Spring may be on the way but there’s still plenty of comfort food season left. Not wanting to miss out, today I decided to make black bean burgers. The recipe is simple, using the typical black bean burger ingredients, but this one has the cheese mixed in.
The only alteration I made to this was to add quinoa to the mixture. I also made my own salsa. There’s no reason to buy the jarred stuff when you can make your own with just a few simple ingredients and about 15 minutes. The recipe says it makes 4 burgers, but they are small, so if you want heartier portions, maybe increase the ingredients to one and a half or twice the amount listed below.
When I make these again, I’m going to add some sriracha to the mixture. The pepper jack was yummy, but didn’t give as much spice as I was hoping for.
Ingredients (Adapted from Fine Cooking)
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 15.5-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- Kosher salt
- 2 oz. finely grated pepper Jack cheese (1/2 cup)
- 1 large scallion, minced
- 2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 Tbs. olive oil; more for the plate
- 4 whole-wheat hamburger buns, toasted
- Jarred salsa, for serving (I made my own, recipe below)
- Sliced avocado, for serving
Quick Salsa
- 10-15 cherry tomatoes (I used these because regular tomatoes have not been very good lately)
- ½ jalepeno, with seeds if you want some heat
- ¼ red onion, diced
- 2 tsps chopped cilantro
- 1 garlic clove
Put the oats in a food processor and pulse three times to roughly chop. Add half of the beans and pulse into a coarse paste, about 6 pulses. Add the egg, cumin, and 1/2 tsp. salt and process to mix well, about 1 minute. Transfer the bean mixture to a large bowl. Stir in the remaining beans, the cheese, scallion, and cilantro.
With wet hands, form the bean mixture into four 1/2-inch-thick patties and transfer to a lightly oiled plate. Refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes to let the burgers set up.
Heat a large heavy-duty skillet (preferably cast iron) on high heat until very hot; add the oil and swirl the pan to coat the bottom. Cook the burgers until browned, with a good crust, 2 to 3 minutes; then carefully flip and cook, flipping again if necessary, until the burgers feel firm when pressed with a fingertip, another 3 to 5 minutes. Serve the burgers in the buns, topped with the salsa and avocado.
Carrot Sticks To Your Ribs 