Mushroom chickpea burgers

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)

3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 pound cremini mushrooms or portobello mushroom caps, cut into 1/2-inch dice

4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and discarded and caps cut into 1/2-inch dice

1/2 cup cooked no-salted-added chickpeas, lightly mashed with a fork

1 tablespoon low-sodium wheat-free tamari (may substitute low-sodium soy sauce)

3/4 cup chickpea flour, plus more as needed (may substitute all-purpose flour)

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/4 cup nutritional yeast (may substitute grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese)

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Kosher or sea salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Pour olive oil into a large skillet over medium heat, and when the oil starts to shimmer, add the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion and garlic are tender and lightly browned, 4 minutes. Add the thyme and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms exude their liquid, 4 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool.

When cooled, add the chickpeas, tamari, chickpea flour, cumin, nutritional yeast and lemon juice, and stir to combine. Add salt if needed. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for at least an hour or overnight. If the mixture is too loose to form patties, add no more than 2 tablespoons of chickpea flour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 2 large baking sheets with non-stick cooking oil spray. Form the vegetable mixture into 8 patties, about 5 inches across and 1/4-inch thick, and place the patties on the baking sheets.

Bake until they feel firm to the touch and are just barely browning on the edges, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove and let cool to room temperature.

Heat vegetable oil into a large skillet, carefully add patties. Fry them on each side until crisp and browned, about 3 minutes a side. Cool.

Makes 8 servings.

Easy Vegan Black Bean Veggie Burgers

What You'll Need

• 1/2 onion, chopped small
• 1 can black beans, well drained (if you're using fresh beans, you want about 1 2/3 cup and make sure they are very well cooked because you'll be mashing them)
• 2 slices bread, crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt (regular salt is fine, too, but the seasoned salt provides a ton of extra flavor)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 cup flour
• Extra salt and pepper to taste
• Oil for frying

How to Make It

Sautee the onions till soft, about 3-5 minutes.

In a large bowl, mash the beans until almost smooth.

Add the sauteed onions to the beans, along with the crumbled bread, seasoned salt, garlic powder, and onion powder, mixing to combine well. Then, add the flour a few tablespoons at a time and mix to combine well. Your veggie burger mixture will be very thick (you may want to use your hands to work the flour in well). 

Form the black bean mixture into individual patties, approximately ½ inch thick. The best way to do this is to roll a handful into a ball, then gently flatten it.

Finally, fry your black bean patties in a small amount of oil over medium-low heat until slightly firm and lightly browned on each side, about 3 minutes. 

If your pan is too hot, your bean burgers will brown too quickly and not be heated through and cooked in the middle, so adjust the heat as needed. 

Assemble your veggie burgers and enjoy with all the fixings, or, eat them on a plate with a fork and a knife and ketchup - they're perfect for doing just that. 

Chickpea Burgers

Yield 4 burgers Time 20 minutes

Mashed and pan-fried chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, make a delicious  veggie burger.
Ingredients 2 T olive oil 1½ c onions, minced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 t ground cumin 1 c carrot, finely chopped 1¾ c cooked and drained chickpeas 1½ T tahini or peanut butter ¼ c parsley, minced 1/3 c chickpea flour ½ t baking soda 1 t salt juice from ½ lemon Directions Heat 1 T of oil and sauté the onions over medium heat, stirring frequently,  until they soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, and carrot and  sauté for a couple more minutes. Transfer to large bowl or food processor and add the chickpeas.  Mash or process until mushy. Stir in tahini and parsley. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in the small bowl,  then stir into chickpeas. Flour your hands, shape mixture into four burgers  , and dust them with flour.  Fry in 1 T oil over medium-low heat for 1 minute, until just beginning  to brown. Flip, fry 2 minutes, flip again, and fry 1 one minute  (2 minutes total per side). Splash with a bit of lemon juice and serve.

Black Bean Veggie Burger

1 onion, chopped
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 cup breadcrumbs
2 cups canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
2 Tbsp. ketchup
4 hamburger buns
Tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, onions, ketchup, mustard, and vegan mayo (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a food processor, pulse the onion, rice, breadcrumbs, black beans, chili powder, salt, cumin, and ketchup until well combined, about 15 seconds.
Form the mixture into 4 patties.
Place the patties on a greased baking sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes, then flip and bake for 10 more minutes.
Serve on buns with toppings of your choice.
Makes 4 burgers

TOFU BURGER WITH SWEET POTATOES {GLUTEN-FREE, VEGAN}

 Soft, and tender on the inside while lightly crispy on the outside, and  full of flavor. Gluten-Free too. Only 7 ingredients and 30 minutes needed!























Ingredients

• 5 ounces firm tofu, with the excess water squeezed out with a paper towel
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled, cubed, cooked and mashed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
• salt/pepper to taste
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1/3 cup gluten free breadcrumbs (or more if needed)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Top with your favorite burger toppings 

Instructions

1. Crumble tofu with your hands into a bowl. Add in the cooked sweet potato and with a fork mash them together. Add in the rest of the ingredients except the olive oil. Mix until combined.
2. Form patties with your hands.
3. Heat pan over medium heat and add olive oil. Cook patties for a few minutes on each side until browned. (Can bake these in the oven instead)
4. Serve in burger buns or in lettuce wraps

Bean Burger, Avocado and Sweet Potato Stacks over Kale Salad

Serves 4
Vegan, Gluten Free

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato
1 tsp coconut oil
1/8 tsp Himalayan salt (or any salt will do)
4 bean burgers, premade, like Sunshine Burgers, or homemade ( Recipe below)
2 ripe avocados, peel and seed removed and sliced
1/4 red onion, sliced

Kale Salad
1 bunch kale
1/4 red onion
1 tsp olive oil
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F; massage sweet potato with oil and sprinkle with salt; poke holes event over skin with fork; wrap sweet potato in foil; bake 40 minutes or until soft. Remove from oven and cool.

