Black Bean and Quinoa Veggie Burgers

We've all had a bad veggie burger. They're bland and mushy and leave you unsatisfied. 

Before I made these black bean and quinoa burgers, I had only tried one other time to make vegan burgers. They were okay, but I wasn't going to hold onto the recipe. The other day I had my friend over for dinner because she was considering going vegan and wanted to pick my brain. Since I was leaving to go out of town the day after she came over I didn't have much food to work with, but thankfully I found a recipe for veggie burgers using most of the ingredients I had in the house. Overall the recipe reviews were positive, but I wasn't sure how "veganizing" the burgers would affect their consistency and more importantly if they'd hold together. Nobody likes a crumbly burger.

Thankfully, these turned out great! They actually had flavor and didn't fall apart with each bite we took. If you're okay with spice, I'd highly recommend increasing the seasonings even more to bump up the flavor. These are also great burgers to freeze and reheat throughout the week.

Black Bean and Quinoa Veggie Burgers

(Serves 5)

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup cooked black beans (or one can, drain and rinsed)
• 1/4 cup dry quinoa*
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth*
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 2 tablespoons minced onion
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon frank's hot sauce
• 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoons warm water)
• 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup corn
• 1 small jalapeño, seeded and minced

*If you already have some cooked quinoa, you can substitute the 1/4 cut dry quinoa and 1/2 cup veggie broth for 3/4 cup cooked quinoa.

Directions:

1. Prepare your flax egg by whisking together 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of warm water. Set aside to "gel".
2. In a small sauce, bring the quinoa and vegetable broth to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the quinoa is tender and the broth has been absorbed.
3. While the quinoa is cooking, place the black beans into a large bowl and mash them with a fork until there are only a few whole beans left and a paste has formed.
4. Add in the flax egg, oat flour, onion, garlic, cumin, salt, hot sauce, cilantro, corn and jalapeño and mix everything together using your hands.
5. Form into 5 patties and if possible let the patties rest for 20 minutes in the fridge.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a baking tray with cooking spray. Place the chilled patties on the baking tray and spray the tops with cooking spray.
7. Bake the patties for 15 minutes, flip the over, and bake for 15 minutes more.
8. For extra delicious patties, after the patties have baked in the oven, "fry" them on a hot skillet for 2 minutes on each side using cooking spray.
9. Serve on whole wheat buns with any fixings you desire! In my opinion, lettuce, tomato, avocado and spicy mustard are always winners.

Notes: Adapted from All Recipes.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the burgers after baking. They went too quickly!

Eat Consciously,

Faith