Between homemade, restaurant, and store-bought, these are the best black bean burgers I’ve ever tried. With great reviews from taste testers around the world, I’m confident you’ll be satisfied with this bean burger recipe. They’re big, thick, hearty, and flavorful. The trick is to partially dry out the black beans so the burgers do not taste mushy. Grill or bake the black bean burgers and enjoy on a bun, plain, or on a salad.
A few weeks ago I made a batch of what I believe to be the best black bean burgers ever. Or at least the best black bean burgers I’ve ever had. These were a massive hit with the family. We couldn’t believe the hearty texture, incredible flavor, and overall ease of preparation. I was expecting good, but not this good.
These Black Bean Burgers Are:
- Easy
- Healthy
- Hearty
- Satisfying
- Big + thick
- Compact
- Garlicky
- Juicy
- Spicy
- NOT MUSHY
I feel the need to shout that these black bean burgers are not mushy, one of the common problems with homemade black bean burgers. On the other hand, these black bean burgers are not crumbly either. They hold their shape beautifully!
Quick Video Tutorial
How to Make My Best Black Bean Burgers
The full printable recipe is below, but let’s walk through it quickly so you understand each step before you get started
- Partially dry out the black beans. I learned this from Serious Eats. Spread out the canned black beans onto a lined baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes. This prevents the black bean burgers from tasting like mush.
- While the black beans are in the oven, sauté some garlic, onion, and pepper together. This will be the flavor base of the entire burger. Make sure you blot the garlic, onion, + pepper when they’re done—you don’t want its moisture in the black bean burger.
- Food processor or fork! Your choice. Whichever you choose, make sure you don’t completely mash the black beans. We want a bulky and satisfying texture. Larger chunks of beans are the best part!
- FLAVOR. A black bean burger would simply be a patty made from beans if we didn’t add some pizazz. The sautéed garlic, onion, + pepper combo is a great start, but a little cumin, worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, feta cheese, and chili pepper turn black beans into the BEST black bean burger.
Now let’s talk about binders.
And not the kind you bring to school. How do the black bean burgers hold their shape?
- Breadcrumbs. I used gluten free bread crumbs to keep the burgers GF, but any bread crumbs are great. You can use crushed crackers, almond flour, or even oat flour instead.
- Ketchup. I love ketchup so the more the merrier, but you only need 2 Tablespoons. Some sort of condiment like this is needed so the burgers hold their shape. Instead of ketchup, try mayo or BBQ sauce. (I used a tangy BBQ sauce in the 2nd batch and the burgers were incredible.)
- 2 eggs. Best burger binder you’ll find.
All of this stuff, plus the baked black beans, goes into 1 big bowl. Lightly mash it all with a fork to combine. It’s too easy.
How to Shape & Cook Black Bean Burgers
Shape the black bean burgers however large or small you want, keeping in mind that the larger they are, the more unevenly they’ll cook. From what I tested, the sweet spot is about 1/3 cup of mixture.
You can bake or grill the burgers—instructions for both included in the printable recipe below. You can also make the burgers ahead of time and freeze, which is what I did for our trip. Stack them between parchment paper in a freezer container or zipped-top bag. You can even bake/grill the frozen burgers if you forget to thaw them.
As one of my favorite Memorial Day recipes, I always make a batch ahead for the grill!
For a light lunch, skip the bun and eat on a salad. For a seriously impressive supper, serve on homemade ciabatta rolls and get creative with the toppings: mashed avocado + caramelized onion, pepper jack cheese + spicy mustard + sweet pickles, herbed goat cheese + roasted red peppers, sriracha + sautéed mushrooms, corn salsa + cheddar cheese, or even chunky guacamole. For a summertime favorite, use the toppings from my caprese pesto chicken burgers. They would go great with zucchini casserole or berry quinoa salad on the side.
The last time I made them, I piled the black bean burgers high with BBQ sauce, Swiss cheese, and grilled pineapple. Best thing I’ve eaten all week. And my week included s’mores made with peanut butter cups. SO THAT’S A GOOD BURGER.
More Favorite Dinner Recipes
- Maryland Crab Cakes
- Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie
- Sausage Stuffed Peppers
- Honey Garlic Shrimp
- Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Lemon Thyme Chicken
- Baked Chicken Meatballs
- Zucchini Fritters or Corn Fritters
For even more inspiration here are 15+ summer dinner ideas!
Print
The Best Black Bean Burgers I’ve Ever Had
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6-7 burgers
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Between homemade, restaurant, and store-bought, these are the best black bean burgers I’ve ever tried. These burgers are not vegan or vegetarian. (See recipe note to make adjustments if necessary.) With great reviews from taste testers around the world, I’m confident you’ll be satisfied with this black bean burger recipe!
