Matt builds a Bean Burger

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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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This batch ended up making 23 large burgers.

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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.

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