Bean Burger Formula

A Valentine burger!  At first it was an accident, but what a fun idea.

Formula Bean Burger: Chickpeas and kale.  Sound funny?  It tasted good!

"Formulas" work better for me than exact recipes.  I don't have time to look for a "Black Bean and Green Pepper Burger" recipe, following up the next week with a "Chickpea and Kale Burger" recipe, or looking for a "Pinto Bean and Spinach Burger" Recipe.  Eeek!   A good recipe formula is versatile, it allows me to feed my family quickly without wasting money and time on recipes that don't work.  

When I'm familiar with the process there is less stress about following the recipe exactly for I already have a general idea what to do.  This is more efficient and FUN!   It opens the door to easy healthy eating for my family, and fun experiments for me.  I freely substitute with what I have in the kitchen and what my family likes.   This gets rid of food before it gets bad and it allows me to use up ingredients we got in bulk or on sale.  It also provides us variety on our menu - important for nutrition and nice for our taste buds.  

This formula will make 10-12 burgers, and it only takes about 30-45 minutes to make start to finish.  You can refrigerate or freeze the leftover burgers for fast and easy burgers another day.  

To see how this formula was used to make Black Bean Burgers see previous blog post.

Bean Burger Formula (see notes below, under Chickpea and Kale Burger ingredients)

1/2 c onion (1/2 an onion)     

1/2 c veggies (1/2 a green pepper)

1/2 c oats  - use up to 1/2 c more if the mix looks too moist

2 T ground flax 

6 T condiments: something like 2 T ketchup, 2 T steak sauce, and 2 T mustard

2 t onion powder

2 t garlic powder

4 c WELL DRAINED cooked beans (or 2 cans drained and rinsed beans)

Once they are on the grill, the burgers just look like any other bean burgers.  

Ingredients for my Chickpea and Kale Burger Version

1/2 c red onion     

1/2 c kale
1/2 c carrots

1/2 c brown rice flour

1/2 c burnt sesame seeds (not burnt on purpose!)

7 T condiments: like 4 T ketchup, 1 T mustard, 2 T Vegenaise

2 t onion powder

2 t garlic powder

4 c WELL DRAINED cooked beans (3 c chickpeas and 1 c black beans)

Use any kind of onion.  We like sweet, vidalia, and red the best.  White and yellow work too, they just make me cry more.  I've also thrown in garlic, shallots, green onions if we have some on hand that are starting to wilt.

Use any kind of veggie.  Adding veggies is optional, but it increases nutrition and makes veggie consumption painless so it's worth the time. Veggies I’ve included: shredded carrot, peppers, zucchini, kale, swiss chard, and spinach.  Chopped up very fine in the food processor no one even knows they are there. 

Frozen bags of veggies from the garden.  Organic, economical, and fast to toss in burgers now.

Don't have oats?  Use bread crumbs, oat flour, almond milk remains, or another grain.  This time I used some brown rice flour I found in the freezer when I went to get the carrots and kale.

Don't like oats?  I used brown rice flour this time.

Skip the flax.  I traditionally add flax for nutrition and because I do think it helps my burgers bind together a better.  You may also try hemp seed or chia instead.  This time I used sesame seeds (I thought this would go well with the chickpeas), but I accidentily burnt the seeds.

Toasting sesame - which burnt while I was busy with kids.  I scooped out the worst and in the end Shawn liked these burgers better than the Black Bean Burgers!  He said they had great flavor.  Hee hee, yeah.  Burnt.

Use the condiments you like best.  Usually, I love the use of steak sauce in the mix, because that's what I used to use in my ground beef burgers.  It smells and tastes comforting and familiar to me. 

Use any kind of beans  Black beans are our family favorite, and they have nice color and texture so that's what I use below.  Other beans give it a slightly different color and texture, but it all tastes good.  

Improvisation: I planned on chickpeas, but I only have three cups left over from the batch I made for hummus a few days ago.  So I substitute some black beans.  

Directions: for making bean burgers:

Start heating the griddle or skillet to medium heat.  Roughly chop onion, veggies, oats, and flax and place in food processor.  Process until chopped finely.  If you don't have a food processor you can chop everything finely by hand, and you can mix it with a stand mixer or potato masher.  However you do it, I like to make sure everything is really chopped fine so no one can identify the veggies used.

