Oh my goodness, is anyone else having an ultra-busy September so far?! I’m not quite sure how my month got so overbooked. But from the moment we returned home from our trip to France, I feel like I have had social stuff on the calendar filling up pretty much all of my free time on nights and weekends, which is nothow this introvert prefers to roll. (I love being social, but definitely need my “me time” to recharge!) Nowadays, I feel like I’m usually better at not overbooking like this, but somehow September just happened to be the month when every fun event with my job and with my friends decided to happen.
So it seemed like a good month to share with you one of my favorite quick-‘n-easy dinner recipes, which also happens to be one that we’ve had requested dozens of times before on the blog. It’s my go-to recipe for easy black bean burgers!
As someone who doesn’t really like hamburger, I’ve long been a fan of all kinds of veggie burgers. And since I always seem to have a few cans of black beans in the house, black bean burgers are the type that tend to happen most. I love seasoning them in all sorts of different ways, depending on whatever craving I happen to have that day. But today, I thought I’d share with you my favorite recipe for straight-ahead, classic black bean burgers, topped with my favorite creamy and tasty Arla muenster sliced cheese.. They’re flavorful, they’re crispy on the outside, they’re not dried out on the inside, and best of all — they’re easy to make in just 20 minutes!
So my key to making juicy, flavorful black bean burgers has always been adding in a secret ingredient that people rarely detect — mushrooms!! I know, I know, I may lose some of you here. But even if you usually don’t eat mushrooms, I would highly encourage you to give these a try, because they totally blend into the burgers but give them extra flavor and tenderness that I absolutely LOVE. Really, give them a try!
And then, while you’re welcome to season your black bean burgers however you’d like, I tend to season mine with some old school Montreal steak seasoning when I’m just craving a classic burger. That stuff just has a magical way of making everything taste like it’s been on your grill, even if you’re just sautéing it up on your stovetop in 20 minutes. Love it.
So to make the black bean burgers, simply saute up some mushrooms, onions and garlic. Then while those are cooking, mash a can of black beans until they form a rough puree (see above).
Combine the beans, mushroom mixture, Panko, egg, and steak seasoning together in a bowl, and stir everything together until it’s well-mixed. Then divide the mixture into 4 equal portions — each should be about 1/2 cup — and use your hands to form those into your desired size of burger patties. (<– I recommend making them fairly thin, so that they will cook through a little more easily.)
Then simply saute the burger patties on each side for 5-6 minutes until they are cooked through.
Then grab some hamburger buns (or whatever burger wrapping sounds good to you), some sliced cheese (I absolutely love these muenster cheese slices from Arla, which are made with better ingredients and no artificial flavors or preservatives), and whatever other toppings you’d like for your burger.
I like just topping mine with just Arla cheese and lots of fresh baby arugula, but go with whatever sounds good to you. ;)
And then within about 20 minutes — voila — these beautiful black bean burgers will be yours to enjoy. They’re full of great flavor, full of great protein, and guaranteed to be a delicious quick meal that keep you going even on the busiest of months. ;)
This 20-Minute Black Bean Burgers recipe is my favorite! It’s quick and easy to make, crispy and juicy (not dried out!), and full of great garlic mushroom flavor.
Ingredients
Scale
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
4 ounces baby bella or white button mushrooms, finely chopped
quarter of a small red onion, peeled and finely chopped (about 1/2 cup total)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2/3 cup Panko breadcrumbs*
1 egg white
2 teaspoons low-sodium steak seasoning (add more/less to taste)
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and onion and saute, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes or until the onion is soft and translucent. Stir in garlic, and saute for 1-2 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is fragrant. Remove mixture from heat, drain off any extra juices or oil, and set aside.
Meanwhile, as the mushroom mixture is cooking, add the black beans to a large mixing bowl and roughly mash them with a potato masher (or the back of a spoon). Add in the cooked mushroom mixture, breadcrumbs, egg white, steak seasoning, and stir well until the mixture is evenly mixed. (If the mixture seems too wet, add in a few extra spoonfuls of breadcrumbs to help bind it together.)
