Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers are so easy to make and incredibly delicious. Say goodbye to those sad veggie burgers that come out of a cardboard box or are full of processed ingredients. You can make homemade vegan burgers in a flash with this simple recipe.
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Hubby is obsessed with veggie burgers. A tasty veggie burger with wholesome ingredients is hard to find. Often, if you want something that is both nutritious and delicious, it’s best to make it yourself. Harder still to find is a recipe that is quick and easy to make with ingredients that are likely already in your pantry or fridge. This sweet potato and black bean burger recipe is not just doable it’s insanely delish, versatile and loaded with real food.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Sweet potatoes: Cooked and mashed sweet potatoes are part of the “paste” that holds these veggie burgers without eggs together. You can boil or bake the potatoes, and even use mashed butternut or acorn squash.
- Black beans: Substitute with any canned bean you have. Kidney beans are an awesome swap.
- Quinoa: Leftover grains are part of my winning formula for veggie burgers. Use rice, farro, millet or any other grain you have already cooked. No cooked grains? Swap in whole grain rolled oats.
- Chia seeds: Chia seeds act as a binder when moistened with the mashed potatoes. You can substitute with ground flax seeds.
- Veggies: I used chopped broccoli. As long as you chop into small pieces, use what you have. Something sturdy like kale, cabbage, shredded beets or carrots, cauliflower or even cauliflower rice will work well.
- Herbs & Spices: a combination of fresh herbs like parsley and dried spices including cumin and chili powder bring on the flavor.
- Onions: Use red or yellow onion, shallots, spring onions or leeks.
- Optional: Incredible homemade bbq sauce (legit takes 5-minutes to make with simple pantry ingredients).
How to make Veggie Burgers
- Mash sweet potatoes and beans together. If you don’t have leftover cooked sweet potatoes, you can peel and cube a medium sized potato and boil in water for 15 minutes, then drain and mash. Use a potato masher or a fork and turn it into a pasty mixture. It’s ok if there are some chunks of beans.
- Stir in chia seeds, grains, chopped onions, veggies and herbs, plus the spices.
- Form into patties and place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with unbleached parchment paper.
- Bake in preheated 450 degree oven for 15 minutes, flip and bake 10 more minutes until crisp on the outside, tender in the center.
There are health advantages to baking the burgers in a hot oven rather than pan frying….but there is a also a time savings. Once the burgers are in the oven, they don’t need a lot of baby-sitting.
What to serve with Sweet Potato Burgers
- Guacamole…duh, but seriously, every good veggie burger deserves to be paired with a healthy dollop of guac.
- Slaw: A scoop of slaw > a leaf of lettuce.
- Pickled onions: I’m beginning to think they’re better than grilled onions….on all the things…plus they’re quicker, easier and less messy.
- Crispy Roasted Potato Wedges: Because sweet potato fries would be overkill and these are incredibly tasty.
Debra’s Pro Tips
- Prep these simple veggie burgers in advance: make into burgers, place on baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to bake.
- You can also bake sweet potatoes in a 375 oven for about 45 minutes, mash them and put that in the fridge until ready to mix up the burger batter.
- This recipe calls for ¼ cup cooked quinoa—-so make some extra when you’re making quinoa for something else (southwest quinoa salad)….OR, use ¼ cup of another grain that you have already made and leftover in the fridge.
- Freeze already made burgers in an airtight container for up to 3 months and throw onto the grill straight from the freezer. Easy Peasy.
I can get these burgers on the table in 30 minutes, with all the fixin’s…which feeds Hubby’s addiction and my obsession with putting a nutritious and delicious meal on the table. Win-win!
📖 Recipe
Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 14.5-oz. can Black beans 1 ½ cups
- 1 medium sweet potato approximately 1 ½ cups diced
- ¼ cup broccoli finely chopped
- 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- 2 Tablespoons red onion minced
- ¼ cup cooked quinoa
- 2 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 and line baking tray with unbleached parchment paper.
- Peel and dice sweet potato. Place in small saucepan, cover with water and cook until soft (about 15 minutes). Drain and put cooked potatoes in a medium sized bowl. Drain beans, rinse and drain again, then add to bowl with potatoes. Mash beans together with potatoes with potato masher or fork. It’s OK to leave some chunks.
- Add broccoli, onion, parsley, quinoa, chia seeds and spices to potato mixture and stir until well combined.
- Divide mixture into 4 equal portions and shape into patties on prepared pan.
- Bake for 15 minutes, flip and cook for additional 10 minutes.
- Burgers will continue to firm up after they come out of the oven.
- Serve with your favorite condiments.
- Cooked burgers can be stored in the fridge in airtight container for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Reheat burgers in 450 oven for 10 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Note
The nutrition calculations were done using online tools. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you used. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information is accurate, complete and useful.
Susan
This is such a delicious burger! Highly recommend giving it a try. You won’t be sorry!
Debra Klein
Thank you….one of our favorite veggie burger recipes!