Black Bean Burgers

I recently told you about my desire to eat a more healthy, veggie-full diet. While some days are better than the rest (aka... I ate all the leftover cupcakes from the Oscar's Party... not a proud moment, but definitely a tasty one), overall I've been doing pretty good at making my meals good for me. That's where this recipe comes in. These black bean burgers are packed with protein and also it's a good way to sneak some veggies in, too. Since it was just me at home today, I decided to half the recipe and make black bean sliders. I usually don't cook for myself when I'm home alone, but today I went all out.

I halved the recipe, made 4 patties (out of mixture that would have made 3 patties) and even still, I had to cut the patties in half to fit my little buns, so Two patties, made 4 sliders for my lunch today.

I'm so happy to share this recipe with you! I bet even die-hard meat eaters would love this, too, and these burgers can be made vegan by using an egg substitute.

Ingredients:
*yield 6 burgers

• 3/4 cup plain bread crumbs
• olive oil
• (2) 5 oz. cans black beans, drained
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 diced bell pepper
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/4 cup cilantro (optional)

Directions:

In a frying pan, brown the bread crumbs in 2 tsp. of olive oil. Place 2.5 cups beans in a bowl and mash until smooth. Combine the eggs, 1 tablespoon of oil, cumin, salt and cayenne with the mashed beans. Add the toasted bread crumbs, remaining 1/2 cup of un-mashed beans, bell pepper, cilantro and shallot to the mixture and stir until evenly combined.
Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions (about 1/2 cup each). Cook each patty in a skillet (in olive oil) until well browned on both sides (3-4 minutes on each side). Make sure that the first side is brown before you try to flip it, or else your burger will fall apart.

Serve on your favorite bun with your favorite toppings. I topped mine off with tomato and spinach and some honey mustard I mixed together real quick.

These were so delicious and had a certain tex-mex flair to them. They would be a great vegetarian option for your next cook-out! If you decide you want to put these burgers on the grill, pan fry them for a couple minutes on both sides, and then transfer them to the grill so they don't fall apart on you.

 Now I'm going to finish my lunch!