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
I have never left a review for a recipe until now
this was truly amazing and easy enough to make after work
i will never get store bought veggie burgers again
Like Chrissie L I have never left a recipe review. I also have never cooked black bean burgers or even eaten a veggie burger before. I’ve been telling my family we eat too much meat so I started looking around for a recipe. I made 5 of these burgers last night and 4 beef burgers. The bean burgers were all eaten and the beef burgers packed for lunches so they won’t be wasted. Takes a bit more prep time than regular burgers but it’s well worth the effort.
It looks delish i will try it. There is 1 thing i will change though if vegan/vegetarian and that is the beans. I’d use raw soaked beans as it got enough starch to bind itself and won’t fall apart after getting cooked.
Thanks for sharing
Can I make these smaller and use veggie meatballs. Just adjust the cooking time. As they look sooooo good
I didn’t have an onion or bell pepper, so I used several green onions and a couple of jalapeños. Everything else was right by the recipe. Mine were very tasty, but they were still just a tad mushy for me. Overall, though, not bad!
Hello! I’ve made these several times – they have become a staple in our meal rotation.
Despite all the times I’ve been on this site, I just noticed an error in the title for this recipe! just give it a double-check 🙂
Definitely leave out the egg!! So mushy I knew these weren’t going to turn out right away. I do t think baking the black beans ahead of time helped at all as the eggs just turned it into a mushy mess.
Sally this recipe is a keeper. I loved it and came out perfect. I used Heinz ketchup with Tabasco in the mix. It is a new flavor and it went into these burgers well. The only other thing is that I make my own breadcrumbs. Any piece of bread that is getting a little dry gets ground up and put into my “crumb bucket so I had some of those different flavors in the background. I may never eat a real hamburger again. You are batting a 100% with me.
Very easy and very tasty. I am a confident spontaneous cook so didn’t follow amounts excactly and was making a smaller amount of burgers anyway. I too have made many bean and veggie burgers.. definitely one of the best!
I’m wanting to make these tonight and without going to the store. I have a well stocked pantry however only one can of black beans. I do have pinto beans, black eyed peas and garbanzo beans. Would it still work with the 2nd can of beans being one of those?
Hi Melinda, we haven’t tested this recipe with other beans, but many other readers have reported success doing so. Let us know if you try!
OMG..These bean burgers were sooo delicious. Thank you. Passing this recipe onto the kids.
I got a vegetarian brother and this was my second time making them, they are so amazing and I prefer them over meat burgers. There is so much flavor and I love that you can taste test to see if you need more spice or not. Just a great hit. I love to have them with tzatziki sauce, lattice, tomatoes, red onion and a nice smokey bbq sauce. Scrumptious and a must have.
These are amazing! I normally avoid making anything like this as they always seem to fall apart. These didn’t and so easy to pop them in the oven to cook. My teenage son loved them too. Recipes like this could help save the planet!
Hello there, this looks delicious, Our friend told us about it and she says it was the best black bean burgers she ever had. I was wondering if i use dried beans that have been cooked, how many would be equal to the canned amount in the recipe. Thanks so much. I will post a comment after I have made them
Hi Lin! One 14.5 ounce can of beans = 1.75 cups of beans, so you’ll need about 3.5 cups of your cooked beans. Can’t wait to hear how they go!
Thanks so much for getting back to me so soon. I cant wait to get them made. Cheers Lin
Hello there, I made these yesterday and I used shredded parmesan cheese instead of the feta and they are the best black bean burgers I have ever eaten. I will surely be making them again. Our friend told us about them and she loves them and I can see why. I halved the recipe because I didn’t cook enough beans to make the whole recipe. They stayed together so well while I fried them in the fry pan. Thanks so much
First time making this dish and it was delicious! I accidentally added the spices while the veggies were softening in the pan, but it worked out. I don’t miss the processed taste of store bought Thank you!
In the UK you can get in the Supermarkets cartons of organic black beans, so I decided to go
Organic on all of the ingredients [where I could] and the result was beyond my expectations. Very {extremely] tasty, great texture, my daughters and granddaughters were very impressed. I was a hit, sorry….YOU were a hit. I am a stickler for keeping strictly to the ‘Law’ of the recipe, and I enjoyed the making; the cooking, and the eating. It is a rare treat when you make something that even the pickiest eater scarfs down like eating is going out of style!
This recipe is great! I found that making burgers was a pain so decided to make it into a loaf and bake
Great tip! How long did you bake?
BEST Black bean Burgers EVER!!!
