Homemade Black Bean Burgers

Interestingly, while I'm a lifelong vegetarian, I haven't always loved black bean burgers. It was unfortunate since up until a few years ago, that was the main substitute for meat. (I have always loved mushrooms, though!) However, even during that phase, a friend made me homemade black bean burgers with a recipe very close to this one. Since she'd already planned a vegetarian meal just for me, I said nothing, shot a look at my husband to ensure he wouldn't, and chomped away. And... it was delicious. I realized I'd been missing out with dry, flavorless versions at many restaurants that were only tossing in a vegetarian option as an overthought. I began to experiment with my own version and today, these are a favorite in my house.

Black beans do bring a lot of calories, but they are also incredibly filling with lots of vitamins and nutrients, so you don't need much to satisfy you. Just ensure you are buying low-salt or no-salt versions *and* rinsing them off really well. Not only is that key to getting the right texture in this recipe, but it also will get rid of any salt that is remaining. Otherwise, a healthy dinner will quickly leave your sodium skyrocketing. You'll also see I use a little bit of cheese inside mine for an extra burst of flavor and delightful surprise. You can easily leave this out if you prefer, or even tuck something else inside. Like... more guacamole. Who doesn't want more guacamole?!?

Time: 30 min

Homemade Black Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

1/2 large sweet onion, cut into a few wedges

2 garlic cloves, peeled

14-oz can black beans, low sodium preferred

1/2 c seasoned bread crumbs

2 tsp cajun seasoning

1/4 c egg whites

1/4 c shredded cheese (any type you like - I usually use a mexican mix)

1 ripe avocado

1 tomato, sliced

4 whole grain onion rolls or any favorite rolls

Get your oven pre-heating to 350.

Toss the onion and garlic into a food processor and process until they are finely chopped. Dump the black beans into a colander, rinse really well, and toss until excess water is all removed. This is key for burger texture but also removing excess salt. Add the black beans to the food processor, with the onion and garlic, and process until mashed. This goes quickly! Scrape the mixture out into a bowl.

Add the bread crumbs, cajun seasoning, and egg white to the bowl as well. You can be flexible on the bread crumb front. I use Wegmans seasoned bread crumbs that have some romano cheese, garlic, and onion. You can certainly go simpler, but I'm a fan. The best part is that these are also whole grain without advertising it. Wegmans is the queen of sneaking in whole grains without making it a big deal, which I absolutely love. Mix well until evenly combined. It should be a thicker texture, stickier than a dough but definitely moldable. If it's too runny, you likely didn't rinse and shake your beans well enough.

Split into four portions. Mold each one into a patty and then use your thumb to hollow out a hole. Add 1 tsp of shredded cheese to each and then fold the sides back over and smush (technical word) together so that the cheese isn't visible and is stuffed in the middle of the burger. Place the burgers on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, carefully flipping halfway through.

While the burgers are baking, lightly toast the buns and mash the avocado. You can add a little more fresh garlic to it to taste. Split the mashed avocado and sliced tomato between the four burgers and enjoy!