2. Meanwhile, remove leaves of kale from stems and chop; slice red onion thinly and top kale; mix olive oil; mustard; maple, balsamic and garlic in a small bowl; pour over kale and onion mixture; massage until kale begins to break down and fibers soften. Top with raisins.

3. Heat bean burgers; slice sweet potato; layer 1/4 kale mixture, one slice sweet potato, two slices of avocado, bean burger, another slice sweet potato; another slice avocado and some fresh onion on each of four plates.

Five Ingredient Black Bean Burgers

Serves 4

Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

Ingredients

2 cups cooked and drained black beans (or use a 14.5 oz can)

1/3 cup Gluten Free instant oats (or 1/2 cup rolled oats pulsed in the food processor)

1 Tbsp steak seasoning

1 Tbsp coarse ground prepared mustard (or whatever you have)

2 Tbsp Gluten Free Ketchup

Directions

1. Preheat the broiler on high and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl; divide into four burgers or eight sliders. Bake first side for 6 minutes; flip and cook an additional 4 to 5 minutes or until browned.

2. Top with whatever you like!

SWEET POTATO QUINOA BURGERS (VEGAN, GF)

This is NOT a quick recipe (unless you prepare your lentils and quinoa ahead of time). But, the payoff is well worth it. I promise.

YIELD:  10 PATTIES

INGREDIENTS:

PRECOOK:
2 cups cooked brown lentils (about ¾ cup uncooked)
2 cups cooked quinoa (about ½ cup uncooked)
1½ cups mashed sweet potato*

*NOTES
You may salt the cooking water for the lentils and quinoa (it will help to layer the seasoning throughout the burger). The sweet potatoes can be microwaved – peel them, cut into large chunks and put them in a microwave-safe bowl with little bit of water. Mine took about 13 minutes in the microwave (I checked them at 10 minute intervals).

2 cups onion, diced (I only used 1 cup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup carrot, grated
1 cup kale, very finely chopped (if it isn’t very fine, your burger will break apart)
1½ cups oats (either old-fashioned or quick)
½ tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. ground coriander
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1 Tbsp. ketchup
1 Tbsp. chili sauce, such as Sriracha
½ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste 

STEP 1
In a skillet over medium-high heat, sauté the onion and garlic until the onions are translucent. Season them with salt about half way through the cooking process.

STEP 2
Combine ALL of the ingredients in a large bowl. Get in there with your hands and really mash it up so it is combined well. This mixture does especially well after a 1-2 hour rest in the fridge, if time allows.

STEP 3
Form patties. Unlike meat, these patties don’t shrink up much when cooked, so you can make them true to size. (Jill’s recipe says it yields ten patties, but I must have made mine on the small size – I wound up with eleven.)

STEP 4
(Jill’s directions differ slightly here.)
This is how I cooked them:
Use about ½ Tbsp. of oil (grapeseed, canola or vegetable) per patty. Heat oil over high in a large skillet (do not let the oil smoke). CAREFULLY place the patties in the pan (oil will spatter a bit, so wear an apron). Cook them 3-4 minutes on each side.

STEP 5
Dress your bun, add your burger and dig in!

I froze most of my patties after forming them (skip the frying step). To reheat, I put one or two in the toaster oven on 350° for a few minutes (to defrost), then I fry them according to the recipe directions above.

GRILLED PORTOBELLO BURGERS (VEGAN, GF)

INGREDIENTS:

5 to 7 portobello mushrooms (7 medium-size or 5 to 6 large; 1¼ to 1½ pounds)*
2 large cloves garlic
2 to 2½ Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2½ to 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil*
a few pinches of sea salt and black pepper
whole wheat sandwich thins or burger buns or bread
sandwich fixings such as vegan mayo, tomato slices, sautéed onions 

STEP 1
Clean mushroom using a damp (not wet) towel or paper towel to wipe the tops. You can also use a spoon to scrape the gills from the underside of the mushrooms.

STEP 2
Grate the garlic in a large, shallow dish (confession: I just used my garlic press instead). Add the balsamic vinegar and oil and stir to incorporate. Add the mushrooms, and gently flip and move around in the marinade to cover most of the surface area of each. (I spooned the marinade onto the shrooms and spread it around with the spoon.)

Cover the dish and let mushrooms marinate for at least 30 minutes (1 to 2 hours, if you have the time), flipping the mushrooms once during the marinating time.

STEP 3
To cook, preheat your grill to high or medium-high heat. Place the mushrooms on the grill, then sprinkle with a few pinches of salt and pepper. Grill for 4 to 7 minutes on each side (the first side usually needs longer than the second), until grill marks have formed and the mushrooms have softened slightly (but not too wilted; they should still be juicy). Remove from the grill and serve.

The Best Hamburger.