, many nations still lack clear frameworks for evaluating and authorizing insect ingredients in processed foods.
Cost and scalability present additional obstacles. Although insect farming is more environmentally friendly than livestock production, establishing large-scale insect farms and processing facilities requires substantial investment. Researchers identify insect escapes as a potential concern that needs addressing, though documented cases of environmental damage remain limited.
Despite these barriers, the environmental math is hard to ignore. Livestock production drives greenhouse gas emissions, soil depletion, water pollution, deforestation, and biodiversity loss on a massive scale. Insect farming offers a way to produce protein-dense food with a fraction of those environmental costs. Whether Western consumers can overcome their aversion to eating bugs may determine how much of a difference these hybrid products can make.
Hybrid Burger Prototypes
Inspired by lab research, here are three hybrid blends scientists are exploring. These are not commercial recipes, but examples of how insects could be paired with familiar foods:
- Mealworm & Seitan Burger: Mealworm flour combined with seitan, soy proteins, oat flakes, and binders to create patties with a meatlike bite.
- Grasshopper & Bean Patty: Javanese grasshoppers blended with kidney beans and elephant foot yam to mimic the look and texture of beef.
- Beef & Black Soldier Fly Mix: Traditional beef patties fortified with 5–25% black soldier fly larvae, producing softer textures and reduced cooking loss.
Note: These examples reflect laboratory trials, not market-ready products.
Paper Summary
Methodology
Researchers conducted a systematic review of existing studies on alternative protein sources, including plant-based products, mycelium-based products, cultivated meat, microbial fermentation products, and insect-based products. The authors analyzed the benefits, challenges, and technology readiness levels of each alternative protein source, then examined studies that combined different protein sources to create hybrid food products. The review covered multiple types of hybrid products, including meat-plant, cultivated meat-plant, mycelium-plant, and insect-plant combinations.
Results
In controlled laboratory settings, researchers created insect-plant hybrid burgers with physicochemical and sensory attributes resembling animal meat burgers. Research using mealworm larvae blended with soy protein created fibrous meat alternatives with protein content and hardness similar to animal meat. Studies demonstrated that in specific products like sausages, up to 25% of meat could be replaced with insect proteins without substantially altering desirable sensory attributes. Hybrid products containing insects showed improvements in some nutritional metrics, including increased phenolic acid content. Research on insect-meat hybrids found that incorporating black soldier fly larvae into meat products created softer textures and reduced cooking losses, with products containing 25% insects showing properties most similar to conventional meat. These results reflect laboratory-scale testing rather than commercial production. The review also examined cultivated meat-plant hybrids and mycelium-plant hybrids, with some mycelium-based products already commercially available.
Limitations
The authors note that alternative protein technologies exist at varying technology readiness levels. Plant-based and mycelium-based products have reached higher readiness levels (TRL 4-9), while cultivated-based products remain at earlier stages (TRL 4-7). Many hybrid products have only been tested in laboratory or small-scale settings rather than commercial production. Consumer acceptance studies remain limited, particularly for insect-containing hybrids in Western markets. The review acknowledges that production costs, scalability, and regulatory approval remain substantial barriers for most hybrid products. Long-term health effects of consuming these products have not been extensively studied. The authors also note that more research is needed on potential allergenicity, safety concerns, and optimal processing methods for insect ingredients.
Funding and Disclosures
David Julian McClements received funding from the United States Department of Agriculture through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station programs, and from the nonprofit think tank Good Food Institute. David L. Kaplan received funding from the USDA, the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy, the Good Food Institute, and the nonprofit foundation New Harvest. McClements serves on the scientific advisory board of several food companies and owns some patents on colloidal delivery systems for bioactive agents. Kaplan declared no financial conflicts of interest. The reviewer Mark J. Post declared a past co-authorship with author Kaplan.
Publication Information
Kaplan DL and McClements DJ. “Hybrid alternative protein-based foods: designing a healthier and more sustainable food supply.” Frontiers in Science. DOI: 10.3389/fsci.2025.1599300. Published September 29, 2025.
Countries where insect-eating is already a part of typical cuisine generally have lower standards of living, lower life expectancy, lower education achievement, and worse health overall. Why should we want to adopt any part of their cuisine? I’m just fine and happy with my plant-based diet, but there’s nothing wrong with animal-based proteins, either, when used in moderation and wisdom. As far as saving the planet, the idea that animals are harming the environment is a farce. No serious scientific study supports such specious speculation.
Ask any Latino-man or women- “Hey, Want to try a new kind of Taco?” Then watch as they make a face full of revulsion, walk away, and likely emote some explicative Espanol????????
Many people eat crustaceans, which is almost the same thing.