Black bean burger

Heat an outdoor grill and lightly oil a sheet of aluminium foil with a brush of vegetable oil.

Mash the drained and rinsed black beans in a bowl with a fork, until thick and turning into a paste.

Take the chopped green pepper, onion wedges and garlic cloves and place into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. If you don’t have a food processor, chop the ingredients finely and then use a pestle and mortar to create a fine paste.

Add the vegetables to the mashed beans and stir together. Then add the egg, chilli powder, cumin and Thai chilli sauce to the beans and vegetables mix. Stir until fully combined. Then add the breadcrumbs, until the mixture gets sticky and holds together. You may need to add more breadcrumbs if the mixture isn’t holding together.

Divide the mixture into 4 patties and then place each into its own individual piece of foil. Grill for around 8 minutes on each side, and then serve hot in a bun with a side of freshly prepared salad.

Tips & tricks

If the weather doesn’t hold, you can bake the burgers instead. Bring the BBQ inside and simply preheat the oven to gas 5, 190°C, fan 170°C and cook the burgers for 10 minutes, before turning over to the other side and cooking for a further 10 minutes.

Make sure you divide the mix evenly between the burgers so it’s easier to control the cooking process. The larger the burger, the less evenly it’ll cook, so it’s best to try and keep the burgers evenly portioned for cooking on the grill. Try serving in a seeded burger bun, or simply with a tasty mozzarella and tomato salad for a lighter option on a sunny day in the garden.

Variation of the recipe

Quick and delicious, one of the best parts about making homemade black bean burgers is the ability to vary the flavours and seasoning to your own liking. In this recipe, we’ve shared an option to include cumin and other spices, but you could add any mixture of herbs and spices depending on your preferred palette and taste buds. And if you can’t get enough of black beans, we have more recipes here for this powerhouse of an ingredient if you want to build your entire menu around it, including black bean brownies!

You can also branch away from black beans if you want to experiment with making veggie burgers with different base ingredients. From chickpeas to tofu, find more veggie burger inspiration here. Or why not incorporate more beans into the mix? Have a read here of our helpful guide to beans, to see which ones you might want to bring into this veggie burger recipe.

Storage

Once cooked, you can store the burgers in an airtight container in the fridge for around three to four days.