Healthy Black Bean Burger That Leaves You Breathless (In A Good Way)

If there’s one thing that you have to learn about me is that I do love my burgers. I do not discriminate different types of burgers. Whether it’s beef, pork, chicken or even those veggie kinds, as long as it tastes great, gives the right moisture and texture that I want in my burgers, then I’m on board.
 
In this case, I’m going to share on my most prized possession - my meatless burger recipe. I have this brief stint in being a vegetarian and I stumbled on this recipe when I want to get my burger fix. It pretty much adopted it when I came back to the world of juicy meats and steaks. As much as I love those big, beefy burgers, this meatless burger gives a weirdly delicious taste that makes me crave for more.
 

Ingredients:
2 cans seasoned black beans
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup white onion
1 whole medium egg
1/2 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper, to taste
Hot Sauce (I Used Sriracha)
8 slices Swiss cheese
olive oil
butter
4 whole Sourdough rolls or your preferred hamburger buns
Mayonnaise, for dressing
Lettuce or your preferred greens
Tomato slices
Avocado slices, optional
 
Instruction
For this recipe, I prefer to use store-bought canned black beans, especially for those last minute black bean burger cravings. After all, who has time to wait hours and hours while you whip up black beans from scratch? 
 
Make sure to drain the black liquid from your beans, but don’t rinse them. I prefer to leave a bit of natural bean liquid so that it keeps everything moist when I mash the beans. To mash the beans, I prefer to use Priority Chef Potato Ricer and Masher. It gives me the softest mashed beans to work with. However, I leave a bit of unmashed beans, about 2 tablespoons, and mash it with a fork to give it some texture. I love the mixture of fluff and grit in my black bean patty. It sort of mushy but not completely mushy. 
 
To add more texture and substance to the mix, add 1 cup of breadcrumbs to the beans. Grate up your onion and add it for extra taste. Add the eggs to bind it all together. To give it a bit of a kick, add your chili powder and some salt and pepper to taste. 
 
Using your hands, mix them all together. And to give it a sassy flavor, I added a few dashes of hot sauce. I prefer to use Sriracha for this one. This is completely optional and works well even without the hot sauce. However, I want to take the flavor and experience up a couple of notches with the extra spiciness. After all, a little spice won’t do you any harm. 
 
Leave everything to rest for 5 minutes to allow the all the flavors to marry up and give you a bowl of pure delightfulness. This is the perfect time to get your skillet hot and ready. Turn on the heat and set to low. Drizzle a bit of olive oil and butter for more flavor. 
 
Grab a great chunk black bean mixture and form a nice, round patty. The thing about black bean patty is, unlike beef patty, that they don’t shrink when you cook them. So, if you have a habit of making a too big patty to give room for some shrinkage, then don’t do it here. 
 
I prefer to cook burger patties on low heat to give the middle to get cooked through without burning the outside. After 4 to 5 minutes, flip the burger and let it cook for another 4 to 5 minutes in the pan.  During this time, I add 1 to 2 slices of Swiss cheese on the top of the patty. Cover the skillet with another skillet to give the cheese a chance to melt nicely. 
 

On a separate griddle, add a bit of butter and grill your bun until you get the nice, lovely golden brown toast. I prefer to use Kewpie mayo to dress up my burger. You can buy them at the Asian section of your grocery store or in those Japanese specialty stores. It has the right amount of saltines and tanginess that I like in my burger dressing. Feel free to add more hot sauce to your dressing. You can also add ketchup, if you prefer. But personally, the hot sauce, mayo and Swiss cheese is more than enough. Soon your sauce mixture on the bottom bun, add the patty, and then  add some lettuce and onions, and a big slice of tomato. You can also add some avocado slices if you prefer and then add top the top bun.