Veggie burgers are a fun way that anyone can enjoy a meatless meal. Literally anything can be bound into a patty and called a burger. This means that the options are limitless! Use your favorite grains, veggies, and proteins to create a satisfying meal. Any flavor combination you can dream up is possible. These black bean and mushroom burgers have all the components that make up a good veggie burger.
To make a veggie burger its best, you need to balance texture and moisture. Breadcrumbs and brown rice add texture to these burgers, while whole wheat flour soaks up extra moisture. No one wants to try and eat a burger that crumbles apart in your hands either. Egg is the best binder you will find for a veggie burger.
Finally, flavor is a huge component to the veggie burger. Of course your main ingredients, mushrooms and black beans, have a flavor of their own, but alone, you will find them to be bland. Cheese and mustard are my go-to options to flavor veggie burgers. Veggie burgers are missing fat, and fat is flavor. Cheese adds richness and just enough fat to really boost flavors. Mustard is a strong flavor, and it comes in many varieties. I find Dijion works well with the earthy mushrooms. In this burger, I added steak seasoning, garlic, and thyme. These add-ins work well with mushrooms and black beans and boost the flavor profile another notch.
Serve this burger with Homemade Steak Fries. Let me know if you try this recipe by leaving a comment below. Enjoy!
- 4 large button mushrooms (4-5 oz)
- 1 cup cooked black beans
- ½ cup cooked brown rice
- ½ cup Italian cheese blend
- ½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs
- 1 TBS parmesan, grated
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 ½ tsp Dijion
- 1 tsp steak seasoning
- ½ tsp thyme, dried
- ¼ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2-3 TBS whole wheat flour
- Canola oil, for cooking
- Romaine lettuce, for serving
- 4 whole wheat buns, for serving
- Finely mince the mushrooms in to ¼ inch size pieces, or process until fine in a food processor. Combine mushrooms with black beans in a large bowl, pressing with the spoon to mash up the beans.
- Mix rice through egg into mushroom mixture. Mix in just enough flour to make the mixture less sticky (I used 2 TBS).
- Form mushroom mixture into 4 large patties. Cook patties in a splash of canola oil over medium heat until browned on both sides, about 10 minutes flipping half way through.
- Serve on buns with lettuce.
So I might have eaten what was supposed to be two servings at one sitting. I don’t think I did. Maybe I did. Ok fine I did, nom nom nom.
Haha! Thats great!