I am so happy that my wife and I made these. We have been vegan for over a year and this was the second vegan black bean burger we tried. We waited so long because I was a huge meat burger head and believed I needed a clean pallet to try a vegan black bean burger. I was wrong! I 100% recommend these for anyone at any stage in their vegan/vegetarian journey. Great burger! Goes great with Follow Your Heart sliced cheese.
Ps. There is a vegan Worcestershire sauce at Whole Foods. The sweet potato was a great binder replacement for eggs.
Even though this recipe has hundreds of reviews I had to add mine because these were so good! It is ramp season here in the Appalachians so I used ramps in place of onion. I also used BBQ sauce and mayo as I was out of Worcestershire. Baking the black beans first is an amazing hack!!! Will be making these again and again!
I converted this recipe to be grain-free, substituted the bread crumbs for almond flour, and used paleo friendly bbq sauce. I added a bit more almond flour to get the consistency of a burger. This worked great. .I also baked it 10 min on each side on parchment. Was great on lettuce wrap.
Excellent burgers – have made many veggie/ bean burgers over the years and this was declared the best by the family. Easy to make, good texture for shaping, neither too sloppy or dry. My son won’t eat cheese so I swapped out the feta and eggs for some Japanese mayo (my favourite) and I love that you use Worcestershire sauce – it’s my secret ingredient in any burger/mince recipe, veggie or otherwise 🙂 Thank you!
I too will be trying these with dried beans. Any thoughts on how much to use (cups in 2 cans?) Or if the oven step is still needed once rehydrated since they’re already firmer than canned? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks
Hi Nikki, if using dried beans, follow the soaking instructions to soften them up before using. You’ll cook the beans as you usually do, then dry them out in the oven before using (per our instructions in this recipe). There’s roughly 1 and 1/2 cups of black beans in a can, so you’ll need about 3 cups total.
The best black bean burgers!
Very tasty but 15 minutes in the oven for the beans is too long. Next time I’ll try 10 min’s.
Beans came out very dry so the burger was on the dry side but flavor was great. I’ll try mayo instead of ketchup next time. Maybe that will moisten them up?
Hi Melanie! Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try. You can certainly use mayo in place of the ketchup if desired. Reducing the bake time of the beans should help if you found them a bit too dry. Hopefully this helps for next time!
I made these, baked the beans in advance but they came out super sticky and mushy. They taste good but the consistency was off. I left out an egg bc it was already too sticky. Added more breadcrumbs to try to dry it out. I’m not sure what I didn’t wrong. I put the beans In the food processor. Maybe I should have mashed with a fork instead??
Hi Danielle, It sounds like the beans were mashed up too much. By doing so, the mixture was extra sticky (and more like a paste). Make sure you dry them out in the oven long enough, then after you add them to the food processor, give it only a couple quick pulses. You want some chunks left in there. Additionally, make sure you blot some of the moisture out of the sautéd pepper + onion.
Recipe is easy and the “burgers” are delicious. Do you have nutritional information compiled?
Hi Erin, we’re so glad these burgers were a hit for you! 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://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp
I’ve made these twice now. First time I misread the recipe and used 1 whole onion and the texture was a mess. This time I followed the recipe to a T and voila, beautiful burgers were born! I’ve tried many veg burger recipes and this one is great because of the easy ingredients, plenty of flavor, pretty good texture (mine didn’t crumble or mush to much) and came together quickly!
Real time my husband just told me he likes the taste of these over ground beef burgers…and I make a delicious burger that my whole family loves including me.
But eating this plant based burger is super grubbing.
The only thing I changed was no fresh garlic (forgot to pick up) added double granulated garlic.
I halved this recipe because all I had on hand was one can of black beans. I did consider going half and half with chickpeas or white beans but since it’s just me eating these I stuck with the one can.
I added hemp seeds, cayenne and hot sauce. Also my beans are low sodium and I needed to add a pinch of salt.
Also I didn’t have feta so I used some hard goat cheese I had on hand
Halved this recipe made 5 patties using the 1/3 cup measuring
So very good! I love them and the versatility of doctoring them to what’s on hand and my own preferences. I plan to freeze these and have zero need to buy meatless burgers ever again!
I made this.
I love, love this. This is the very best black bean burger I have ever tasted.
I will make this again and again. My go to recipe. I have just finished making it and I sat down to eat it with a green pea salad with chopped tomatoes and cucumbers. AMAZING!!!!
These were soooo delicious! We are trying to eat healthier, I found this recipe and boy am I glad I did! I used sugar free bbq sauce instead of regular. Yum! Thank you so much for this recipe. I may try a mini meatloaf with this recipe, the flavor reminded me of yummy meatloaf.
We made these this evening and oh my goodness, they are amazing!! Definitely on regular rotation from now on, thank you! ☺️