Friend Ed pestered us a few weeks ago for a new set of burger ideas to serve at a party he was planning (coming up this weekend actually, and I don’t think Ed had any idea yesterday was National Burger Day).
He threw us a bit of curveball in that he insisted we find him a “black bean burger than didn’t taste like s**t on a shingle”. It seems Ed has a new daughter-in-law who is an avowed vegetarian, and while we’ve had some black bean burgers over the years that were pretty tasty, we’ve also run across a fair number that were awful.
After a fair amount of pestering chef friends ourselves, plowing through a fair number of trials (and errors) and researching recipes, we settled on this version with a decidedly southwestern flair. No surprise there as many of our recipes skew southwestern, but a true black bean burger needs a fairly potent spice kick to avoid the ‘mouth full of mush’ common to many commercially produced vege-burgers.
A few other observations worthy of note if you’ve read this far –
- For reasons that are unclear to us, canned black beans gave us burgers with a better texture than using our home cooked black bean recipes.
- The spices, combined with the onion, garlic and the two chiles and the cotija, add enough flavor to make these pretty damned interesting and even fooled a neighbor who was convinced it was meat.
- Drying the beans in the oven is a crucial step and is what provides the better texture.
- If your mixture is too dry and won’t form patties without crumbling, up the mayo and / or add another egg.
- Some recipes add coarsely ground nuts (cashews for example), though we didn’t like the texture
- While black bean burgers can be difficult to cook on the grill, we’ve had no trouble cooking on a well oiled grill and lightly oiling the uncooked side of the patty before turning.
True carnivores won’t replace their medium-rare, 80/20 blend fresh-grind burger blend with this, but it’s a nice recipe to have in the arsenal and makes a killer vegetarian eggs Benedict.
2 14-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed (see note above)
2 tbsp. oil
1 onion, chopped fine
3 garlic cloves, chopped fine
1 4-ounce can green chiles
2 chipotle chiles in adobo, minced
1/2 cup cotija cheese, crumbled (feta in a pinch)
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs OR crushed tortilla chips
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped fine
2 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 egg
2-3 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. dried Mexican oregano
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. cayenne
1-2 tsp. kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper to tasteTypical burger toppings, buns and cheese for the grill (or pan) – we like best with pepper jack or Swiss
Bean prep. Drain and rinse the beans, spread on a foiled lined baking sheet and place in a 350 degree over for 15-20 minutes. Look for most of the beans to split open and the skins to begin to dry and get a bit crunchy. Remove from oven and cool.
Meanwhile, sauté. Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a medium skillet, add the onion and sauté until soft, add the garlic and cook for two minutes then add the green and chipotle chiles, simmer for 2 minutes, then dump into a large mixing bowl.
Mush the beans. When the beans are cool enough to handle, pour into your food processor bowl along with crumbled cotija; pulse until roughy chopped. Add to the onion mixture in the large bowl.
Now the rest. To the large bowl now add the bread crumbs, cilantro, mayonnaise, egg, cumin, oregano, cayenne, salt and pepper; mix well. Feel free to add another egg or more mayo if the mixture seems too loose.
Grill ‘em up. Form into patties and either grill (well-oiled grill, medium hot fire, don’t move for 4-5 minutes before turning, oil the second side before turn) or brown in a lightly oiled skillet.
Serve on toasted burger buns with all the trimmings, melt a slice of pepper jack or Swiss cheese on that patty after the turn.
Enjoy.
