Matt builds a Bean Burger

fishermanmatt

I must admit I love a good bean burger. This past year I decided to try making them myself instead of buying the premise ones in the freezer section. My first couple attempts were pretty bad. They were bland and lacked any texture. I kept experimenting with different ingredients following some advise I received online. I've probably made these 12-15 now and have a pretty good base recipe now. While making these I've learned that texture is really important. I prefer my bean burger to have lots of chunks in them. Another key is that beans can take a LOT or seasoning. If you think you have enough, consider doubling or tripling the seasoning. There's not much worse than a bland bean burger. Anyway, here's how I make then. You'll need:

15 habanero peppers
1 bunch of parsley
2 bunches of green onions
2 pounds of carrots (I used the baby carrots.)
18 teaspoons of minced garlic
1 can of corn
2 cans of black beans
1 can light red kidney beans
1 can dark red kidney beans
1/2 cup flax seeds
4 large eggs
1 cup glutton free bread crumbs
8 tablespoons Cumin
4 tablespoons ginger
2 tablespoons coriander
6 teaspoons of oregano
6 tablespoons of worcestershire sauce
Unflavored Metamucil (as needed)

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/0b9f87e527656d7fb1d40fdf8bbbb86f_zps571c0c8e.jpg[/img]

Start by cleaning the habaneros and placing them I'm the blender. Be careful if you've never messed with these peppers. The oils in them can burn your skin and will stick around for days. Beware of touching your eyes, nose, and other sensitive areas.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/7de022be80a2de4326961bab85fea025_zps900e18d4.jpg[/img]

Next up, give the parsley a course chop. Since I'm using a blender, I basically just cut the stems off. Add to the blender.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/a61106df2fcd879f3eff22b9f42b4a54_zpsc034f8cf.jpg[/img]

Next, chop the green onion. I just remove the roots and tips then cut into chunks room added to the blender. Add to the blender.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/c1b87813630f91ffe958d69da7a7c0c0_zps7bd96386.jpg[/img]

Use the blender to give everything a good chop. As you can see in the next photo, I leave things a bit chunky. Dump everything out into a large mixing bowl.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/40bfb1be06b619966832a5594bb4ba28_zpsd044320c.jpg[/img]

Add the carrots to the blender and give them a good chop. As my blender chops the carrots the smaller pieces stick to the sides and large chunks fall back into the blade. I just let it run under all the carrots are stuck to the side walls. Add the carrots to the mixing bowl.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/e9b66374784a2f5d3b417ca4e6c35540_zps779efe7f.jpg[/img]

Give the bowl a good stir to evenly mix everything. You want to make sure the peppers get evenly distributed. Next, add the garlic and stir.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/649f0f0bead47de7ae717f97d830b899_zps2ca8e5a4.jpg[/img]

Strain and rinse one can of black beans and the can of corn. I leave these whole to add texture to the burgers.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/960a21415eb66abb23a82b11120bbf4e_zps316056ec.jpg[/img]

Add the bean and corn mixture to the bowl and stir to mix. Then add the cumin, ginger, coriander, oregano, Worcestershire, and flax seeds. Them stir to mix.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/c666f961d8efef437d5d29ef4ffb32d6_zpsde29a275.jpg[/img]

Add the four eggs to your blender, then the remaining three cans of beans (rinsed and drained). Process until smooth and add to the bowl.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/1b73e4d25ebc13e68f98e5c2efb825dc_zpsd078c54a.jpg[/img]

Thoroughly mix the contents of the bowl, then add the breadcrumbs. I've tried the recipe without the breadcrumbs and the burgers don't seem to form a good "crust" when cooking. Adding to much of the breadcrumbs seemed to lead to the burgers falling apart while eating. One cup seems to be a happy medium when the burger forms a good crust and still holds together when eating.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/070e16c68d8a687f85bd635c289e4ad2_zps183c2ccb.jpg[/img]

Stir everything together and let the mixture sit for a couple minutes. This allows the bread crumbs to absorb some of the liquid in the mixture. The burger mixture should taste great now but there is a problem. Due to all the veggies the mix is to wet to form good patties. In the photo below I just ran my spatula through the mix from 12 o'clock to six o'clock.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/d56d8d7f4b9b472c65fbe482b933244c_zpsf81acd7b.jpg[/img]

Ideally, you want the two sides to stay separate instead of having the mixture fall back onto itself. In earlier versions I adjusted the breadcrumbs to get the consistency I wanted. Too many breadcrumbs lead to the burgers falling apart. On a whim I decided to add Fiber powder to the mix. I find that adding Metamucil to the mix absorbs the liquid like I need but doesn't change the texture of flavor of the cooked burgers.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/ec305f0a10002658ee40f4b4b891ef0f_zpsb8712f53.jpg[/img]