Add liquid condiments (ketchup), onion powder, and garlic powder.  Blend well.  Then add the well drained beans and mix partially.  Leave some bean chunks for texture if desired. 

Spray griddle with cooking spray.  Scoop a large spoonful of the mixture and place on griddle, pressing down with the back of spoon to shape it into a round shape.  When well browned on the first side, flip to other side and pat edges of burgers with spatula to round out the burgers into a nice circle shape (it’s pretty mushy and malleable).  Flatten it to even out the shape, and cook on the first side again if needed.  You really want them browned on both sides to help them stay together.

Serve on whole wheat or homemade bun, slather it with ketchup (we use ketchup without corn syrup in it), mustard, vegenaise, miso mayo, BBQ, hot sauce, or whatever you like on your burger.  Enjoy.

Black Bean Burgers Recipe

Black Bean Burger with all the works.

We may be pioneers in a new way of eating, but we still want our burgers.  I searched high and low for a recipe that was whole foods based, tasted good, added some extra nutrition, and yet still tasted familiar. This recipe is my version of black beans burgers, and they sure make us happy.  My middle son gets a look of ecstasy on his face just smelling them frying on the griddle.  He says they smell like bacon, and he really likes the smell even if he won't eat bacon anymore.  This recipe will make 10-12 burgers, and it only takes about 30-45 minutes to make start to finish.  You can refrigerate or freeze the leftover burgers for fast and easy burgers another day.  

Black Bean Burgers

1/2 c onion (1/2 an onion)

1/2 c veggies (1/2 a green pepper)

1 c oats 

2 T ground flax 

2 T ketchup 

2 T steak sauce (optional, just use 4 T ketchup of preferred)

2 T mustard

2 t onion powder

2 t garlic powder

4 c WELL DRAINED cooked beans (or 2 cans drained and rinsed beans)

Add any veggies you have on hand, this time it was green peppers.

First round in food processor: veggies, onion, flax and oats.

This is how much I pulverize the veggies.  You can't tell they are veggies, can you?

Start heating the griddle or skillet to medium heat.  Roughly chop onion, veggies, oats, and flax and place in food processor.  Process until chopped finely.  If you don't have a food processor you can chop everything finely by hand, and you can mix it with a stand mixer or potato masher.  However you do it, I like to make sure everything is really chopped fine so no one can identify the veggies used.

Add ketchup, steak sauce, mustard, onion powder, and garlic powder.  Blend well.  Then add the well drained beans and mix partially.  Leave some bean chunks for texture if desired. 

Bean mixture, ready to scoop onto griddle.

Spray griddle with cooking spray.  Scoop a large spoonful of the mixture and place on griddle, pressing down with the back of spoon to shape it into a round shape.  When well browned on the first side, flip to other side and pat edges of burgers with spatula to round out the burgers into a nice circle shape (it’s pretty mushy and malleable).  Flatten it to even out the shape, and cook on the first side again if needed.  You really want them browned on both sides to help them stay together.

Here's how they look at "burger shaped".  My youngest son likes smaller burgers made for him, thus the little guys in the middle of the griddle.

Patting the edges really helps the bean mixture form a circle shape.  Rough edges is where is will break apart if given a chance.

FInished burgers on plate.  No paper towel needed because there's no grease!

Serve on whole wheat or homemade bun, slather it with ketchup (corn syrup free ketchup), mustard, vegenaise, miso mayo, BBQ, hot sauce, or whatever you like on your burger.   I LOVE mayo on my burgers so when we went to plant-based-whole-foods diet I remember standing in the grocery store staring at the mayo section with longing.  I actually checked every single brand, but alas they all had egg or milk in them.  All of them.  Yuck.  I was looking in the wrong place.  Go to a health food store, or a grocery store with a health food section and you should be able to find Vegenaise or Earth Balance mayo with no problem in the refrigerated section.  Now I'm a happy camper and I love to smother vegenaise on my burgers.

Sides: notice there is lettuce on the side for a salad or for a burger topping rather than fries.  We still eat fries, but not always the same night as burgers.  No one complains and it sure is easier.  On this night we followed up with Chocolate Avocado Pudding and we were all well satisfied.