Black bean burgers with bold southwest flavors, wholesome beans, and made with ease in a food processor or blender. Add extra flavor to each vegetarian patty using your favorite toppings and spreads.
Black bean burgers are an affordable plant-based protein and this handheld meal is easy to prepare. Legumes are a favorite ingredient to incorporate into meatless patties. They are neutral in flavor and there hold shape well when mashed and formed.
These dark-colored beans give a similar appearance to their beefy counterparts but are packed with fiber and healthy protein. This hearty veggie burger recipe is vegan-friendly and makes for a fun to customize meal with toppings of your choice.
How to make black bean burgers
- Reserve 6 tablespoons of liquid from the canned beans.
- Dry the black beans between paper towels.
- Whisk together flour and black bean liquid.
- Add onions and seasonings, stir to combine.
- Grind corn chips in a food processor.
- Add beans and process until coarsely ground.
- Combine black bean mixture with flour mixture.
- Measure a 1/2 cup of the bean mixture and shape into 4-inch wide patties and place on a baking sheet.
- Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add patties, cook until browned and crisp, 4-5 minutes on each side.
- Serve with hamburger buns and desired toppings.
Patties that stick together
Black bean patties are notorious for falling apart when cooking. To help them stick together, drain the beans thoroughly to control the amount of moisture in the mixture. Just don’t throw away the liquid!
The canned bean liquid contains natural starches from the beans that can make a sticky paste which helps with binding. You can also make the stove top black beans for the base. Flour also provides extra cohesiveness. As it becomes hydrated and mixed, gluten formation helps to create protein bonds that like to form and stick together.
Enhance the flavor
On their own black beans can be pretty bland, and admittedly boring. That’s where concentrated dried spices and fresh herbs step in. A generous amount of cumin, coriander, garlic, cilantro, garlic, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper are stirred into the patty mixture.
Onion and garlic powder or some finely chopped bell pepper would also add nice earthy flavors to the patties. If you like a little spicer burger, add some hot sauce for a kick!
Add tortilla chips for binding
To make a more sturdy base for the patty that holds together, adding in some crushed corn tortilla chips instead of bread crumbs adds texture. The chips also have more starch for binding and help to absorb some of the bean liquid to keep the burger moist and flavorful.
Adding chips essentially creates a panade for the black bean burgers. They should be processed into crumbs using a food processor or blender, but not entirely ground down like a flour. Corn chips compliment the earthy flavors of the seasonings for a southwestern taste.
How do you create the bean patty?
Process the beans with the corn chips just until lightly broken down, with some chunks remaining. It should not be fully pureed like a hummus. If you don’t have a food processor, you can press the beans with a fork. Once all of the bean burger patties are solidly packed and formed, it’s time to cook!
Stovetop cooking
A nonstick skillet is the best way to get a golden and crisp surface without adhering to the pan. Each bean burger patty is cooked in the skillet with some oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side.
Ideas for topping
- Iceberg or butter leaf lettuce
- Thick sliced tomato
- Spreads like mayonnaise or barbecue sauce
- Guacamole or avocado slices
- Thinly sliced radish for crunch
- Grilled peppers and onions
Serve this with
The importance of adding in a panade
A panade is a mixture of starch with liquid to create a paste. This mixture helps to bind proteins together, added texture and structure, and keeps food moist. Most often applied in meatballs and meatloaf, the same principle can be used to help the beans bind together using the starches in the corn chips, flour, and liquid from the beans. The result is a more sturdy burger patty.
Black Bean Burgers
Ingredients
- 30 ounces (851 g) canned black beans
- 2 tablespoons (17 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (32 g) minced green onions
- 3 tablespoons minced cilantro
- 2 teaspoons (4 g) minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon (2 g) cumin
- ½ teaspoon coriander
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 ¾ cups (30 g) corn tortilla chips
- ¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil
- 5 hamburger buns
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with three layers of paper towels.
- Reserve 6 tablespoons of the liquid from the black beans and place in a medium-sized bowl.
- Rinse the beans, shake to remove excess moisture and evenly spread across the paper towels. Allow them to dry while preparing the other ingredients.
- Add flour to the bowl with the bean liquid and whisk until smooth.
- Add minced onions, cilantro, garlic, cumin, coriander, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper, stir to combine. Set aside.
- Add chips to a food processor and process on high speed until finely ground, about 30 seconds.
- Add the dried black beans to the food processor and pulse until coarsely ground, about 5 pulses.
- Add black bean mixture to the bowl with the flour mixture. Stir to combine.
- Measure out ½ cup of the black bean mixture and form and flatted into 4-inch wide patties. Makes 5 black bean burgers.
- Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add in 1 tablespoon of oil.
- Once the oil is hot carefully add in 3 patties. Cook until browned and lightly crisp, about 5 minutes.
