Black Bean Veggie Burgers

You may consider this recipe tried-and-true! We had these for dinner last night along with some tortilla chips and spicy cheese dip and the whole meal left me feeling satisfied, but not heavy. Lovely!

A warning on the texture - if you can get your mix dry enough (using bread crumbs) to resemble uncooked hamburger meat, without it falling apart when pressed into a patty, you'll have the best results.  I think the key is in the chunkiness of the beans. Worse case scenario, they have a nice burger-like outside layer and then may have a bit of pastiness inside. All in all it's still not unpleasant and the flavor is great.

 

During the process I said "THIS is how easy this is? Why haven't I done this before?" I hope you enjoy it too!

 

Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Makes about 4 patties.

 

2 cups cooked/canned black beans, drained well

1/3+ C. bread crumbs (approximate)

1 clove minced garlic

1/3 cup minced onion (about half an onion)

1 egg

Olive Oil

Seasoned Salt

 

In a food processer, mince onion and garlic together.  Add beans, egg, and bread crumbs and pulse until beans are roughly chopped and mixture is combined.  Dumb into a bowl, stir to make sure all ingredients are well mixed, and add more bread crumbs if necessary to make a packable, but dryer mixture.  You still want moist patties to form, so add a little at a time.  Warm olive oil in a pan and cook patties until one side is very browned and add a dash of seasoned salt before flipping.  Flatten the patties with the spatula when you flip for a more burger-like look. Sprinkle a little seasoned salt on cooked side of the patty.  Keep the oil replenished in the pan as you cook - these will not have any fat in them, so this is important for proper cooking.  I served the cooked burgers topped with melted cheese on flatbread, whole-grain buns with lettuce, tomato, and mayo.

 

Tip: Add a splash of worcestershire sauce to the mix if you want a "beefier" flavor.