Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers

If you come to visit my house, you may get turned into a burger model!  Thanks Ali Darger!

We eat primarily meatless here in the nest, mostly to save money.  But it isn't saving a dime to buy faux-meat flavored to taste like meat, and it sure isn't good for our health (most of those products are loaded with sodium)!  Although we do still buy Gardein and Morningstar Farms products occasionally, my husband is pushing hard for us to make more of our meatless entrees from scratch, and not trying to make them taste like meat.  (Don't worry, he's a meat man, too- he's just big on real food.  If it's made from a bean, it ought to taste like a bean!)  So here is our first burger attempt.  It was great!

To market, to market:

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa (I used the tricolor variety)

water

1 cup dried black beans

1 cube Knorr vegetable bouillon

1/3 cup diced onion

1/3 cup chopped bell pepper (I used orange)

1/2 of a small jalapeno pepper, chopped

3 T olive oil

1 egg

1 cup bread crumbs

After cooking 

Cook your black beans per directions on the package.  This involves soaking them overnight or doing a "quick soak", then cooking them.  To save time, you can use one can of black beans, but be sure to drain them well.  Cool the beans while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

Cooked quinoa

In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine quinoa with 1 cup of water and the vegetable bouillon cube.  Cover and microwave 5 minutes, then stir and microwave another 3 minutes.  Fluff the quinoa with a fork and let cool to room temp.

Saute the onion and peppers in the olive oil until fragrant and soft, then transfer to a food processor.  Pulse until smooth, then add black beans and bread crumbs.  Pulse until combined.  Scrape mixture into the bowl with the quinoa and stir to incorporate.  Taste this mixture and salt/pepper as necessary.  Stir in the egg.

Shape the mixture into 6-7 burger patties and place each on wax paper and into the fridge to "firm up".  I placed mine in the fridge for one hour prior to cooking.

I'm all for mess-free oven cooking, so I lined a baking sheet with foil, sprayed lightly with cooking spray, and placed the patties on it.  These went into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.  About 20 minutes into cooking, I flipped them over so both sides got nice and crispy, but the inside was moist and chewy.  I also saved a few to cook the next day, and they turned out very well also.