Today I’ll show you how to make black bean burgers so they come out nice and firm, not crumbling during cooking or when you bite into them.
It’s about putting together some easily available and nutritious ingredients that give a lot of flavor to the burgers and the right consistency. Besides black beans, I’m talking about rolled oats, tahini, walnuts, spices, and a few other ingredients that make them so tasty yet light.
With this mixture, I made 6 medium-sized burgers each worth almost 5 Weight Watchers points, but you can make more or fewer or even make meatballs. They’re quite balanced: there are carbohydrates, proteins, and good fats, so you can enjoy them without much bread or maybe with some air-fried potatoes.
Before moving on to the preparation, here’s some other vegan main course recipes that you can easily turn into burgers:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 6 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven, Air Frying
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 oz rolled oats (or buckwheat groats)
- 8 1/2 oz pre-cooked black beans (drained)
- 1 oz black olives (pitted)
- 1 oz walnuts (shelled)
- 1 oz tahini
- 1 onion
- 1 tbsp flax seeds (ground)
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- A few sprigs parsley (fresh)
- to taste onion, garlic, smoked paprika, turmeric, and cumin (1/2 to 1 teaspoon of each dry spice)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Total points = 29 WW points
- Points per burger (6 total burgers) = 5 WW points
Tools
- Blender
- Air Fryer
Steps
I recommend weighing all the ingredients before blending them. Of course, you need to rinse the black beans well, drain them, and chop the onion.
The flax seeds need to be ground. I use the cup of my Ninja blender which grinds them perfectly. Or you can buy them already ground, but store them in the freezer as they go rancid quickly.
Start by pulsing the oats and walnuts. Use the pulse function, as you don’t want them to become floury but remain in small pieces.
Then add everything else: the beans, onion, spices, parsley, ground flax seeds, tahini, nutritional yeast, olives, salt, and all the spices.
Keep pulsing until you get a homogeneous mixture but not a puree: there should be pieces left. When you take a little in your hand and squeeze it, it should compact without crumbling. If you want, you can store it in the fridge like this until it’s time to prepare the burgers.
Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions. I weighed the mixture, and it was about 530g, so I made 6 portions of about 88-89g each.
Shape the burgers by first making a ball and then flattening it.
For cooking, I placed them directly in the basket of my air fryer and cooked them at 356°F for 5-6 minutes per side. They shouldn’t cook too long, or the outside will become too crispy and start to break.
And here our black bean burgers are ready to be served or stored. For storage, see below, but first, here’s some serving ideas.
Here I served one in the classic way, in a whole grain bun, with lettuce and tomatoes. A little mustard goes great as a sauce. But on the side, I’ve served the burger directly on lettuce: considering there are oats, you don’t need to use a bun, you can integrate carbohydrates differently: some boiled or roasted potatoes, rice, or whatever you like.
This is how I ate it for lunch, and I really liked it: I took a whole grain tortilla and warmed it up, spread some mustard on it, then broke the burger into pieces, added lettuce and cherry tomatoes, rolled it up, and done. Delicious!
In short, there are many ideas for serving these black bean burgers. We liked them a lot, and the texture is great too. You can also make a large quantity and have them ready to use.
I’m waiting for your opinion and how you served them, let me know, and in the meantime:
Bon appetit!
by Giovanna Buono
Storage
You can store these burgers in the fridge for 3 or 4 days or in the freezer for a few months, either raw or cooked. If they’re already cooked, just thaw and warm them. If they’re raw, you can put them directly into the air fryer and increase the cooking time by a few minutes.
Be sure to keep them separated with some kitchen or baking paper, as I show here in the photo:
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Can I bake them in the oven?
Surely, in the oven, you can make more at once. I haven’t tried it, but I’m sure if you preheat the oven to 356°F, bake for 7 minutes, then flip the burgers and bake for another 7 minutes, it should be fine: you can judge by the color, they shouldn’t brown too much.
What can I use instead of black beans?
I think any other type of legume would work fine, even though I haven’t tried it myself yet.
What is nutritional yeast?
This recipe also includes nutritional yeast, which is a deactivated yeast rich in vitamin B12. It’s widely used in vegan cooking as it gives a cheesy flavor to dishes. To learn more, read here: Nutritional Yeast: what it is, how it’s used, and why!
I’m gluten intolerant, how can I adapt this recipe?
The only ingredient that might contain gluten is oats: you can use certified gluten-free oats or alternatively use buckwheat groats or quinoa flakes.
