Homemade Bean Burgers

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I didn’t realize how little we are cooking meat at home these days until I was browsing Pinterest and seeing Pin after Pin of chicken recipes. All of them use boneless skinless chicken, which means the recipe, no matter how good it looks, probably won’t be making an appearance at our house any time soon.

These days we try to only eat local chicken, which doesn’t exactly come in those completely prepped chunks so prevalent at the supermarket. Of course, I could learn how to debone the chicken, but hey… an excuse to eat more vegetables is probably a good thing.

Bean burgers are easy to make from scratch for Meatless Monday.

To that end, we’ve been enjoying more vegetarian burgers. At least until I realized how much they were costing us. True, a dollar per burger is still cheaper than going out to eat, but when they are made of beans and cheap produce it just doesn’t make sense to be paying that premium.

Veggie burgers are easy to make at home, especially if you use beans as your base. The hardest part for me is forming the patties and getting that great ratio of liquid and dry ingredients. (If you have any tips, please share them in the comments!) They do cook up quickly, and you can easily prepare the “meat” ahead of time.

Note that this recipe calls for fresh beans, but you can easily swap in a can of black or pinto beans if fresh beans aren’t available.

Bean burgers are affordable and easy to make from scratch, especially if you use fresh beans.

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Total Time 40 mins

Course Dinner

Cuisine American

Servings 4 servings

Calories 192 kcal

1 1/4 cup fresh pinto beans or field peas
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 cup diced mushrooms
1 clove garlic, diced
1 tablespoon barbecue sauce or ketchup, plus more as needed
1 egg, beaten
Breadcrumbs as needed

Cover beans with water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until easily mashed with a fork, about 20 minutes. Drain and let cool in a large bowl.
Meanwhile, saute onion, mushrooms, and garlic together in a shallow pan until softened. Remove from heat and set aside.
Mash beans with a fork or potato masher, leaving slightly chunky. Stir in onion mixture. Mix in sauce and beaten egg. Use a small measuring cup to form patties – add breadcrumbs or more sauce as needed to get a moldable patty.
Heat saute pan with a small amount of oil over medium. Once oil is shimmering, drop patties from measuring cup into pan and slightly press them down to create a flat burger.
Cook for approximately 5-7 minutes on each side.

Calories: 192 kcalCarbohydrates: 34 gProtein: 11 gFat: 2 gSaturated Fat: 1 gCholesterol: 47 mgSodium: 156 mgFiber: 9 gSugar: 8 g