Meatless Monday? A Meatless Recipe from a Monday

My family is solidly omnivorous.

We like plants. We also really like meat.

Omnivorous.

I like to say it slowly with a dark overtone. 1950s horror film style.
I know. I'm weird like that.

I try to squeeze meatless meals into our menu though. A solid favorite at our house is the black bean burger. We have them at least once a month. Sometimes twice a month. Our family likes them served on buns with cheese, BBQ sauce, and a few crunchy French fried onions. My brother likes them cold, as a snack, straight from the fridge. However you choose to eat them, they are a healthy, fast, economical meal.

**Disclaimer**
These are BLACK BEAN burgers. They don't taste like meat. They don't have a meat texture. This recipe is not for a fake meat substitute burger patty. This recipe is for a super yummy, meatless, black bean burger.

Ok, now that we have that out of the way. I tried quite a few black bean burger recipes, and then tinkered around until I came up with the way that we like them best.

What you'll need to make 8 regular bun size patties:
black beans, from a can or cooked from dry
panko crumbs
eggs
ground cumin
ground cayenne
salt
olive oil
That's it. Seven ingredients.

Let's get started.

Black Beans

You need three 15 oz cans of UNSEASONED black beans, drained and rinsed. If you prefer to use dry beans, then you will need to have 4 cups of COOKED and cooled black beans. (Please note, that is 4 cups of cooked beans not 4 cups of dry beans!) Place them in a large bowl.

Coarsely Mashed

Add 3 eggs to your beans, 2 teaspoons of olive oil, the cumin, cayenne, and salt. I will provide spice measurements in the printable recipe at the end. Please adjust them according to your taste buds! Now coarsely mash everything all together using your potato masher. Yes, mine has an avocado green handle. I hear that avocado is making a come back, so please don't be jealous. Don't puree or pulverize it to bits. It needs to be a bit chunky.

Once you have everything coarsely mashed together, add in the panko crumbs and gently mix it up.

Ready to make patties

Place oil in a large flat bottomed skillet. Use some personal judgment here. You need enough oil to very lightly fry the patties. I use about 3 tablespoons in my big skillet. Heat the oil on medium high heat for a minute or so, but don't let it start smoking.

Lightly browned and crisped

Use your mixture to form patties- about 1/2 cup each- and gently place in the hot oil. Cook until very, lightly browned and crisp and then flip over. About 2 1/2 minutes per side. If your stove runs hot, brown and crisp both sides of your patties and then turn the heat down to medium to cook through without burning.

Serve as is, hot from the pan, or place on buns and serve with your favorite burger fixin's.

Once cooked, these refrigerate and reheat very well.


Black Bean Burgers (approximately 8 patties)
3 (15oz) cans of unseasoned black beans, drained and rinsed OR 4 cups cooked black beans
3 eggs
2 tsp olive oil, plus oil for light pan frying
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper, even more if you like a lot of kick to it
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup panko crumbs

1. Place beans in a large bowl.
2. Add in all ingredients, except the panko crumbs. Coarsely mash the mixture.
3. Gently mix in the panko crumbs.
4. Heat a light layer of oil in a large flat bottomed skillet over medium high heat.
5. Form the bean mixture into patties, using approximately 1/2 cup per patty. Place in heated skillet.
6. Lightly fry for approximately 2 1/2 minutes per side until gently browned and heated through.
7. Serve as you would any meat burger patty.