The Everything Beans e-Book (recipe: Black Bean Burgers)

Beans are a staple in our home and I’m fortunate that both Danny and the boys enjoy them any way I serve them. While they insist they don’t get tired of bean & cheese burritos or Frijoles rancheros, I sometimes feel like I want to mix things up in the bean department.

Enter a new e-book from Katie Kimball, The Everything Beans Book: 30 Frugal, Nutrient-Packed Recipes for Every Eater.

Perfect! Back in January, Katie of Kitchen Stewardship and I shared a drink at Blissdom where she told me about the exciting new project she was working on. If I wasn’t already convinced that a bean cookbook sounded right up my alley, a sample of Katie’s Black Bean Brownies was the clincher. They were moist, rich, and totally credible, – and yes, the recipe is in the book (as Grain-Free Fudgy Brownies).

The Everything Beans Book

Since my time with Katie, all the recipes have been tested, the writing completed, and The Everything Beans Book is now available. I have to tell you, I’m eating up my copy.

Hit the jump to read more about the bean cookbook, get a recipe for a healthy burger, and enter to win your very own copy of Katie’s e-book. (Sorry!  this giveaway has ended)

In-depth Introduction

A comprehensive twenty-four page introduction details everything one needs to know about cooking with beans including:

  • Nutritional benefits of beans.
  • How to prepare beans, both canned and dried.
  • How to store beans.
  • How (and why) to sprout beans.
  • Menu planning featuring beans.
  • Why you should incorporate beans into your diet.
  • Special diet tips, Gluten-Free, kosher, etc.

Recipes that Rock!

The Everything Beans Book contains thirty well-written and thoroughly researched recipes featuring lentils, chickpeas, and of course, many varieties of beans.

The recipes are family friendly, hunger-inducing, and will leave you wanting to cook the book from cover to cover. And I intend to.

Click here to view more details and to scroll through the recipe titles in the Table of Contents.

Recipe: Mexican Black Bean Burgers

One of our favorite recipes from the cookbook were these hearty bean burgers. What a fantastic way to make beans the star of the meal!

I’ve adapted the recipe to suit our family. The legumes are canned (that’s all I had around), and the vegetables are sautéed, as the kids and Danny don’t love raw onion/garlic. I also grilled them on our Breville Smart Grill, which we use for winter grilling, but a cast iron pan works just fine, too.

Guess what? My boys (3 & 5, remember?) ate these faster than they do a regular hamburger. Yay! Another meatless meal to add to the menu plan.

Black Bean Burgers

The patties are very flavourful, but soft in texture. I recommend adding plenty of 'crunch' to your burger to enjoy a balanced bite with lots of different textures. We love: pickles, lettuce, sliced onion, sprouts, cucumber and salsa - although not all at once!
4 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Course: Main Dishes
Keyword: Vegetarian
Servings: 8 patties, 4” wide
Calories: 186kcal
Author: Aimee

Ingredients

  • 1 small onion chopped
  • 1/2 red pepper chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
  • 2 jalapenos optional, seeded
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 can black beans drained and rinsed
  • 1 1/2 cup cooked green lentils I used canned
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup bread crumbs

Instructions

  • Open cans of black beans and brown or green lentils, rinse them well with cold water, and drain them in a small sieve.
  • Heat olive oil in a small sauté pan. Roughly chop onion and red pepper; peel garlic. Sauté vegetables in the oil until they have softened, about five minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
  • Pulse the sautéed onion, pepper, garlic in a food processor, along with the fresh cilantro and optional jalepeno, until finely chopped. Add the beans and lentils and process until pasty. If your food processor is a bit weak, you may want to tackle this in two batches. (I only have a mini food processor, but I did it in three batches and was fine.)
  • When mostly smooth, add salt, pepper, and the eggs. Process until combined and then add 3/4 of cup of bread crumbs and process briefly until incorporated. Give a little stir around the very center for anything your blade may have missed. If your food processor is on the small side, you may wish to remove the legume/vegetable mixture to a bowl and simply stir in the rest of the ingredients. (this is what I did!)
  • Add more bread crumbs bit by bit until the mixture starts sticking together. It is now ready to form patties.
  • Put some flour in a salad bowl to use in flouring your hands and the outside of the patties. Form 1/2- to 3/4-inch thick patties. The patties might seem a little fragile, but you don't want them too stiff or they might dry out and get crumbly once cooked.
  • Cook in a well-greased skillet over medium to medium-high heat, or an indoor grill, for about 5-8 minutes on each side, turning at least once for even doneness. You can add oil in between sides, especially if you want a nice even browning look, or if you're using a cast iron skillet.
  • Serve between two buns with an assortment of condiments and favourite toppings. Keep with the Mexican theme and offer fresh peppers, pickled jalapenos, avocado slices and salsa.

Notes

Recipe Adapted from The Everything Beans Book by Katie Kimball
In the photo below, the bean burgers look dry, but let me assure you, they were not. They got nicely crunchy on the outside, but the interior stayed soft.
Freezer Tip: Patties can be layered between parchment paper in an airtight container and frozen for up to 6 weeks. To use: thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then grill or fry as usual.

