Spicy Black Bean Burgers

You may have noticed I’ve been on a veggie burger and vegetable-kick lately. I have have been looking for new recipes for my meat-loving husband to try and challenging myself to find the occasional meatless (or semi-meatless) recipe for him and I to enjoy! Don’t get me wrong – I’m not becoming a vegetarian (far from it), but am trying to learn to cook veggies in ways that I don’t normally try to. And these burgers take the cake – they’re B’s favorite vegetarian thing I’ve made this year so far.

Spicy Black Bean Burgers (adapted from Eat Live Run)

Here’s what you need:

2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
2 jalapeno peppers
3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp flaxseed meal
½ medium red onion
1 tbsp cumin
½ fresh tomato, diced
½ c panko breadcrumbs
½ c canned corn

Here’s what you do:

Chop jalapenos in half and remove seeds.
Add de-seeded jalapeno and garlic cloves to a food processor and mince finely.
Add chopped onion to food processor and continue to dice.
Add one of the cans of beans and flaxseed to the food processor and combine with jalapeno and garlic mixture.
Add cumin and mix until the mixture is has a texture that is similar to that of an oatmeal cookie.
Using a spatula, stir in panko bread crumbs and mix well.
Stir in chopped tomato, canned corn and remaining can of beans.
Form mixture into small burger patties. Mine made about 10 patties.
OPTIONAL PRE-COOKING STEP: Pop in the freezer for a little while to help patties harden. This isn’t necessary but definitely helps the texture since the patties are very mushy and crumbly when they cook. Since they made 10 patties, I made mine over the weekend and froze them ahead of time and only took out 4 to cook the evening of (2 for B, 1 for me for dinner and 1 for me for lunch the next day).
Spray a pan with nonstick cooking spray and heat on medium. Fry black bean burgers on each side: if fresh, 5 min per side will do, if frozen you will want to cook longer, 10 min on each side or until completely defrosted and crusty and golden on each side.
Enjoy how you like your burgers! I enjoyed mine with avocado and sriracha on an English muffin.