Quinoa Black Bean Burgers

Recipe By Kelsie Knerr, RD

I typically eat these quinoa black bean burgers with a toasted whole wheat bun and lots of smashed avocado. I like this recipe because most of the ingredients can be found on-hand in my pantry and it makes for an easy weeknight meal. I usually make a double batch of these because they freeze in patties pretty well.

Quinoa: When cooking quinoa, it typically triples when cooked so 1/3 cup dried would make about a cup cooked which would make enough for doubling this recipe.

Breadcrumbs: I usually don’t have breadcrumbs on hand but I blend up a piece or 2 of bread in a food processor to quickly make my own. If you are like me and often have heels of bread laying around, throw these in the freezer to be used for breadcrumbs at a later date.

Shaping the burgers: When shaping them out I used an ice cream scooper (½ cup) and it made 3 heaping scoops worth. Don’t worry if they fall apart a little when you flip them, you can always reshape them when you are finished. This recipe can also be used as “crumbles” to add over a salad or roasted veggies.

Quinoa Black Bean Burgers

Yields: 3 Patties

Ingredients:

• 1 can rinsed and strained reduce sodium black beans
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• ½ cup of already cooked quinoa (use package instructions)
• ½ cup bread crumbs
• ¼ cup bell pepper, minced
• 2 Tablespoons onion, minced
• 1.5 teaspoons cumin
• 0.5 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (like Franks)
• 1 egg

Directions:

Mash up the beans with a fork or potato masher most of the way and then mix everything else together. Shape into patties and place onto an oiled*, medium-high skillet, and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side.

*I used 2 teaspoons of oil for each patty which means 2 Tablespoons oil for the total recipe which I counted into the nutrition facts below.

Nutrition per Patty: 320 calories, 12g fat, 2g sat fat, 8g monounsaturated fat, 2g polyunsaturated fat, 62mg cholesterol, 741mg sodium, 667mg potassium, 42g carbohydrates, 8g fiber, 4g sugars, 13g protein, Vitamin A 4%, Vitamin C 37%, Calcium 10%, Iron 26%