Ingredients
- 2 (14-ounce) cans black beans, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 cup (100g) finely chopped bell pepper (1/2 of a pepper)
- 1 cup (130g) finely chopped yellow onion (1/2 of a large onion)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced (about 1 Tablespoon)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 cup (60g) bread crumbs or oat flour
- 1/2 cup (70g) feta cheese (skip if vegan)
- 2 large eggs (see note for vegan substitution)
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (see note for vegan & vegetarian version)
- 2 Tablespoons ketchup, mayo, or BBQ sauce
- pinch salt + pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Spread beans evenly onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes until slightly dried out.
- Meanwhile, sauté olive oil, chopped pepper, onion, and garlic over medium heat until peppers and onions are soft, about 5-6 minutes. Gently blot some of the moisture out. Place in a large bowl or in a food processor with the remaining ingredients (cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, bread crumbs, cheese, eggs, worcestershire, ketchup, salt, and pepper). Stir or pulse everything together, then add the black beans. Mash with a fork or pulse the mixture, leaving some larger chunks of beans.
- Form into patties, about 1/2 cup (130g) of mixture each, about 3/4-inch thick.
- To bake: Place patties on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake at 375°F (191°C) for 10 minutes on each side, 20 minutes total. To grill: Place patties on greased aluminum foil and grill 8 minutes on each side. Heat temperature is personal preference as all grills differ. Generally, black bean burgers should grill on medium-high heat about 350°F (177°C) – 400°F (204°C).
- Serve with your favorite toppings. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Cooked or uncooked black bean burgers freeze wonderfully for up to 3 months. Stack between parchment paper in a freezer container or zipped-top bag. Thaw in the refrigerator and reheat to your liking or, if uncooked, cook according to instructions. If desired, you can skip thawing and reheat/cook from frozen for an extra couple minutes.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheet | Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowl | Food Processor
- Vegan & Vegetarian: Worcestershire sauce is not vegan or vegetarian. For vegetarian burgers, leave it out or replace with your favorite vegetarian condiment such as BBQ sauce. For vegan burgers, make the following 3 changes: (1) leave out the Worcestershire sauce or replace with your favorite vegan condiment such as BBQ sauce, (2) leave out the cheese, and (3) replace the eggs with 1/3 cup mashed sweet potato.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Hello! Looks like a great recipe and I am excited to try it out for the 4th. Question – could I make the mixture ahead and store in the fridge before forming into patties and grilling?
Hi Devyn, A few days in the refrigerator is just fine. After that, you can always freeze them. See make ahead instructions. Hope they’re a hit!
THE BEST ONES WE’VE EVER HAD. PERIOD!
These are my go to. I’ve made them at least a dozen times. I like to make them ahead of time to help with meal prep. I make them while I grill the meat option for guests. Good as leftovers too.
Delicious! Family is already asking for it again. I made the recipe as published my first time. Having tried that, I agree with another poster who said it’s flexible enough to add vegetables on hand, as long as they can be cooked down to remove the liquid. Next time, I will add diced jalapeno peppers without the seeds.
These were really good-definitely a keeper! Most black bean burgers I’ve tried to make either fell apart or were dry and hard as a hockey puck! These were just right and very tasty. My husband and I both liked them.
I think they will be tasty, the ingredients look promising, but I have the problem I always have – it is one soggy paste. I spooned it on a tray and bake them now. How would you ever have a crumbly paste with all that liquid? BBQ sauce, eggs, Worcester sauce?
I followed the recipe and thought that baking the beans beforehand would be THE hack.
I must be doing something wrong still!
Hi Tina, the liquid ingredients are all key for taste, texture, and binding (particularly the egg). If the mixture is still mushy, it sounds like it may have been overworked a bit. You can mash the beans a bit less next time to keep the patties on the thicker, more textural side. Hope this helps!
This was the best black bean burger ever! I followed the recipe except for the feta cheese and it was amazing. Even my picky daughter loved it!
Major YUM going on over here!!
Most excellent.
Question, haven’t made yet. Looks really good.
Can they be cooked in airfryer?
Hi Rhonda, these should work well in an air fryer, although we’re unsure of the exact bake time. It should be pretty close to the times here. Let us know if you try it!
I’ve made this recipe as written many times, always with rave reviews from both meat-eaters and vegetarians! This time I used almond flour in place of bread crumbs (eyeballed about 1/2 cup) and it turned out just as good. Just an FYI that the Whole Foods version of Worcestershire sauce is actually vegetarian!
