As you may know, I am a pesco-vegetarian. Easily explained, the only meat I eat is fish. As you also may know, I live in the Pacific Northwest where there is no shortage of fresh delicious fish that can be cooked at a summer time cookout, but fish can be expensive and sometimes I wanna be part of the gang (mine being largely populated with meat eaters) and have a good ‘ol BURGER. SO… I have tried many Black Bean Burger recipes, and while always managed to create something filling and tasty — they always had 1 major problem. THEY FALL APART! The second I attempt to either flip the burger in the pan or eat it — it falls apart and makes a huge mess.

So I have adapted my own recipe! This recipe was expressly made so that I could freeze a bunch of patties for quick use down the line – but you can alway use some math to break this down if need be.

I CAN HAS BEAN BURGER?

Recipe yields about 8 standard sized burgers.

Ingredients

• 2 Peppers (any color)
• 2 Cans Black Beans
• 1 Can Black Eye Peas
• 5 Cloves Garlic
• 1 White Onion
• 1 TBSP Thai Chili Sauce
• 2.5 TBSP Chili Powder
• 2 TBSP Cumin
• 2 TSP Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 TBSP Salt
• 1/2 Cup Cut Okra
• 1 Cup Bread Crumbs

Directions for Patties

1. Drain all beans and cook over Medium Heat in a large Pot for 30 minutes with Diced Onion. (be sure to give them a stir occasionally.
2. Finely Chop Peppers and set aside
3. In a small bowl mix Cumin, Chili Powder, Salt and Red Pepper Flakes, and Thai Cili Sauce minced Garlic, set aside.
4. Puree Okra into a paste then mix into mixture above, set aside.
5. Let cooked beans and Onions cool to room temperature.
6. Mix in Okra Puree mixture, chopped Peppers and Bread Crumbs
7. Form into 0.25 inch thick patties

Directions for Cooking

So far, only tried cooking these in a pan, but my goal for these was to be able to cook them on the grill outside, so once I try that — I’ll update this and let you know.

For pan grilling these, all a bit of olive oil into the pan and in Medium Low heat cook about 10 – 15 minutes on each side.

To cook them on the outdoor grill: Get the grill VERY HOT, cook about 5 – 8 minutes on each side.

Taste & Texture

They turned out a little crunchy on the outside while still moist on the inside, which was the texture I wanted. I do like spice, so these have a bit of a kick to them but I wouldn’t consider them spicy, per sa. I think my next batch may add in a  jalapeño pepper.

I enjoyed cooking and eating a burger without it falling apart (which has always been my main complaint about all other bean burger recipes I have attempted int he past.) I hope you enjoy it too! If you adapt this further with success please share your improvements with me! :)