Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers

Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers

On Sunday, I found myself really craving a hamburger, but I’d been bad the previous day (we went to a beer garden), so I wanted something that a little better for me than beef. With this in mind, I started looking online for black bean burger recipes.

Naturally, I found one on Food52 and didn’t follow it exactly. They ended up being quite flavorful and had nice texture. I didn’t make the yogurt sauce that’s included in the recipe, due to my dairy allergy, but I imagine it would be really good.

Ingredients

• ½ cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 large egg
• 2/3 cooked corn
• 1 ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 cup rolled oats, ground into crumbs
• Salt
• Two avocados
• Tomato
• Hamburger buns

Instructions

1. Place the quinoa in a small saucepan along with 1 cup of water. Bring the water to a boil then reduce heat to medium low and cover the pan. Cook 10 to 15 minutes until the water is absorbed and quinoa is cooked. Remove from heat.
2. Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and add the onion and garlic. Season them with a pinch of salt and sauté until onions are softened, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Add approximately 1 1/2 cans of black beans to the bowl and, using a potato masher or fork, mash all of the ingredients together until a pasty mixture forms. Stir in the remaining beans along with the tomato paste, egg, corn, cumin, crushed red pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir in the cooked quinoa and ground oats until evenly distributed.
3. Form the mixture into 9 equal burger s, compacting them well with your hands as you form them. Place the burgers on a baking sheet, cover them with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
4. When ready to eat, preheat the oven to 400° F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and place the burger s on the sheet. Cook 10 to 12 minutes, until the burger s are golden brown and crispy, then carefully flip them over and cook another 10 minutes.
5. Cut tomatoes into thick slices for the burger.
6. Take the two avocados (if you’re serving all of the burgers at the same time) and split them in half, while still in the skin, cut them into grids and then move everything to a bowl and mash. This will create an avocado spread for the burger. Add a bit of salt.