Divide the mixture into four equal portions (each will be about 1/2 cup), and use your hands to form each portion into a large patty. Set aside.
Rinse out the saute pan, then return it to the stove and heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Carefully transfer the black bean burgers to the pan and cook on each side for 5-6 minutes, flipping once. If your pan is not big enough to fit all four burgers, you may need to do this in batches.
Remove from heat and serve the burgers on buns immediately, topped with Arla Muenster sliced cheese, fresh arugula, and/or any other toppings that sound good to you.
Notes
*Sometimes I like subbing in ground nuts (cashews, pecans, walnuts, etc.) in place of half of the Panko. Adds extra flavor and protein!
This post is sponsored by Arla, maker of these cheese slices that I feel good about eating. Thanks for continuing to support the brands I love, who help to make this site possible!
These look great and I’m always on the look-out for a good veggie burger recipe! I have a question. I can’t eat eggs… do you think a flax egg would be enough to hold these together, or do you have another egg substitution suggestion? Thanks!
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Hi Traci! Hmmm, good question. We haven’t tried flax eggs in this (or other egg substitutes), but you could try adding some brown rice (cooked, and about 3/4 of a cup). That would probably be a great binder. We hope this helps! :)
Nikki —
I’ve had good success with chia eggs in black bean burger recipes. I’m sure flax would be good too ?
I made these last night and while good, they were very salty. I used “Montreal Steak Seasoning” which, upon further investigation, is 400mg of sodium per 3/4 of a teaspoon. I wish I had checked that first. What, exactly, do you mean by steak seasoning and do you know of one that is lower in sodium? I also substituted the mushrooms with chili peppers chopped up very small as we don’t like mushrooms. I tried the part breadcrumbs and part chopped pecans also, which was nice. I just need to figure out another way to season that is much less salty. Otherwise these were easy and pretty tasty.
Oh no — so sorry to hear that these were too salty! I did use a low-sodium local steak seasoning, so I will be sure to go back and note that in the recipe. My apologies about that! If you make these again, I would definitely add the seasoning to taste. Thanks for giving them a try! :)
These look great but quick question. The ingredients list and recipe instructions specify using an egg white but the pictures show a whole egg (yolk and whites). Which is correct?
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Hi AJ! Oops, yes it’s supposed to be just an egg white. We tested multiple batches of the recipe (and took multiple photos), and missed that one!
Ok girl…you never cease to amaze me! Made these for dinner tonight and they were amazing, so much flavor. I have made a lot of veggie burgers in my time and these were by far the easiest and one of my faves. Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe :)
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Thanks for your sweet words, Nicole — we’re so happy you enjoyed them! :)
Hi there! Love this recipe. I was wondering if you had the nutritional information for it? (i.e. calories per burger). Thanks so much!!
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
We’re so glad to hear that, Rebecca! Unfortunately though, we aren’t sure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
Hello! These look great! Have you tried freezing them? Do they keep? I want to make a batch and freeze to have on hand. Any recommendations?
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Hi Britt! Yes, you can definitely freeze these (we’d suggest letting them thaw in the fridge for an hour or two and then reheating in the oven (you can finish them under the broiler to get them a little crispy again). We hope you enjoy!
Super yummy but extremely crumbly. Not sure if anyone has a potential solution to that
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
We’re glad you enjoyed them, Emma, and we’re sorry they were a bit crumbly for you! We haven’t had that issue, but if you run into it again, you could try adding an extra egg white to help it bind better. We hope that helps!
I never comment on recipe blogs, but I make these so often that I wanted to express my appreciation! I probably make at least twice a month. They’re very good leftover the next day too! Instead of steak seasoning, I use Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute. Thank you for posting this recipe–I’ve recommended it to so many people!
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Thank you for sharing with us, MacKenzie — we’re so glad you enjoy them! :)
AMAZZZZZZZING! Thank you for this simple yet delectable recipe. Even my baby loved it! I added some shredded carrots and for the grownups, I added Sirichi sauce to the mix. These are going to be my go-to veggie burger.
