Black Bean Burgers

We love to grill! It means less clean up for me and it is so nice for those summer days when it is too hot to be using the stove and oven. I am having a hard time saying goodbye to summer and will probably be grilling clear until the snow starts to fall.

Shane tried a black bean burger the other day at a restaurant and has been talking about it ever since. He started looking up recipes online to see how they were made. Once I knew the basics that were needed, I threw in what I thought would sound good and what we had on hand already. They turned out really yummy and they were pretty simple to make!

Black Bean Burgers

Yield: 8 patties

Ingredients

2 15 ounce cans of black beans (rinsed)
2 eggs
1 red pepper
1 small onion
4-6 garlic cloves
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons cumin

Instructions

Rinse and drain the black beans and put them in a medium mixing bowl. Using either a fork or a potato masher, smash the bean until it forms a paste. In a smaller bowl, mix the eggs with the black pepper, cumin, and chili powder. Beat together with a fork and set aside. Finely chop the red pepper, garlic, and the onion in a food processor. Add the red pepper, garlic, and onion as well as the egg mixture to the black beans.Mix well. Stir in the bread crumbs. You may need to add more than one cup depending on how much juice was created when you processed the pepper and onion. Add bread crumbs until it is the consistency of ground meat. It should be slightly sticky but should hold it shape.

https://www.notjustahousewife.net/black-bean-burgers/

I chose to use black pepper, cumin, and chili powder. You can customize yours with whatever spices you would like. The eggs are like the glue for the burger since it helps hold it all together.

After you mash the black beans, add the red pepper and onions. I had a medium red pepper so I also added a small green pepper from my garden.

After you add the egg mixture pour in the bread crumbs.

I was really surprised how much this mixture felt like ground beef. It was really easy to make the patties! It made 8 patties.

Here they are all cooked :) I have heard you can also bake them in the oven.

We use black beans all the time in burritos so I thought that an avocado spread would be yummy on these burgers. I just added a little mayo and lime juice to the food processor along with the avocado. We usually make pink sauce (mayo plus ketchup) when we have burgers so I made some of that as well but added a little canned chipotle peppers to it for a southwest kick. I like the La Costena brand of chipotle peppers that is in a adobo sauce.

We use the pink sauce for dipping fries too.

Is there anything better than a grilled burger eaten outside on a cool evening? I will have a post about the purple fries tomorrow. My kids love them!!!

I had never had a black bean burger before but I really liked them. I was surprised that my kids all said they loved the burgers. I thought for sure one or two would have a so-so review (especially my youngest) but they all wished I had made more. If I had to pick between a juicy meat burger and a black bean burger I would choose the meat, BUT I will be adding these bean burgers to our meal planning rotation for sure. And for the record, Shane would pick the black bean burger over the real thing.