15 oz dark red kidney beans, drained
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 ear of roasted corn kernels (about 1/3 cup)
1 small red potato, boiled and cooled
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, grated
juice of 1 lime
1 chipotle pepper in adobe, minced
1 teaspoon of fresh or freeze dried chives*
olive oil
salt
pepper
Directions:
Mash the beans, chipotle and the potato together until fairly uniform in texture but not to the point of paste. Gently stir in remaining ingredients. Add more cornmeal if the mixture is too wet to form into patties. Form in to uniform, fairly flat patties. Place on a oiled piece of foil, brush the tops with oil and cook on the hottest part of the grill, flipping once halfway through cooking. It should take about 10-20 minutes.
Yield: 4 burgers
*I love the freeze dried chives by Smith & Truslow. They have a great, fresh flavor and I don’t have to bother keeping fresh chives on hand all the time.
No grill? Preheat oven to 375. Lightly oil a baking sheet and bake 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through the cooking time, or until crisp. Alternately, pan fry.
My thoughts:
When I first suggested the possibility of grilling a meatless burger to my husband he was skeptical. But after eating it, he was a total convert. These, despite being virtually fat-free, are really flavorful. I used potato as a binder and loaded them with ingredients we love: fire roasted corn, chipotle, garlic, onions, lime. Instead using flour, rice or quinoa as filler I used cornmeal to accentuate the flavor of the corn. The corn, onions and partially mashed beans add a lot of texture interest and pockets of flavor which set them apart from some of the mushy, bland veggie and bean burgers I’ve had in the past. They also cooked very evenly-crisp all over with no mushy, damp center!
Quick note:
While the burgers do hold their shape well, it is best to grill them on foil as they are not as uniformly flat as commercially made burgers and it is a little tricky to slide the spatula under the burgers when they are on an uneven surface. The foil supports them just enough to provide a smooth surface for the spatula and is easy to oil to avoid sticking.
Thanks for the recipe. I’m looking for meatless alternatives to hamburgers — and I love kidney beans. I’ll be looking to try these soon and hopefully convert our carnivores.
mmm, i love veggie burgers. these look good!
YUM! I love pretty much every single ingredient in those burgers. In fact, I think it could also be fun to just make a salad from them (don’t have a grill)
This is so interesting! I’ve never seen burgers made out of kidney beans – and they look just like turkey burgers (maybe I can get the hubby to try them?) I am putting these on the menu for next week, thanks for the awesome recipe.
Yum!!! I need a good veggie burger recipe — something to convert my red-meat-loving Texan fiance. 🙂 This looks awesome!
Those look so good. I may just have to make them this weekend! Thanks!
These sound great. I’m always on the look out for new veggie burgers.
These sound really good. I would have to convince my hubby to give them a try, but I bet he’d quickly be a convert too!
These burgers look wonderful… I think I may have to try them! All of the ingredients bond so well together!
Thanks so much for this recipe! I made them last night and they were wonderful. We whipped up a little chipotle mayo to go on the buns and it was heavenly.
I made these last night and they were great. I baked them in the oven, but I think pan-frying would have been better still. My family loves bean patties as long as I don’t call them burgers!
These look great…what are the chances I made some bean burgers the same day you posted these 🙂