Black Bean Burgers

$2.57 recipe / $0.43 serving
by Beth - Budget Bytes
4.83 from 51 votes
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Super flavorful Homemade Black Bean Burgers are as easy as combining black beans together with a slew of flavorful ingredients, like garlic, red onion, cumin, cilantro, and sriracha. A little egg and breadcrumbs help hold the patty together, and you’ve got a super hearty, flavorful, and freezer-friendly homemade black bean burger. No more $8 restaurant veggie burgers for me!

Side view of a black bean burger with toppings in the background

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How Many Burgers Does This Recipe Make?

This recipe makes six decent-sized black bean burgers. And don’t worry, if you can’t eat all six within a few days, they’re freezer friendly! Note: The recipe and price breakdown below are for the burger only. Everyone likes something different on their burger, so I decided not to include buns and toppings in the recipe or price breakdown. 

Are They Freezer-Friendly?

Since I cook for just myself, I cooked two of my patties and froze the rest. Just wrap the raw patties in plastic wrap and then place them in a zip top freezer bag. To cook later, thaw the patty for 30 seconds in the microwave then finish cooking in a skillet as described in the recipe below.

What Toppings are Good on a Black Bean Burger?

I went with traditional mustard, tomato, lettuce, and red onion, but you could really have a lot of fun with the toppings. You could do a southwest spin and add some chipotle mayo, cheddar cheese, and jalapeños. Or how about a BBQ version with BBQ sauce and pepper jack cheese? A few avocado slices with any of the above themes would also be really nice. And you definitely need to try some Comeback Sauce on there!

Black Bean burgers on a tray with buns, toppings, ketchup and mustard.

Are These Black Bean Burgers Spicy?

Despite having sriracha as one of the ingredients, I don’t find these black bean burgers to be spicy at all. The sriracha just adds another subtle layer of flavor. If you want your black bean burgers to be spicy, simply double the sriracha, or add a jalapeño to the food processor when you’re processing your ingredients together.

Do I Have to Use a Food Processor?

You can make these black bean burgers without a food processor, but it’s a whole lot easier with one. :) To make the black bean burgers without a food processor, just finely mince the red onion, garlic, and sriracha by hand. Mash the black beans by hand (either with a fork or with a potato masher), then stir everything together by hand. 

Can I Bake Them?

I don’t suggest baking the black bean burgers because you won’t get the nice browning on the outside of the burger, which provides extra flavor and texture to the burger. 

Can I Skip the Egg?

I tried to make these black bean burgers without the egg, but unfortunately, they just don’t hold together in the skillet (they turn into something more like refried beans). You may be able to do something like a flaxseed egg replacer, but I haven’t tested this.

P.S. This black bean burger recipe is basically a variation on my Homemade Falafel recipe, which is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.

A black bean burger on a plate, dressed but open faced with ketchup and mustard on the side
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Homemade Black Bean Burgers

4.83 from 51 votes
Black beans, cumin, sriracha, garlic, and fresh red onion make these homemade black bean burgers a flavorful and filling vegetarian meal.
Side view of a single black bean burger on a bun, fully dressed, sitting on newsprint
Servings 6
Prep 30 minutes
Cook 15 minutes
Total 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 15oz. cans black beans ($0.96)
  • 1/4 red onion ($0.11)
  • 1 clove garlic ($0.08)
  • 1/4 bunch fresh cilantro* ($0.20)
  • 1 Tbsp sriracha ($0.11)
  • 1 Tbsp mayonnaise ($0.09)
  • 1 tsp ground cumin ($0.10)
  • 1.5 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.09)
  • 1/4 tsp pepper ($0.03)
  • 1 large egg ($0.23)
  • 1 cup plain breadcrumbs ($0.26)
  • 2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.08)
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Instructions 

  • Rinse and drain the canned black beans. Add the black beans to a food processor along with the red onion, garlic, cilantro, sriracha, mayonnaise, cumin, soy sauce, and pepper. Pulse the ingredients until they are evenly mixed, but still slightly chunky.
  • Transfer the black bean mixture to a bowl and add one large egg and 1 cup breadcrumbs. Stir the ingredients together until they're evenly combined. Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes.
  • Divide the black bean mixture into six equal portions, then shape each portion into a patty, about 3.5 inches in diameter, ½-inch thick.
  • To cook the black bean burgers, heat 1Tbsp cooking oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add a few of the black bean burgers and cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side, or until they are well browned and heated through. Repeat with more oil and the rest of the patties until they're all cooked.
  • Place each patty in a bun, add your favorite toppings, and enjoy!

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Notes

*feel free to sub parsley for the cilantro.

