If you know me, you know that I LOVE my mom's turkey burgers. Ever since I was a little girl, she has made the best burgs around, and it's partially due to her secret ingredient... (*cough onion soup mix cough*).

Though, one night, knowing that our dinner guests were vegetarian, I decided to set out on an adventure to make my own black bean burgers! I first started with a recipe from Haley, and then I developed my own yummy recipe from there!

Now, to me, the most important factors regarding black beans burgers are that they a.) hold together well b.) don't taste like cardboard, and c.) don't take long to prep!

Most black beans burgers I've eaten contain cooked quinoa, which I love. BUT, I honestly cannot cook quinoa for the life of me! It always ends up taking me close to an hour (or I don't add enough water...oops!), so I chose to use oats for these BBB's (black beans burgers) instead!

I am not a lover of super spicy foods, but I do like a little heat, so there is some cayenne, paprika, and cumin in these BBB's, which really gives them a punch of flavor but doesn't make your face drip sweat (or is that just me?) !

One other thing I love about this recipe is that you don't have to chop up the garlic cloves or onion... I just let the food processor do all the work!

Run to the kitchen before dinner tonight and whip up a batch of these BBB's! Just remember to refrigerate the BBB's for at least an hour before cooking!! It ensures that they will hold their shape. :)

Black Bean Burgers

Serves: 4-5 burgers

Ingredients:

1/2 cup quick/rolled oats

1/2 small onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 15 oz can black beans, drained, rinsed, and patted dry

1 cage free egg

1 TBS yellow mustard

The juice of 1/2 small lime

1/2 cup cooked and cooled corn

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Pulse oats in a food processor until they resemble flour.
Add onion and garlic cloves to the oats and pulse until the onion & garlic are coarsely chopped.
Add the remaining ingredients (black beans, egg, lime juice, mustard, spices, s&p) to the onion-oat mixture and pulse until combined. Be careful not to pulse it into a puree. You still want the mixture to be slightly chunky.
Divide the mixture into patties (I recommend 4!) and place on a parchment-lined plate.
Refrigerate the black bean patties for **one hour**! This step is VERY important to ensure that the black bean burgers hold their shape and don't fall apart!
In a preheated oven at 350 F, bake the black bean burgers for about 14-16 minutes (I did 15 minutes). Then, flip the burgers and continue baking for another 4 minutes.
Enjoy!

Don't forget to tag my Instagram handle, @cooking_emily, so I can see your recreations of these BBB's!