I was looking for a way to incorporate more beans into my diet. Very hard to do considering I’m a bean hater. These are delicious! I’ll definitely make them again! I used a Greek seasoning and topped them with thinly sliced tomato, quick pickled cucumbers w/sour cream and dill, and hot pepper cheese on toasted whole wheat rolls. Mayo w/horseradish topped them off. Fabulous and very satisfying! Great recipe! ?
Just made these, and I loved them. I have been looking for months now, for a veggie patty recipe. Most had way too many ingredients, food possessor, or took way to long to make. Not only did I email this to myself, I screen shot it, shared it, and wrote it down in an old recipe book. And I sent this to my mom and cousin. I’m now working on a second batch, so I can freeze them. Only thing I did different, I added more onion and more mushrooms. Perfect. THANK YOU FOR POSTING!!!
This was soooo good. I added a little extra breadcrumbs to make it a little more stiff, this is the first veggie burger I’ve made and it really satisfied my burger craving. Thank you!
I made these last night and they were a huge it with the whole family. I used a small food processor for both the onion and the mushroom and it works great. These will definitely be going into our regular rotation.
Hey, I’m Ali!
My favorite thing in life is time spent around the table. And all the better with some seriously tasty food to bring us all together. more about me »
Looks and sounds wonderful! And so easy! Can’t wait to try theae!!!
Thanks, Susan — we hope you enjoy them! :)
These look great and I’m always on the look-out for a good veggie burger recipe! I have a question. I can’t eat eggs… do you think a flax egg would be enough to hold these together, or do you have another egg substitution suggestion? Thanks!
Hi Traci! Hmmm, good question. We haven’t tried flax eggs in this (or other egg substitutes), but you could try adding some brown rice (cooked, and about 3/4 of a cup). That would probably be a great binder. We hope this helps! :)
I’ve had good success with chia eggs in black bean burger recipes. I’m sure flax would be good too ?
Looks awesome couldn’t tell it was made of those ingredients. Got to try this!!!
Thanks, Tessie — I hope you love them! :)
These look super yum but nobody in my family eats beans and mushrooms besides me. Do you think the leftovers would be freezable?
Hi Toby! Yes, you can definitely freeze these! :)
I know what I am eating for lunch tomorrow!!!
I made these last night and while good, they were very salty. I used “Montreal Steak Seasoning” which, upon further investigation, is 400mg of sodium per 3/4 of a teaspoon. I wish I had checked that first. What, exactly, do you mean by steak seasoning and do you know of one that is lower in sodium? I also substituted the mushrooms with chili peppers chopped up very small as we don’t like mushrooms. I tried the part breadcrumbs and part chopped pecans also, which was nice. I just need to figure out another way to season that is much less salty. Otherwise these were easy and pretty tasty.
Oh no — so sorry to hear that these were too salty! I did use a low-sodium local steak seasoning, so I will be sure to go back and note that in the recipe. My apologies about that! If you make these again, I would definitely add the seasoning to taste. Thanks for giving them a try! :)
I love veggie burgers! Even more when they are super-quick and easy to make, like these ones! :)
Thanks, Alia — we hope you can give these a try sometime soon! :)
Sounds yummy! I assume the beans are rinsed and drained?
Thanks, Julie — we hope you enjoy these! Yes, the recipe specifies that the beans are rinses and drained. :)
These look delicious! I’ll take mine on a gluten free bun.
Thanks, Lindsay! We hope you enjoy them!
These look great but quick question. The ingredients list and recipe instructions specify using an egg white but the pictures show a whole egg (yolk and whites). Which is correct?
Hi AJ! Oops, yes it’s supposed to be just an egg white. We tested multiple batches of the recipe (and took multiple photos), and missed that one!
Looks great! Quick question- The pic shows an egg yolk but the directions say just the white…..