- Flip over the patties and add in 1 tablespoon of oil. Cook until the other side is browned and crisp, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Repeat cooking process with the remaining two patties and 2 tablespoons of oil.
- Serve patties with burger buns and desired toppings.
Special Equipment
Recipe Video
Notes
- Suggested Toppings: Lettuce, tomato, avocado, onion, lettuce.
- The recipe can be evenly split into six smaller patties, however, purchase smaller size burger buns.
- Serving Size: 1/2 cup (121g, 4 1/4 ounce) plus burger bun
- Recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen Vegan for Everybody.
- MAKE IT GLUTEN-FREE: Substitute all-purpose flour with gluten-free flour and gluten-free burger buns.
Hi Jessica,
I really don’t care for the burgers in the store but I have wondered how to make my own without them falling apart and looking too unappealing to eat. These look pretty and all the information on binding the ingredients assures me I will get a good result. Thank you for another great recipe. I fly home Sunday. Looking forward to seeing our home and my husband. A little early, but since I will be flying the day of, Happy Mother’s Day.
We made those for dinner tonight. We are not vegetarians, but we try to limit meat. Normally, it’s falafel or tofu instead of meat patties for us, but those are a really tasty alternative! Do you think I could replace the black beans with kidney beans? Canned black beans are a little hard to find where I live.
Thank you for your feedback Rike! I think kidney beans will work too, however, the color will be more pink than brown. Let me know how it turns out!
Will the patties freeze well?
Hi Jessica
Ready to make these burgers now. For the 1.75 cups of tortilla chips is this before or after they have been crushed?
Thank you
M
I made this yesterday. An excellent recipe: really tasty and worked just as described.
To tread more lightly on the planet, I reduced the tortilla chips to powder with a rolling pin, and crushed the beans with a fork.
And in the interest of my health, I cooked the burgers in a George Foreman Grill – so no added fat/oil at all. Worked perfectly.
Could you tell me if the amount of corn chips is before or after crushed.
Hi Denise- Great question! The amount of the chips is before it’s crushed. The whole chips get broken down in the blender. Thanks!
This recipe is so yummy and easy to make. I double the recipe and freeze the second batch to enjoy for lunch the following week! My daughter is vegan and LOVES these burgers🙃
So happy to hear that your family loves the recipe! Great idea that you shared for meal prep, thank you!
Jessica,
Good base recipe! For a little extra excitement try adding cayane peper, chopped mushrooms, cheese bread crumbs,Meseca flour, cream style corn, cottage cheese to your recipe. Top off with Ghost peper if your into that.
Very flavorful, moist, and delicious!
Wow, my mouth is watering! I will have to give your spicy suggestion a try!
These burgers are SO delicious! I too crushed chips with rolling pin and mashed beans with fork…added cayenne pepper…because, well, I add it to everything ‘black bean,’ and they were perfect! Topped with greens, tomato, avocado…my new favorite!!! Thank you so much for this recipe!
Soooo delicious!!!! I double the recipe and freeze the extra patties to enjoy later. This is one of our family favorites.
lovely recipe. Would it work if I used spray oil to cut down on calories or if I baked the burger?
I think spray oil in a nonstick pan would work well!
These are delicious! Making them today for National Burger Day. Can you BBQ them?
Hi Jen- What a tasty way to celebrate! I haven’t tried grilling them, but if you do make sure the grates are oiled before you add them on. Let me know how it turns out.
Love the recipe and very tasty however, i had a hard time keeping the patties together and they fell apart instead of staying as patties … Should i try adding more corn chips or possibly more liquid to the flour for improved binding?
Maybe a little more liquid to the flour if they feel dry. More corn chips would help with binding but after you add more water first. How did it feel when you pressed them together?
Hi Jessica. I’m a huge fan of yours and love every recipe I’ve tried. Can gluten-free flour be substituted for the flour?
I made this tonight from dried black beans I had prepared. Added some chipotle powder but otherwise did everything according to the recipe. I should have tasted it though before cooking because it needed more salt, and you could really add more of the other spices too. Will keep the recipe – we liked it!
Prepared for my family of 10 yesterday. Everyone loved them. Grilled them at 375- 400 degrees – served a fresh salsa along with it plus 100% whole wheat bun, sliced farmers market tomato and organic romaine leaves. Happy smiles from all. Excellent recipe!!
Are the nutrition facts just for the burger pattie or the sandwich, bun, etc.
I first ate these wonderful burgers on a beach in Sicily – cooked by an American vegan family living on a US air base. The burgers were unforgettable – as was the afternoon – and am so happy to have tracked down the recipe!
Wow, that’s incredible that you found this recipe! I’m so happy that you can recreate it at home.