Vegan Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

These quinoa black bean burgers are vegan, gluten free, and super easy to make in your food processor. I dislike standing over the stove frying burgers so I almost always bake them instead, and haven’t broken that habit here. Baking them frees up your time to prep toppings or relax as the oven does the work for you.

Served in spelt buns, toppings are my pickled red onions, some seasonal tomatoes, peppers, rucola, and mustard. We’re not a big avocado household over here but it would go well with these burgers (avocado aioli would be great), and you can change up the toppings to suit your preference. The burgers are pretty flexible and will taste good with just about anything, even just ketchup.

If you like to batch cook on the weekend, these will come together really quickly with some cooked beans and quinoa. Otherwise, use a can of beans and it only takes about 15 minutes to cook quinoa. I know the ingredients list looks long, but it’s mostly pretty standard spices. Don’t worry.

These are adapted from my black bean rice burgers.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Black beans: this can be cooked or canned. If using canned, be sure to drain and rinse very well first.
• Quinoa: any colour of quinoa will work. It’s best if it’s had time to cool down before using, so try to use leftover quinoa for this recipe.
• Sunflower seeds: these add a bit of texture, and can be left out or replaced with other seeds like pumpkin if you prefer.
• Spices: the herbs and spices added make for a pretty typical Mexican flavour, but they can be changed based on what you like.

Recipe Notes

There’s no need to chill the mixture before forming into patties, but you can do so if you’d prefer. It will make the flavours blend a bit more.

I haven’t tried making these without a food processor, but I imagine you could do it with lots of fine chopping. Make sure to really squish the beans with your hands if you have to make the mixture by hand.

How to Store

Storage: the baked burgers tend to dry out when stored for any length of time, and are best served fresh. The patty mixture can be refrigerated for a couple of days in a sealed container before baking.

Freezing: the baked burgers shouldn’t be frozen – they dry out and crumble after thawing. The unbaked mixture can be frozen in an airtight container for up to a month.

Expert Tips

• Rinse your quinoa: when harvested, quinoa is coated in a bitter saponin that needs to be rinsed off before cooking and eating. Sometimes packaged quinoa is already rinsed, but if it doesn’t say, give it a rinse in a fine sieve before use.
• Add flour if needed: the mixture might not be holding together well enough for a couple of reasons, but usually it’ll be due to the bean texture. Adding a spoonful or two of chickpea flour will act as an egg replacement (but don’t eat it raw, it’s not nice).

More Quinoa Recipes

Chickpea, Quinoa, and Sweet Potato Bowls
Moroccan Roasted Vegetable Salad
Quinoa and Greens Patties
Chickpea Quinoa Salad

If you make these Black Bean Quinoa Burgers or any other vegetarian main dishes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.