Who’d have though black bean veggie burgers could actually be tasty?

Today I present to you my recipe for black bean veggie burgers!  In learning to listen to my body, I’ve discovered that I don’t handle meat very well. I’ll cook it for other people, and I have no problem with other people eating it, but for the most part I just don’t eat the stuff anymore myself.  So I’ve been searching for tasty vegetarian recipes lately and also trying to come up with some of my own as I try and figure out, through trial and error, what my body functions best on. This recipe is one I’ve been working on for a while now, and I think I’ve finally got it the way I want it. Once they’re all cooked up, I like to top these black bean veggie burgers with mayo or guacamole, fresh spinach and tomatoes! 🙂

Black Bean Veggie Burgers: Ingredients

• 2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups  mushrooms, diced
• 1 cup quick (not instant) rolled oats
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 large carrots, grated
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 ½ tbsp cumin (or adjust to taste)
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp cilantro
• 2 tsp mustard powder (or just use prepared mustard to taste)
• 3 tbsp olive oil

Tip: if you find the mix is too wet, just add a little more oats, or a tablespoon or two of oat bran. Don’t add too much, though, or your patties will end up with a pasty texture.

Black Bean Veggie Burgers: Directions

Cover two cookie sheets with waxed paper.

Reserve 1 cup beans and 1 cup mushrooms. Place all remaining ingredients into a food processor and process until well mixed. And remaining beans and mushrooms and pulse until combined into mixture (make sure you still have some beans and mushroom pieces in the mix to add some texture).

Form the mixture into 12 patties, with 6 on each cookie sheet. (I use a lightly oiled round cookie cutter and drop spoonfuls of the mixture inside the cookie cutter well to form my patties. If you don’t have one, you can make one by cutting the bottom off a cream cheese container, leaving about ¾ inch of plastic around the top rim. Makes a perfect sized patty!)

Put the cookie sheets with the finished patties into the freezer until completely frozen.  Once they’re frozen, use scissors to cut the wax paper the patties are sitting on up into individual patties sitting on squares of wax paper.  Stack the patties up (make sure you keep a piece of wax paper between them – it’s critical!) into a freezer bag and store them in the freezer. They’ll keep for weeks!

To cook your patties from frozen, peel off the wax paper, then place the patty on a lightly oiled or buttered piece of aluminum foil on a cookie sheet and  broil on low for about 7 minutes a side. Keep an eye on your patties the first time you try this, as all ovens are different and you don’t want them to burn! (I cook mine in a toaster oven, and it actually takes about 14 minutes for the first side and about 8 for the second side…)

These black bean veggie burgers are kind of squishy (definitely not a meat texture), but they have an awesome flavour! I’m still looking for the perfect veggie burger recipe that will hold together well enough for a summer barbecue, so if you’ve got one, please share in the comments section! 🙂