Vegan Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

These gluten free & vegan black bean quinoa burgers feature hearty Mexican flavours and healthy, whole food ingredients. These easy burgers are baked so you can make them and walk away, then topped with end-of-summer veggies like tomatoes, peppers, and pickled onions.

It feels as though we’ve been stuck in a transition period for months now. We’ve been searching for a new home in the Netherlands without much luck since we left our last apartment when it was sold. I was talking to Graham this morning about how I wish I could still post here 5-6 times a week, but man does house hunting ever take up a lot of time. We went to Groningen yesterday for a 15 minute meeting and it was over 6 hours of travel time. Lengthened because some asshole decided to let the air out of the tires of a bunch of bikes locked up near the train station (Graham’s included).

I’m really looking forward to finding a place and settling for the next few years. I imagine  I’ll be pulled away a bit longer after we move, by some hopefully minor renovations and also just getting our bearings in another new country. Finding the best shops/markets, meeting people, finding students or a studio, and so on. Moving to a new place is exciting but can be a bit exhausting.

In addition to personal life time-sucks, I’ve also been slowly combing through all 300+ blog posts I’ve shared since 2014 to fix them up and make them easier to find through a google search. And I hate it! Hah. I don’t think any food blogger is really into the behind the scenes stuff.

We want to be in the kitchen, or behind the camera, maybe in front of lightroom – but website maintenance is certainly my least favourite part of the job. Fingers crossed it makes a difference and more people see those recipes that maybe didn’t go viral at some point but are still very much worth making. Like this simple fig & hazelnut cake, one of my favourites, or my vegan sweet potato latkes.

Of course I don’t share recipes that I don’t think are worth making, so my hope is always that more people can see them, and try them! Because the whole point for me is to inspire people to make more vegetable centred, seasonal meals for themselves and their families. I mean it’s not some strange thing for a blogger to want their work to be read, but I’ve only recently learned how important this kind of website work is.

Let’s talk about these black bean quinoa burgers! They’re adapted from my black bean and rice burgers – and I just realized three out of the four burgers I’ve shared in the past 4+ years are made with black beans. The only one that isn’t is actually a recipe from a friend’s cookbook so it doesn’t really count. Okay, something new coming soon! I’m personally a big fan of black bean burgers. Clearly. Especially during the summer, when they seem to match so well with summer veggies and Mexican-inspired flavours.

So instead of working on website stuff, photography has been bigger for me for the past few years. This is my first burger recipe – can you tell? With a copyright notice. Pls don’t steal my awful photos. Thanks.

These burgers are vegan, gluten free, and super easy to make in your food processor. I hate 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. In this case we bought buns, but I usually make these spelt buns if it’s a weekend.

Toppings are my fave pickled red onions, some pretty tomatoes, peppers, rucola, and mustard. We’re not a big avocado household over here but it would go well with these burgers, 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.

And it is still summer! For two more days. So I’m going to keep thinking that even as I sit here in a too-big hoodie with 10C weather outside. I made this recipe a few days ago when it was really warm out, and baked cinnamon buns today instead. It must be warm somewhere, though! Can you tell that I made these burgers the same day as this burrito bowl?

I know the ingredients list looks long, but it’s mostly pretty standard spices. Don’t worry.

Let’s connect! Tag me on instagram @occasionallyeggs and #occasionallyeggs so I can see what you’re making, and stay in touch via facebook, pinterest, and bloglovin.

Yield: 4 people

Vegan Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

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Gluten free & vegan black bean quinoa burgers. With hearty Mexican inspired flavours & healthy whole food ingredients, then baked for an even easier weeknight meal.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 small red onion (~60 grams)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 300 grams / 1 1/2 cups black beans, cooked
• 150 grams / 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 40 grams / 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Juice 1 lime or lemon (~2 tablespoons)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano, or small handful fresh
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 180C / 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment, pulse the onion and garlic until finely chopped. Add the remaining ingredients, including the spices, and pulse until the mixture comes together.
3. Divide the burger mixture into four equal parts and form into patties about 2cm high. Place onto the prepared baking sheet, and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden.
4. Serve the burgers hot with buns (or lettuce), topped with tomato, peppers, rucola, and pickled onions, plus your spreads/sauces of choice. 

Notes

• If the burger mixture is too soft, stir in a tablespoon or two of chickpea or buckwheat flour.