Vegan Burgers ~ Two Ways

I love burgers. I always have and I probably always will.

What I don’t always love is the time and effort it sometimes takes to make a really good burger and double that for a really good grill-able burger. So the last time we had a burger night we made…a few. Okay, it was a lot. About 7 burgers that definitely had a shelf life. But the hubs and I both agreed that it would be ridiculous to eat burgers 3 days in a row. Or 3 meals in a row.

So we got creative.

The burger is made with black beans, garbanzo beans, oats, garlic, cumin, paprika (spicy & smoky), rice, nutritional yeast and…a bunch of other seasonings & herbs. When it comes to flavoring burgers, go with what you know and what you like. And of course, we had lettuce, tomatoes and grilled onions because, burgers.

And we can’t forget the fries! Don’t you love the thick steak cut fries but halved so their totally bite-able?

The key to this burger is to mash most of the beans, leaving some whole so you get that feel good texture on your tongue. You can use a food processor because its easier, but if you don’t have one a potato masher comes in handy here! Since there’s virtually no fat in this burger, make them as thick as you want because they won’t hardly shrink at all.

Enjoy burger night and all the things that go with it like ice cold beer, spicy barbecue sauce or get fancy with pesto or tapenade.

And when tomorrow rolls around, re-purpose those burgers into

…steaks!

If you’re up to the task you can leave the mixture in a bowl and season it differently so you get a completely different flavor or you can add a gravy or sauce. As you can see, we left them as is and paired it with mashed potatoes and peas.

Create your favorite meal from before you adopted a plant based lifestyle. This also makes a really good meatless meatloaf or meatballs for a nice sub sandwich. The point is that you shouldn’t shy away from making a big batch of burger batter because in one shot you can take care of several meals.

These patties were flattened a little bit and then pan fried until the edges started to crisp up and then I tossed them into a preheated oven for about 20 minutes. The inside was soft and moist and the outer edges crispy, very reminiscent of the Salisbury steak TV dinners I used to eat as a kid.

Except back then I couldn’t wash it down with an ice cold, moderately tasty, beer.