Easiest-Ever Black Bean Burgers

We all know the benefits of eating more plant-based foods: better for your health, better for the planet, way better for your grocery tab. But when it comes to devising what’s for dinner, it’s easy to get stuck in a chicken-shrimp-steak cycle. I’ve only recently pulled myself out of that protein rut and have been experimenting with vegan and vegetarian dinners that are so delicious you’ll forget they don’t involve any meat (promise!). Enter: these extra-easy black bean burgers that come together in 30 minutes and don’t require any special equipment, techniques, or complicated cooking processes. Got a mixing bowl? Let’s go.

How to make black bean burgers

You guessed it—this recipe starts with a can of black beans, but I won’t ask you to cook the beans or bake them or whisper to them and coax them into becoming beef. Many black bean burger recipes call for fussy steps like drying out the beans in the oven, cooking all of the individual ingredients, sacrificing your time and your sanity for something that should be so easy. Here, just pat the beans dry with a paper or dish towel, mash them in a bowl (or pulse them in a food processor), add spices, an egg, panko or breadcrumbs, and a little mayonnaise (these ingredients are binders, which help to ensure the burgers don’t fall apart), cook on a skillet, and pile into buns. Voilà!

How do you keep black bean burgers from falling apart?

This is a common problem with black bean burgers, and it’s happened to me (more than once!). Here’s how to avoid it:

• Use a large or extra-large egg (not a medium egg), as this is the best source of stickiness to hold the burgers together.
• Don’t skip the panko or breadcrumbs, they also help hold the burgers together. If you are gluten-free, you can use an alternative flour or gluten-free oats pulsed in a food processor.
• Be sure they are fully cooked on the first side before flipping, they should be golden brown and a little crisp on the underside.
• Flip carefully, and with a thin spatula: The flip is where you are most likely to lose a bean or two, so use a thin spatula that can get all the way under the burger without breaking it and flip gently.
• Cheese: Once flipped, add a slice of cheese to act as an additional, gooey layer that’ll hold everything together.
• A little breakage is no biggie: If a piece of the burger breaks off during cooking despite your best efforts, it turns into a crispy little snack that we’ll call the chef’s treat. Lucky you!