Accidentally Awesome: Black Bean Burgers

Ahh I'm so excited! I finally made a veggie burger that held together without the use of eggs! And even held up to my George Foreman!

Usually, my burgers and falafel crumble when I try and bake them in the oven... and smoosh and come apart on my counter top grill... But I think I'm on to something now!


So I googled a recipe for black bean burgers because I have (had) some cooked beans in the fridge that needed to be used up, like today. And I found a fairly solid looking recipe from My Vegan Cookbook.

I don't know what was with me today though because I kept having mishaps. I didn't follow the recipe, I didn't have enough of some ingredients, I accidentally cloves instead of ancho chili powder (they looked the same). I used frozen unthawed corn instead of canned or thawed. Also what I had on hand for beans was a mixture. I soaked black, chili, and kidney beans together intending to make chili the other night and never got around to it.

But happily they turned out amazing! And the cloves gave the burgers a warmth to their flavor. So I'll give you my version of the recipe with mistakes intact :)

Mixed Bean Burgers (recipe adapted from My Vegan Cookbook, makes 6 patties)

• 1/2c dry regular or thick cut oats
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2c beans (I used a mix of red chili, black and kidney)
• 1/2c frozen corn
• 1/4c whole wheat flour
• 1/4c vital wheat gluten
• 1/2t baking powder 
• 3T nutritional yeast 
• 2t olive oil
• 1t onion powder
• 1t garlic powder 
• 1t chili powder 
• 1/2t cloves
• 1/2t cumin
• 1/2t Coriander 
• 1t smoky sea salt
• 1T balsamic vinegar
• 2T tomato paste

 Place oats in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Place oats in a mixing bowl.

Add onion, beans and frozen corn to food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped, add mixture to the mixing bowl.

Add all remain ingredients to the mixing bowl and combine thoroughly (I used my hands). Divide mixture into 6 patties. You can either grill them for 5-8 minutes (or until browned) on a counter top grill with a little cooking spray for good measure, or bake them at 400 for 10 minutes, flipping once in the middle.

They were so good I couldn't resist eating more than one.

Also I froze the remaining 4 patties (uncooked) and I'll keep you updated on how those grill up!