I am a huge veggie burger fan. And when I say huge I mean huuuuuuuuuge. And this post is about making the homemade veggie burger great again. While perusing through my meager looking fridge and pantry (tomorrow is the grocery run,) trying to come up with a substantive meal for my lunch party of three, I spotted two cans of beans and instantly thought of bean burgers. I recently made an attempt at bean burgers using a recipe from Pinterest, but found them lacking in seasoning. I decided to give it another shot using what I had on hand and it turned out to be a filling, healthy, and delicious lunch for the two toddlers and me.
I pulled out some eggs and the lot of my remaining fresh produce, which consisted of a shallot, half of a sweet onion, garlic, parsley, and rosemary. From the pantry I pulled out wheat germ (to bind the mixture) and a handful of my favorite seasonings: chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, oregano, and salt. I keep wheat germ stocked in the pantry to use as a more nutritious substitute for breadcrumbs.
Two important things for me when it comes to making food are cooking to taste and cleaning up as I go. I very seldom strictly adhere to measurements in recipes (which is why I am such a horrid baker) but prefer to play around with the ingredients to create my own desired tastes. Most recipes that I share here will be ones that I love because they are open to modifications so that you can either follow the recipe or mix it up and make it your own. Don’t get me wrong, I use recipes a ton, but mostly as a guideline and where there is room for modifications I take my liberties.
I never believe time limits cited on recipes because it almost always takes me longer partly because cooking at the end of the day is somewhat therapeutic for me so I enjoy it and take my time, but mostly because I clean and put things away as I go. This is mainly because I prefer to have a clean workspace and do my best to prevent a gigantic mess once I’m done. When I’m cooking in the evening I’m happy to take my time, but when I have two ankle biters casting trucks, puzzle pieces, and balls around my feet as I’m in the kitchen, time is of the essence. From pulling out the ingredients to setting lunch on the table this bean burger recipe was completed in its entirety in about 30 minutes, making it a fantastic lunch on the double.
I enjoyed my bean burgers over spinach tossed in a balsamic Dijon vinaigrette with sliced apples. The boys haven’t mastered the art of the spork well enough to have salad yet, so their version of the burger meal became a Mediterranean cuisine concoction: whole wheat pita hummus sandwiches, with bean burgers and sliced apples on the side.
This recipes yields about 14 small or 8 medium sized burgers. The left overs will last up to two days in the fridge, or frozen for a couple of weeks.
The listed spices and fresh herbs are what I used, but measurements can be changed, and you can swap in/out with whatever you have.
Bean Burgers on the Double
Ingredients:
- 2 cans of beans (black, white, pinto, navy, kidney)
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup wheat germ
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- ½ tablespoon garlic powder
- ½ tablespoon paprika
- ½ cumin
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 onion (and or shallot)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- About 4 tablespoons olive oil
Directions:
- Drain beans in strainer, transfer to large mixing bowl and partially mash with potato masher.
- Add eggs, wheat germ, salt, oregano, chili powder, paprika, and cumin, and stir with rubber spatula to combine.
- Dice onions and garlic.
- Heat olive oil in sauté pan. Add onions and cook for about 5 minutes. Once they become golden add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Take off heat.
- Add onion mixture to bean mixture and combine. Make sure to get all of onion mixture out of pan with spatula.
- Heat more olive oil in pan. Using spatula add a golf ball amount of mixture to your hands and roll into ball. Place in pan and gently flatten. Continue until pan is full. It will probably take two rounds to use up mixture.
- Cook patties on both sides for about 7 minutes.
- Serve warm over greens, in a bun, or however else you prefer. Enjoy!