These family favorite black bean burgers are a very tasty alternative to the beef or turkey versions, and they pack so much flavor that I don’t think you or your family will miss the other kind at all.
They are also very easy to make. It’s just a matter of mixing all the ingredients in a bowl and mashing them together with a potato masher or your hands.
And they offer many different meal alternatives. You can serve them on a roll, or by themselves, with a tossed green salad and a vegetable of your choice. You can also include regular potato or sweet potato oven fries instead of, or in addition to the rolls.
For heartier appetites, I do I serve these burgers with both the roll and fries. But you can also just serve one or the other for a lighter meal.
The burgers can also be served with guacamole and salsa, as instructed in the recipe, or they can be served the simpler, traditional burger way, with just plain catsup and relish. Either way, it’s good! Or you can try the spicy catsup alternative I mention in the recipe. I got the idea from a french fry food truck that offered many varieties of toppings for the fries, including one that was very similar to the one I've created here. It's my favorite so far.
This recipe makes 7 large burgers at a cost of about $6.00, including the rolls, cheese and guacamole. That’s about 85¢ a burger. With a green, tossed salad and a vegetable, the meal comes to about $1.25 per serving.
With your own home-made oven fries, it’s about $1.50 per person. Use store-bought fries instead, and the meal is about $1.75-$2.00 per person.
The burgers take about 10 minutes to mix and shape. But I recommend combining and mashing the ingredients and putting the mixture in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes before trying to form the patties.
You can skip this step, but it does make it much easier and less messy to shape the burgers.
The total prep time for the recipe is about 20 minutes if you use store-bought fries or don't use fries at all, or about 35 minutes if you make your own.
A realistic start-to-finish-time if you refrigerate the mixture before shaping the burgers is 50-90 minutes. If you make the burger mix early in the day (or the night before), this meal can be ready in 20-35 minutes.
Here’s the recipe:
Makes 7 large burgers
Total prep time – 30-90 minutes (depending on if you opt to refrigerate mix before shaping burgers)
Start to finish time – Approx. 40 minutes
Total recipe cost – Approx. $6.00
Total per person meal cost with rolls, French or sweet potato fries, vegetable and salad – Approx. $2.00
Ingredients for the Burgers:
2 15-ounce cans black beans 2 jalapeno peppers (this is mild, but use more or less to taste) OR 2 tablespoons jalapeno relish, or similar product (to taste) 4-6 green onions 1 cup oatmeal 2 eggs 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon paprika 4-6 ounces Monterey Jack, Cheddar, or cheese of your choice 4-8 tablespoons salsa (homemade or store-bought) (optional) -OR- Spicy Catsup (mix catsup and mayo in 2:1 ratio, with 1/4 teaspoon each of garlic powder + cayenne pepper) Romaine, green or red lettuce, spinach, or other salad green (optional) Avocado (optional) 6-8 hamburger rolls (optional) Ingredients for the Meal (optional): French fries or sweet potato fries Fresh tossed green salad Fresh or frozen vegetable of your choice Recipe continues after photos
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