Hi Emily! Oops, yes it’s supposed to be just an egg white. We tested multiple batches of the recipe (and took multiple photos), and missed that one!
If I sized these for slider buns (1/4 cup each of the bean mixture), would I cook them the same amount of time?
Hi Colleen! They might not need quite as long to cook if they are smaller.
When you serve the patty on the burger bun, try it adding some cream cheese spread on the bun, then place the bean patty… mmmmh.
Regards,
Ok girl…you never cease to amaze me! Made these for dinner tonight and they were amazing, so much flavor. I have made a lot of veggie burgers in my time and these were by far the easiest and one of my faves. Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe :)
Thanks for your sweet words, Nicole — we’re so happy you enjoyed them! :)
Ali–these burgers look delicious. Any recommendations on how to make these burgers for a vegan diet without the egg white?
Thanks, Mark
Thanks, Mark — we hope you enjoy them! And in place of the egg white, you could try a flax egg or use some cooked rice as a binder. Hope this helps!
Hi there! Love this recipe. I was wondering if you had the nutritional information for it? (i.e. calories per burger). Thanks so much!!
We’re so glad to hear that, Rebecca! Unfortunately though, we aren’t sure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
Nice! I’m going to try making these this week. Just the recipe I was looking for!
(I also really like the idea of subbing in some chopped nuts for the panko – great idea.)
Awesome! We hope you enjoyed them! :)
Hello! These look great! Have you tried freezing them? Do they keep? I want to make a batch and freeze to have on hand. Any recommendations?
Hi Britt! Yes, you can definitely freeze these (we’d suggest letting them thaw in the fridge for an hour or two and then reheating in the oven (you can finish them under the broiler to get them a little crispy again). We hope you enjoy!
Super yummy but extremely crumbly. Not sure if anyone has a potential solution to that
We’re glad you enjoyed them, Emma, and we’re sorry they were a bit crumbly for you! We haven’t had that issue, but if you run into it again, you could try adding an extra egg white to help it bind better. We hope that helps!
Would I be able to keep leftover mixture (before pan frying the shaped patties) in the fridge for lunch the next day?
Thanks!
Hi Cathy! Yes, we think that should be fine. We hope you enjoy these!
I never comment on recipe blogs, but I make these so often that I wanted to express my appreciation! I probably make at least twice a month. They’re very good leftover the next day too! Instead of steak seasoning, I use Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute. Thank you for posting this recipe–I’ve recommended it to so many people!
Thank you for sharing with us, MacKenzie — we’re so glad you enjoy them! :)
AMAZZZZZZZING! Thank you for this simple yet delectable recipe. Even my baby loved it! I added some shredded carrots and for the grownups, I added Sirichi sauce to the mix. These are going to be my go-to veggie burger.
I was looking for a way to incorporate more beans into my diet. Very hard to do considering I’m a bean hater. These are delicious! I’ll definitely make them again! I used a Greek seasoning and topped them with thinly sliced tomato, quick pickled cucumbers w/sour cream and dill, and hot pepper cheese on toasted whole wheat rolls. Mayo w/horseradish topped them off. Fabulous and very satisfying! Great recipe! ?
Just made these, and I loved them. I have been looking for months now, for a veggie patty recipe. Most had way too many ingredients, food possessor, or took way to long to make. Not only did I email this to myself, I screen shot it, shared it, and wrote it down in an old recipe book. And I sent this to my mom and cousin. I’m now working on a second batch, so I can freeze them. Only thing I did different, I added more onion and more mushrooms. Perfect. THANK YOU FOR POSTING!!!
This burger has become our favorite veg burger of all times. Hubby even asks for it! Thanks so much! More fast & easy goodies like this please❣️
This was soooo good. I added a little extra breadcrumbs to make it a little more stiff, this is the first veggie burger I’ve made and it really satisfied my burger craving. Thank you!
Very good recipe ?
I made these last night and they were a huge it with the whole family. I used a small food processor for both the onion and the mushroom and it works great. These will definitely be going into our regular rotation.