Vegan Black Bean Burgers Two Ways

Somehow I always end up with several cans of  black beans in the pantry. I haven't been buying food we weren't using each week so I'm not sure if these had been hiding for a while or if I unconsciously put them in the cart one day.

Either way, I decided it was time to use them and I wanted to be more creative than tacos or burritos.

Therefore, I decided to tackle black bean burgers. I'd never made them before so I looked through several recipes. I can't point to one that I followed, I kind of created a smash up of all of them. However, I can say after all that research I had no idea there were so many variations of black bean burgers.

My Ingredients
2 cans of black beans

2 cups of uncooked quinoa
1/2 red onion sauteed
1 tablespoon each of
           -chipotle powder
           -cayenne power
1/2 tbs cumin
salt and pepper to taste

These burgers were very easy to make but next time I'll add some panko or maybe walnuts to give them more texture and to bind them more. They fell apart very easily.

To make these I sauteed the onion and cooked the quinoa. Then added half the black beans, all the onion, and 3/4 of the quinoa to the food processor.

After blending the ingredients I mixed them in the with reserves black beans and quiona and added the spices. 

Finally, I formed them in to patties. I kept for out for the next two days and wrapped the rest in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer for later in the week.

The first set I back in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes, turning once.

Later in the week I tried grilling the burgers to try a get a crunch on them. 

And, even later in the week I cooked them in a pan on medium for about 10 minutes with some olive oil.

I like the pan cooked burgers best because they got a little crunchy. 

Over the course of the week I served the burgers two ways.

First, I served them with a serrano vegan sour cream and salsa on a bread thin. The sides were carrots with vegan Godess dressing and homemade sweet potato chips. (more on the chips later!0

homemade mango salsa

Second, I made burger towers layered with avocado, and a homemade mango salsa. The side is a grilled pineapple and watermelon salad.

I'm sure I'll make these burgers again because they are versatile and fairly cheap to make. I'm going to keep playing with the recipe until I get a sturdier patty.

avocado slices are the middle layer

 The Carnivore like the 2nd version of the black bean burgers best. I agree the avocado really helped bring out the flavor. His only complaint was that I gave him too much fruit that day.



As we were eating I realized I do go a bit fruit crazy that day! I'm just so happy to have so many fresh fruits and vegetables this summer.