Nutrition

Calories: 186kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 553mg | Potassium: 353mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 365IU | Vitamin C: 15.3mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 3.1mg

Giveaway

**This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winners, Gwen, Amy A, and Coutney!**

Katie has kindly offered three copies of The Everything Beans Book to giveaway to Simple Bites readers!

To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment below and tell me something YOU like to make with beans or other legumes. Falafel? Chili? Quesedillas? I’d love to hear how you serve them.

Good luck to all!

Comments close at 11:46 EST on Saturday, March 19. Winners will be notified via email and announced Sunday in the link love (and look for a coupon code, too!).

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255 Comments

  1. Simply warmed white beans or garbanzos with a bit of rosemary and a squeeze of lemon — yum! I’m eagerly awaiting the first fava beans of the season here; love them on the grill.

  2. Hello: Love your black-bean burger recipe.

    I have a favorite black-bean recipe as well…it is call cajun black bean soup. It is very easy, but delicious, with a kick with some added jalapenos!

    Patti 😉

  3. During colder weather we enjoy chili. But I do like to make grain free brownies with black beans. They are really quite good.

  4. I am not a particularly original cooker of beans, but I love to use them in soup. We had a 2-bean vegetable soup and a curried lentil soup just this past week!

  5. A quick lentil soup is always a favorite around here. Looking forward to making these burgers. They sound great!

  6. We eat bean burritos weekly, bean tostadas bi-monthly, and I have started putting beans inside my enchiladas instead of meat or cheese. Obviously I could use some help to get out of the Mexican food realm of beans!

  7. As a vegetarian beans are a huge staple in my diet. I absolutely love black bean burgers and I make a big batch of them and freeze them in saran wrap for popping on the grill when the rest of the family is having hamburgers. My favorite meatless dish that I’ve made, so far, has to be Lentil Shepherd’s Pie. The lentils give it a nice texture and it’s extremely hearty. It was wonderful winter comfort food.

  8. I am a new fan of lentils–we make a lentil & brown rice back that is super yummy. I also like kidney and black beans in chili.

  9. I love beans in just about anything but black beans are my favorite! My son is a picky eater and has just started to like them so I am looking for new ways to incorporate them into our meals. Our favorite right now is something called Arizona Chicken Soup. This book would give me a variety of recipes to try.

  10. Yu-hum! I make a batch of pintos for my family each week for burritos and quesadillas when we need a quick meal or snack.

  11. I make a spicy black bean dip in a food processor to eat with corn chips.
    My children don’t like the texture of actual beans. I wish they did!

  12. I really want to try making stewed/boiled black beans similar to the kind that are typically served as an alternative to refried beans in a mexican restaurant!

    Sounds boring but they’re oh-so-good! 🙂

  13. We love to run pinto bean leftovers through the food processor, serve them on a piece of naan or a tortilla, top with shredded cheese and zap in the microwave a few seconds until the cheese is melted. Oh so yummy!

  14. I am ashamed to admit that I have had very little luck with beans. I’m planting several varieties this year in an attempt to get up to speed since I know we need to eat more of them. The only things I can cook so far are cassoulets and red beans and rice.

  15. I just learned how to make homemade refried beans. So we have been having a lot of burritos and bean dip.

  16. I don’t really use recipes (but would LOVE to get this book!) all that much, but I had forgotten how much I love black beans until recently and now serve them often. Mostly just as a side that people can add to whatever else we have. Or I toss some in what I’m making, if it seems to go. Often we’ll just do build your own burritos. But I like to use Mayocoba beans for refried beans, though. I found those a few months ago. Smoother taste than pintos, I think. But I’m still a fan of the black! And I’m going to start grinding beans for bean flour and start sneaking that in cream soups in place of the higher calorie cream stuff.

  17. .Hi—Thanks for the great recipe—just in time for my Memorial Day weekend picnic. However, I don’t have a food processor, will have to use my blender and just pulse one small batch at a time. Will let you know how it turns out.—Fran

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  19. I love bean burgers. Moreso, that the pictures are so delicious. I have been a fan of Mexican restaurants Scottsdale AZ for years now.

  20. Chicken and Black Beans Soft Tacos. These are a family favorite (better than Moe’s).
    I always use left over cooked chicken and cut it into bite size pieces. Heat in a pan of Swanson’s chicken broth. Swanson really does make a difference. Heat your can of black beans. Put a lg. tbs. of beans and a lg. spoon of chicken in a soft tortilla that has been heated for about 15 seconds on each side. Add shredded cheese, sour cream, lettuce , guacamole, and salsa. It is so easy and really delicious.

  21. Our family favorite bean recipe is “Slow cooker refried beans”. The taste of canned refried beans pales in comparison. Thanks for the black bean burger recipe. I have been buying them at our local warehouse store and they are expensive.

  22. Just made the burgers today, and they came out lovely. I was very happy with them. However, I used a hand held blender and I didn’t need to blend it as much as was mentioned in the recipe. Otherwise, very good recipe!

  23. This recipe looks amazing, and I couldn’t wait to try it! Until I noticed the recipe calls for eggs… My family and I have been vegan for a while, so I know of many ways to replace eggs when cooking and baking. However, I have only tried making burgers once (I just mashed black beans with some spices and onions) and as tasty as it was, it didn’t keep it’s shape at all. What would you use as a binder instead of eggs? Would flax seed meal with water do the trick?