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This vegan black bean burger recipe is gluten free and easy to make! Made from cooked sweet potatoes, black beans, quinoa, flax seeds and flavorful tex-mex seasonings.
I love a good veggie burger, especially when it’s made with some of my favorite ingredients like sweet potatoes, black beans and quinoa!
These vegan black bean burgers are easy to make, super satisfying and require no eggs. To help bind all the ingredients together, all you need are a few tablespoons of ground flax seed and that’s it!
The burgers are seasoned with a flavorful mixture of ground cumin, onion powder, chili powder, garlic and oregano to help balance out the sweetness of the sweet potatoes. The result is a subtly sweet and savory black bean burger that will satisfy even the biggest meat lovers.
To make it even better, I served it up with a huge shmear of this easy chipotle sauce and it can’t get any better than that!
How to make vegan black bean burgers
In a small bowl, combine ground flax seed, cumin, salt, onion powder, chili powder, garlic powder, dried oregano and black pepper. (photo 1)
In a large mixing bowl, add 2 cooked sweet potatoes and 1 15-ounce can of drained and rinsed black beans. (photos 2-3)
Using a fork or potato masher, mash the sweet potatoes and black beans until the consistency is only slightly chunky. Some beans will be completely mashed and some will not. (photos 4-5)
Add 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa, the small bowl of seasonings and mix together until fully combined. (photo 6-8)
Form the mixture into 8 burger patties using your hands and place on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
Bake in a 400°F oven for 20 minutes, carefully flip the patties over and bake for 20 more minutes.
And voila! Time to eat.
Tips for making the best vegan black bean burgers
- Make sure to spray the parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray or olive oil. I made a batch where I forgot to spray it, and the patties stuck to the paper.
- Drain as much moisture as possible from the canned black beans. The more moisture in your mixture, the stickier it will be which will make it difficult to form it into burger patties.
- If the burger mixture is very sticky when forming it into patties, add in 1 or 2 more teaspoons of ground flax seed to help absorb some of that moisture.
Ways to serve these black bean burgers
My favorite way of serving these black bean burgers is in between a brioche bun with your typical lettuce/tomato/onion toppings as well as a big shmear of this easy chipotle sauce! It’s a little spicy, super creamy and it makes every burger better.
You could also go the bunless route and serve it on some lettuce or collard greens and top it with some pickled onions for some tangy crunch.
More Vegan Recipes
Vegan Black Bean Burgers
Ingredients
- nonstick cooking spray or olive oil
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, halved lengthwise
- 1/2 cup dry quinoa (about 1 1/2 cups cooked)
- 3 tablespoons ground flax seed
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
For serving (optional)
Instructions
- Bake the sweet potatoes: Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Place halved sweet potatoes cut side down and poke each half with a fork a few times.Bake for 30-35 minutes until sweet potatoes are tender and cooked through. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. While sweet potatoes are baking, make the quinoa.
- Cook the quinoa: Place quinoa in a fine-mesh sieve and rinse under cold running water for about 1 minute. Drain and transfer to a medium pot. Add in 1 cup of water and bring to a boil over high heat.Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until quinoa is tender and cooked through. Let stand for 5 minutes, covered. Remove the lid and fluff with a fork.
- Make the seasoning: In a small bowl, add the ground flax seed, ground cumin, coarse kosher salt, onion powder, chili powder, garlic powder, dried oregano and ground black pepper. Mix together and set aside.
- Mash it up: In a large bowl, add the black beans and cooked sweet potatoes. Mash until the consistency is only slightly chunky. Some beans will be completely mashed and others will not. This will help create a nice texture.
- Mix it all together: Add the cooked quinoa and combined spices. Mix it all together until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. hands and form into 8 burger patties, about 1/3 cup of mixture each.
- Make the patties: Using your hands, form the mixture into 8 burger patties, about a heaping 1/3 cup of mixture per patty.
- Cook the burgers: Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray or olive oil. Place burger patties baking sheet and bake in 400°F oven for 20 minutes. Carefully flip over the patties and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was originally published in March 2017. It was republished with updated photos and helpful tips and tricks in June 2019.
I am not vegetarian/vegan/gluten free or anything but I am pregnant and struggling to find recipes that don’t turn my stomach. These burgers are delicious!! And the chili-lime mayo is to die for. I made a batch of burgers at the beginning of the week and I’ve been eating them every night for dinner. I’ve eaten them on buns, bread, and in lettuce wraps, and they’re good every way.
Thank you so much, Kati 🙂 I really appreciate it. I’m not vegetarian or gluten free either, but these are so good, I don’t miss the meat at all!
These were very good but I’d suggest in the directions you spray olive oil down before you put the patties on the parchment paper. After the 20 minutes mine were basically stuck to the parchment paper and came out crumbled!
the burgers and sauce look delicious. do you have a general weight measurement or mashed cup amount for two medium potatoes? i don’t want to get too much or not enough. thank you. i look forward to making these soon.
Hi Suzi! I don’t have any weight measurements, I’m sorry! 🙁 I just made sure to get a sweet potato that isn’t super small or obscenely large. Whatever looks medium to you should be just fine.
LOVE these! They are even great cold wrapped in some lettuce leaves with sliced red onion and the chili mayo or on top of a salad with some cashew ranch!
Do you mash the sweet potato in the skins or scoop it out??
No skins. I scoop it out.
My boyfriend and I LOVE these burgers. atleast once a week we will have them. my biggest annoyance is they fall apart so easily! is there anyway to prevent this or anything to add? i have tried using cooled quinoa and sweet potato in hopes it would hold but no luck! any advice?
Sorry, Alicia! It seems that others have also had this problem. I’m going to retest this recipe soon and hopefully update it!
This was delicious! But I found it worked a lot better to roughly mash the beans before adding the sweet potato — otherwise the beans kept sliding away from the masher. 🙂
Love these!! Question, is there any way to make the patty firmer??
You could try adding a teaspoon of chia seeds and letting them sit in the mixture for 10 minutes or so until they plump up. That may help. You could also try adding some arrowroot or tapioca starch.
Hi. Finally got around to making these last night. They will now be on regular rotation in our house. So good, so easy. Fantastic recipe.
Thanks
Thanks so much, David! 🙂
Hi! I am going to make these tonight I can’t wait to try them. Do you know if they freeze/defrost well or recommend eating them fresh each time?
I personally have never frozen them, but some people in the comments have and say they’re great!