Black Bean Burgers With Chipotle Peppers
I enjoy meat far too much to give it up entirely. On the other hand, a burger is a burger, and I’m not particularly picky when it comes to what that burger is made of. I’ve tried a couple of variations of veggie burgers, and these black bean burgers are at the top of my burger list, not just for meatless options, but for homemade burgers as a whole.
A few years ago we received a hand-me-down food processor from the Beard’s mom. It was great machine – when it worked. I think we were able to make about a half-dozen projects with it before it died and went to the great kitchen appliance cabinet in the sky. One of those projects was a recipe for black bean burgers. They didn’t taste terrible, and they were definitely edible, however, there was plenty of room for improvement. We’re talking loads of room for improvement.
For one thing, I’m certain that we didn’t drain the can of black beans. Once everything was run through the food processor, we ended up with something akin to a black bean pancake. No amount of breadcrumbs and binding ingredients could have saved these burgers that crumbled when we tried to flip them. Unfortunately, the machine broke down before we had the chance to give things another try.
Until now.
New and Improved Black Bean Burgers
This time around, we made some changes. We wanted our bean burgers to have the same mouth feel of our regular ground meat options. In addition to the texture, we wanted them to hold up on the pan while cooking. To do this, we made two changes to what we’d done in our earlier attempt. First, we didn’t beat the beans into a pulp. After mincing our vegetables in the food processor, we added only half of the beans and continued with the chopping. We didn’t go so far as pureeing things, but just smoothing them out a bit into a thick beany paste. Then, we added the remaining beans to and hit them with a couple of pulses in the food processor. The result was a mix of smooth and rough chop, which gave a good base for the meaty texture we wanted.
Second, we switched out the breadcrumbs for some old-fashioned oats. While we did drain and rinse the beans in a strainer, nothing short of patting them dry is going to eliminate all the moisture from them. The addition of the oats allows us to soak up much of the remaining moisture from both the beans, onion, and peppers, without nearly dissolving like breadcrumbs would do in the same situation. Since they are so sturdy, the oats combine with the beans to create a very “meaty” meatless burger.
Beard and Tart’s Improvised Barbeque
This post wasn’t something we really planned. We don’t have a lot of pretty pictures of well-lit bean burgers sitting between fluffy buns, surrounded by expertly composed props to give things the appearance that everything fell perfectly into place. Instead, these were what we did for the July 4th holiday. We cooked them on a makeshift grill the Beard built from our cast iron griddle and some bricks stolen from the pile of things they’re using to fill a retaining wall being built on the empty property next door to us. Our fire-pit was fueled with one panel of the dilapidated fence separating our two properties (don’t do this with pressure-treated wood, people!), most of which fell down years ago.
Reduce, reuse, recycle, right?
On the other hand, these black bean burgers turned out so damned good that we had to share them. We topped them with slices of bleu cheese and bacon. We served them on Italian rolls smeared with a generous helping of chipotle mayo, and paired them with some grilled corn on the cob and adult beverages.
Since this recipe makes four goodly sized patties, we even had leftover burgers for the next night. The two of us kept texting each other about how much we looked forward to eating them again the following night!
Black Bean and Chipotle Burgers
A great-tasting substitute for your regular burgers, these black bean and chipotle burgers are just as hearty and full of flavor as any traditional burger. Made with a mix of black beans, oats, and the added kick of chipotle peppers, our black bean burgers will satisfy all of your carnivorous needs with guilt-free pleasure!
Ingredients
- 1 can Black beans Drained
- ½ Small red onion Chopped
- ½ cup Dry oats
- 1 Tbsp Minced garlic
- 3 Chipotle in adobo sauce
- 1 Tbsp Adobo sauce
- ½ Tsp Cumin
- Salt and pepper
- 1 Egg beaten
Instructions
-
Rinse the beans and drain them very well; any excess moisture will make your burgers soggy.
-
Add the chopped onion, garlic, chili peppers, and 1tbsp of the adobo sauce to your food processor and process until everything is finely minced. Next, add half of the beans and continue to blend until almost smooth. Add the remaining beans and pulse a couple of times to roughly chop the beans that you just added.
-
Transfer the bean mixture from the food processor to a medium mixing bowl. Add the beaten egg, cumin, salt, and pepper and combine with the beans.
-
Sprinkle about half of the oats over the "burger" and mix well. Continue to gradually add more oats and combine with the bean until the mixture has become stiffer. Don't worry if it seems like it won't hold up at this point.
-
Chill the bean mixture for at least 1 hour. This will allow the oats to absorb much of the moisture so your patties will hold their shape. Divide the chilled mixture and form 4 patties and cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side, depending on their thickness.
The Tart likes to eat, cook, and bake things. She eats to work out, and she works out to be able to eat.