Nutrition

Serving: 1pattyCalories: 334.88kcalCarbohydrates: 49.75gProtein: 16.23gFat: 7.98gSodium: 942.65mgFiber: 15.33g
Read our full nutrition disclaimer here.
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Updates to the old recipe: I eliminated the Worcestershire sauce from the original recipe so this recipe would actually be vegetarian (because if you’re making a black bean burger, I’m guessing you want it to be vegetarian!). I also swapped canned beans for home-cooked black beans, because I figure most people will have canned on hand. I used cilantro in place of parsley because that’s what I had on hand, but you can use whichever one you prefer! If you’d like a copy of the old recipe, simply email us at support@budgetbytes.com and we can send you a pdf.

How to Make Black Bean Burgers – Step By Step Photos

Black Bean Burgers in a food processor

Rinse and drain two 15oz. cans of black beans. Add them to a food processor along with ¼ of a red onion, 1 clove of garlic, ¼ bunch of cilantro (about ½ cup), 1 Tbsp sriracha, 1 Tbsp mayonnaise, 1 tsp cumin, 1.5 Tbsp soy sauce, and ¼ tsp pepper.

Processed black bean burger ingredients in the food processor.

Pulse the ingredients together until they’re mostly mixed. I like to leave it just a little chunky, but fairly even.

Black bean mixture with egg and breadcrumbs

Add the black bean mixture to a large bowl along with one egg and 1 cup of breadcrumbs. 

Final black bean burger mixture in the bowl

Combine the black bean mixture with the breadcrumbs and eggs. I like to let this mixture sit for about five minutes to let the breadcrumbs absorb some of the moisture.

Shaped black bean burgers on a green cutting board

Divide the mixture into six equal portions and shape them into patties (about ½ cup of mixture each, 3.5″ diameter, ½” thick).

Black bean burgers in a skillet

Add a ½ Tbsp cooking oil to a skillet and heat over medium. When the oil is hot, add a couple of patties and cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side, or until they are nicely browned and heated through. Repeat with more oil and patties until the desired number are cooked (or freeze the rest, see the info above the recipe for instructions on how to freeze).

Side view of a single black bean burger on a bun, fully dressed, sitting on newsprint

Top your black bean burger with your favorite toppings and enjoy!!

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  1. These black bean burgers turned out great. I halved the recipe (still used 1 full egg) and made 4 slightly smaller patties.

  2. These burgers do not hold together at all. I followed the recipe exactly and they would not flip in the skillet becoming a huge clump of black bean burger mush. I don’t even know how they taste because I had to throw it in the trash. It was not salvageable. Now I spent money on all of the stuff I needed for this that I can’t get back. This is the worst recipe by far. I’ve gotten off of this website. For this alone I’ll never be using this website again. I’m very mad.

  3. This has been on our menu rotation for over a year now for hubby and I. And BBB is requested by our big kids when visiting. Very easy to make, and so delicious w toppings though hubs eats the leftovers w just bbq sauce and a fork. Make this!!

  4. These veggie burgers are so delicious, a new favorite! I just pulled one tonight from the freezer and it tasted just as good as the fresh. Will always have these in hand for busy weeknights!

  5. Loved this recipe! I donโ€™t have a food processor and my blender is too tiny (ninja bullet) to do all of the blending at once so I ended up just mashing them with a potato masher. Turned out great! If I had blended them they probably wouldnโ€™t have crumbled as much but I didnโ€™t mind. Still delicious! Will be adding to the rotation!

  6. Going to try this for lunch !
    Looks easy and ingredients are in the pantry!

  7. Every recipe I’ve made from you has been amazing! These burgers were the best black bean burger I’ve ever made. The whole family, including picky kids, loved these! Thank you!

    1. Almond flour probably won’t absorb the moisture and act as a binder in the same way that bread crumbs do, unfortunately.

  8. Any advice on what might be causing the patties to fall apart, and how to mitigate this?

    1. Try processing the beans a little longer to create smaller pieces. Larger pieces make the patty crumbly. XOXO -Monti

  9. Yum! We’ve made these burgers several times now, sometimes with black beans and sometimes with red or white beans. They all turned out great. Just wanted to share in case anyone is out of black beans and wondering how these will turn out with a different type.

    1. Hi, Joni! We haven’t tested this recipe with Panko, so I can’t promise equally successful results. However, Panko is usually a great, near-even substitute for regular breadcrumbs. They will slightly affect the look and texture of these burgers. Panko also absorbs slightly less moisture than regular breadcrumbs, so you might need to add a little bit more if you find that the mixture is too wet. ~Marion :)

    2. I made these tonight and used a 50/50 mixture of bread crumbs and panko flakes. Came out great. Panko will work in this recipe

    1. A little of both. You can sub with greek yogurt if necessary. XOXO -Monti

      1. This has been on our menu rotation for over a year now for hubby and I. And BBB is requested by our big kids when visiting. Very easy to make, and so delicious w toppings though hubs eats the leftovers w just bbq sauce and a fork. Make this!!

  10. We tried these tonight. ย Oh my, so much goodness! ย Loved them and will definitely make these a regular on our menu.