Really good!! Thanks for sharing.
These were delicious. I had a problem keeping them together, they did want to crumble, but that did not change the way that they tasted! I increased the cumin because the recipe contains almost identical ingredients to Augason black bean burgers and I was trying to copy that burger which is why I increased the cumin and it was a winner!
I have been wanting to try a Black Bean Burger, so tonight my family did. I really like it!! The seasonings were great even though I didn’t have any chili powder.
Excellent! I made as written, but added a bit more bbq sauce, and mistakenly dumped in much more black pepper than intended. Oh and made them vegan with aquafaba. Spicy and delicious. Even better the next day after five minutes’ broil.
They’re great. I subbed oat flour for chickpea flour for a higher protein content. Tasted nice! I didn’t have 2 cans of black beans so I did one can of mixed beans and, again, the taste was good. I’m happy with this recipe.
I am looking for vegetarian recipes for my husband. His dietary needs specify only 60 g of protein allowed per day, and only 1500mg of sodium per day. Do you have the nutritional information for these Black Bean Burgers?
Hi Phyllis! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Another great recipe by Sally!!!
I have made these several times. They are a huge hit. Now I use a range of veggies in them, whatever I have on hand. I particularly like jalapeños.
Very tasty !!! Happy to avoid the mess of pan frying the patties. My partner doesn’t eat cheese so I added some cashews to the blender (cashew cheese is a thing, right?) to fill out the recipe, seeing as I was halving it. Had the burgers with Habanero Aioli.
This recipe was so delicious and held up beautifully. What I had in the pantry was the tri-bean cans. (Kidney, black bean & pinto) Otherwise followed the directions exactly. I used my food processor to mix while leaving some beans chunky. I’ve tried other recipes in the past that didn’t hold up like this. So thank you for the recipe!
These are absolutely the best black bean burgers. I made the recipe exactly as written. Scrumptious!!!
Mine came out a bit too wet and I suspect it was something I did wrong because I did not have the exact ingredients, but they are delicious! I had cooked up some dried black beans and was looking for something different when I came across this recipe. I made a half batch. I also used frozen bell peppers, red onion, almond flour, ground up gluten free oatmeal, and a mixture of grated cheddar and mozzarella cheese. I was not sure how they would cook up since they looked wetter than the picture, so I used a 2 T scoop and cooked them in a cast iron skillet with a little olive oil. I got over 2 dozen little black bean patties and think they will be fantastic in tacos!
I’ve made this recipe countless times for about 6 years. I recommend putting more mayo than bbq sauce/ketchup in the mixture to provide moisture from the fat but not raise the water content too much. The beans can be a bit finnicky and you will learn when they are dry enough by feel. Sometimes they are too wet after the oven and they will make the mixture too moist. The grill time is a bit too long in my opinion, but the oven recommendation is accurate.
Taste was good, but these wouldn’t bind for me. I followed the recipe, except for using flax ‘egg’ in place of chicken egg-other reviewers had said this worked for them. Even after baking an extra 10 minutes, they still had the texture of mashed potatoes. We ate them with a fork.
The substitution for chicken eggs does not work in this case as that is the real binder for the beans.
Has anyone figured how much protein in each?
Hi Julie! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
These are very good!!! My husband only eats meat for the most part but I had him try a bite and now he requests these BB Burgers. I do not like feta so much so I put in garlic and herb goat cheese from Aldi–oh so good.
Do you know the nutritional facts on this burger?
Hi Marla, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Could you substitute dry oatmeal for the breadcrumbs?
Hi Lane, oats should work well here! You could try pulsing them in a food processor or blender first, to get a crumb-like texture. Enjoy!
This was my very first time making my own vegetarian burgers from scratch, and they came out so delicious, I don’t think I’ll ever buy a frozen veggie pattie from the grocery store again.
I followed the recipe closely, except I made a few changes because I was going for a smoky BBQ burger flavor. Plus, I didn’t have any feta cheese.
I used half bell pepper and half seedless jalapeño, a little extra smoked paprika plus a teaspoon of cajun seasoning, 2 Tablespoons of BBQ sauce, and I used Mexican shredded cheese blend in place of the feta.
Plus melted a slice of Smoked Gouda cheese on top after the burger was done cooking.
Those burgers are so delicious! We both loved them, and plenty of leftovers/meal prep.
You altered the actual recipe too much.
These were unbelievably delicious!!!! Hats off Sally. You never let us down. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
I’ve made lots of BB Burgers, this one is superior by far and holds together beautifully. And the flavor. Well I thought it was outstanding.
Give it a whirl , you won’t regret it