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
These are so great. My fella can’t tolerate peppers so I sub with finely diced carrots. I always double the batch and freeze them. When I run out, I make another batch to have on hand, they are that good.
I have been making the vegan version for myself for a couple of years, they are amazing! I use flax ‘eggs’, works very well. I make the regular version for family and friends and they always ask for more! Thank you!
Love the black bean burger recipe, been making it for years. Share recipe with everyone! Thx you!!!
Is there any reason that these can’t be fried in a nonstick skillet with a tad of oil?
Hi Bec, we can’t see why not. Several readers have reported success doing so. Let us know if you try it!
Another question. You said that almond flour or oat flour could be used instead of bread crumbs. Is one any better than the other for getting the results like you get with bread crumbs? Thanks. I’m having them for dinner.
These may be tasty but they look like kibble. Despite using eggs, following the recipe precisely, they would not be patties. At my house, we call this foid for the blind.
This recipe worked so well for me. I took the beans out of the oven quite early because they were already getting overdone, and I worried they would be too dry, but once I started mixing everything pulled together beautifully. I added extra garlic, and used tagine paste instead of bbq. Otherwise exactly as written. Will definitely use this recipe regularly, thanks!
I found this recipe and had to try it. Best decision I ever made. This is my go to Black Bean Burger recipe. The taste and flavors are absolutely amazing!!! Highly Recommend!!!
These are amazing! I made them exactly as instructed, with the exception of swapping out the bread crumbs for oat flour and using medium rather than large eggs. I used about 1/3 cup per burger and got 9 burgers out of it. What a deal!
I made these today and they came out great. I had one on a larger hamburger bun and it fit nicely. They mixed up well in a large bowl with a masher and with the egg shortage I used what I had which was 2 medium eggs. The burgers were not dry. It made 6 good size (4.3) oz patties. One thing I found is that two different brands of canned black beans were different in volume, 15.0 and 15.5 respectively. Even so… it all worked. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Try using a “vegan egg” 1tbs Flax seed meal 3tbs of water = 1 egg. Mix well and let sit for about 5 minutes. Works great With the egg prices as they are you may want to use this for all your baking needs.
Hands down the best burgers period! I’m vegetarian and have been making this recipe for years now. Even if I ate meat I’d still want this one! I’ve yet to have a burger in a restaraunt that tops this, and I’m not a good cook at all. I literally just at 2 of them haha.
Don’t laugh too hard, but I actually don’t have an oven. Do you think a dehydrator would work for the beans? I have an air fryer, but I don’t know about how well that would work either.
Hi Gail, we haven’t tested either, but let us know if you do! We imagine it could work just fine.
I love this recipe soo much! These burgers are really! tasty, full of flavor and bonus are very easy to make! Thanks for developing this delicious recipe. I have saved it to my “favs” recipes and will definitely make it again…and soon!
This was amazingly uncomplicated, inexpensive, and really yum! I quick-pickled jalapeno slices and red onion, which was great on top. Also melted some daiya slices on it. Great recipe!
Perfect and forgiving! Have made it twice. This time I used the quantities I had on hand which ended up being a higher proportion of onions, garlic, and peppers to beans than called for. We also had an open can of chipotle chiles so I chopped one up and added it in, it added nice spice so I think I’ll do that from here on.
Oh my goodness, I didn’t read this recipe through. I just threw all the ingredients (more or less didn’t have totally EXACT measurement) in the bowl and started mixing and THEN actually read I was supposed to dry the cooked beans a bit (mine were homemade from “scratch” the day before) and saute the veggies. Oops….but I made and cooked the patties as directed and they still turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!
can you use different kinds of beans
Hi Brian, while we haven’t tried it ourselves, other readers have reported success making these with kidney beans. If using another type of bean, we still encourage you to dry them out as you do with the black beans in the instructions. The taste will be different, depending on the beans you use. Let us know what you try!
I love this recipe and make it regularly. I add sweet potato to my recipe. I find that when I cook the patties on my griddle, they come out a nicer patty than baking them in the oven!
Sweet potatoes would be a great addition to the burgers and give them a sweet caramelized flavor when fried. How much of the sweet potato did you add? Did you swap the eggs out for sweet potatoes.
I made this recipe exactly as described, and they were AMAZING. Topped them with a spoonful of sour cream/sriracha mixture.
This recipe is going to be fun in class
What can I use instead of pepper
Hi Connie, Some readers have swapped the green peppers for more onion or corn.
These are great! I added the spices and sauces to the onion mixture and sautéed before adding to the rest of the mix – excellent flavor and texture.
Sally is not bragging one bit with the title of this recipe: these burgers are the best. I make them so often, I have the recipe memorized.
I do leave out the feta with no substitution, and use ground to flour oats in place of the flour.
Do not skip the oiled foil!
Delicious! We did leave out the fera and added in some cooked brown rice
Hi! Do you have nutrition information for these? They look fantastic!
Hi Lisa, 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 were amazing! So tasty & filled with great flavor!
Thanks so much for this recipe. We have been looking for a ‘good version’ of a spicy bean burger for years, not something you can buy here in Australia that tastes any good… So I gave this a go. So glad I did whilst it took awhile to make, cutting onions also made me cry! It was great, mine still needed a bit more spice, (I used my own fresh chili’s and less powder so will up that or add more fresh chili’s next time) and added in fresh corn as the version we used to love had this and it was my favorite part lol. But that made it too wet and it fell apart very easy so maybe more crumbs or less sauce will help make it firmer next time. But the texture and taste was particularly good and the beans which were bang on. Thanks so much. Will be making this again for sure and getting right next time 😉 We had ours with freshly made slaw and in a warm floured roll. Yum!
I liked it
I love this recipe and have made a few times. I recently made them and they were extremely dry. the only ingredient I didn’t include was the feta cheese. I did not use canned beans this time but soaked my own. I want to make them again but avoid them being dry. Help, I otherwise love this recipe!
Hi Georgie, they may seem drier without the feta cheese, if that is what you’re used to. Is it possible that the dried beans were overcooked by chance, either? If those were the only two variables, you might try drying them out in the oven for just a few minutes less next time. We’re glad this is a favorite for you!
I make this recipe at least every other week, it is so good! This time I tried something which helped the process: after pulling the slightly dried beans out of the oven I mashed them with the back of a fork right on the baking sheet. This meant less work combining them with the rest of the mix, and have me more control on the consistency. Thanks for another fantastic recipe!
These are a big hit!
I doubled it, and followed most of the recipe with a couple of tweaks. (1) I used dry black beans instead of canned. I regularly prep/cook large amounts of beans, so I followed that same process incorporating the spices listed. (2) I left out the feta. Our household isn’t a big fan, so I adjusted with a little extra salt. (3) We didn’t have any peppers on hand, either. (4) We don’t have a food processor so I just mashed the beans by hand with a potato masher.
This recipe is pretty forgiving and flexible – even with tweaks they still turned out great.