Black Bean Burgers

The other day I was craving a veggie burger. I used to eat them all the time with my roommate in college. By all the time, I mean I lived on veggie burgers and fajitas sophomore year. So, while I was at the grocery store last week, I took a look at the frozen veggie burgers.  There is now quite a selection, ranging from vegetable burgers to bean burgers to soy burgers, and on and on.  Each box boasted its positive nutritional facts on the front of the box.  Once I flipped the box over, to look at the nutritional labels and try to narrow down my selection, I realized that all of the burgers were FULL of preservatives and unnatural ingredients that I couldn't pronounce.  Needless to say, I decided to make my own burger.

The inspiration for this particular black bean burger came from another blog, The Bipolar Bon Vivant.  You can find her recipe here: http://bipolarbonvivant.blogspot.com/2012/02/some-like-it-hot-spicy-black-bean.html. 

The ingredients for this burger are very similar to those that went into my taco salad:

• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
• 1/3 cup onion
• 1 chipotle pepper
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 egg

  

The first step is to mix everything together.  I did this in two stages.  First, I mashed together the beans, onion, corn, and chipotle pepper with a fork.  I did these ingredients separately in order to make sure that most of the beans were mashed. Then I added in the egg and breadcrumbs.

 Just like with any type of burger, the next step is to form patties with the mixture. I ended up with 5 medium-sized patties.

Then I baked the patties in the oven for about 20 minutes, at 375 degrees, flipping the burgers at the ten minute mark. 

While the burgers were cooking, I sauteed some green bell pepper to top my burger.  In college, the sauteed peppers and onions on top of the burgers were my favorite part.

Although they are not pictured, I also made sweet potato fries to go with my burger.  I put them in the oven a few minutes before the burgers, and they came out at the same time. (I love it when timing works out!)  In the end, these burgers were just okay.  They weren't spectacular, and they didn't suck.  They were nice texture but were a little on the boring side. I do not plan on making this particular recipe again.  However, I have not given up on veggie burgers.  Next up on my list is a chickpea lentil burger.