Mix everything together well and let it sit for a few minutes. You can't beat a good burger press, waxed paper squares and a disher for making uniform burger patties.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/fa97379b224864c41415a1aebad14f61_zps4f4bcfe4.jpg[/img]

This batch ended up making 23 large burgers.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/bead954d5bf4a6a9e4ebb7b518b2dcb0_zps3861314d.jpg[/img]

I form the burger patties and store them in the deep freezer. To cook, preheat a pan in the oven at 425. Add a little oil to the hot pan, add the burger patty and cook for 20-24 minutes.

Enjoy.

Please note the nutrition info below is a little inaccurate on some of the veggies and spices.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/498a87a372d0c45d51abd92cb73f3cbd_zps98881a2c.jpg[/img]

Alluminati

Nice. Good pics too.

goldylocs37

This is awesome! Thanks for posting your top-secret recipe!

Equina

bump

claudiakendall98

Bump

FritzTheCat1030

That's a LOT of habaneros. :noway:

Other than that, it looks great!

piratesaregrand

Ohhh yum

fishermanmatt

That's a LOT of habaneros. :noway:

You'll think with that many peppers the burger would be extremely spicy. The burgers didn't turn out quite as spicy as l had hoped for. They have a little burn in your mouth but you don't get the warming effect to your head and chest that I wanted.

Here's a pic of the finished product that I forgot to add to the original post.

[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers/094bac734370642ed4413d34f7fa21d8_zps0de06c57.jpg[/img]

pocketmole

i love the flavor of habaneros - this sounds like an awesome black bean burger

happystars82

sounds totally lush!! need to buy me a food processor!

minizebu

Bumping to check out later.

lua_

Bump, looks amazinnggggg

CynthiaT60

I must admit I love a good bean burger. This past year I decided to try making them myself instead of buying the premise ones in the freezer section. My first couple attempts were pretty bad. They were bland and lacked any texture. I kept experimenting with different ingredients following some advise I received online. I've probably made these 12-15 now and have a pretty good base recipe now. While making these I've learned that texture is really important. I prefer my bean burger to have lots of chunks in them. Another key is that beans can take a LOT or seasoning. If you think you have enough, consider doubling or tripling the seasoning. There's not much worse than a bland bean burger. Anyway, here's how I make them.
[...]

I've never had a bean burger that held together. These look really good. Is the Metamucil absolutely necessary?
And I couldn't see the pics (is the nutritional info in one of the pics)?

sybrix

Super mega ultra salivating bump.

Kymmu

Great pictorial- I also love bean burgers- I add walnuts to provide crunch.
Thanks so much for the effort you went to they look delicious!

sympha01

bump

judiiiiindisguise

bump thanks for the recipe, the pics, taking the time to get the perfect balance and sharing with us!

_TastySnoBalls_

YUM!!!

fishermanmatt

I've never had a bean burger that held together. These look really good. Is the Metamucil absolutely necessary?
And I couldn't see the pics (is the nutritional info in one of the pics)?

The Metamucil seems to act like the glue that holds everything together. With all the veggies in the recipe the mix gets pretty wet and difficult to form into patties. Adding bread crumbs (or corn meal) dries absorbs the liquid but adding to much seems to cause the patties to fall apart. The fiber absorbs dries out the mix and kind of makes the patties stick together. I used to have an issue getting the burgers to stay together. That issue has gone away since I started adding the Metamucil.

Here's a link to the album with all the photos. I can't seem to edit my original post to fix the links.

http://photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers

babynew

Great Work!
.. can't wait to give it a go..easily tweeked.perhaps the flax meal instead of egg would make it less wet & bind better?
Ty:flowerforyou:

CynthiaT60

The Metamucil seems to act like the glue that holds everything together. With all the veggies in the recipe the mix gets pretty wet and difficult to form into patties. Adding bread crumbs (or corn meal) dries absorbs the liquid but adding to much seems to cause the patties to fall apart. The fiber absorbs dries out the mix and kind of makes the patties stick together. I used to have an issue getting the burgers to stay together. That issue has gone away since I started adding the Metamucil.

Here's a link to the album with all the photos. I can't seem to edit my original post to fix the links.

http://photobucket.com/albums/cc135/fisher_man_matt/2013-09-21 Bean Burgers

Thanks! And way to go with your weight loss; I just noticed your ticker (duh)!