Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Red Bean-BBQ Burgers

Happy hump day! Last night for supper I made some red bean-bbq burgers that were out of this world. I'm serious...so far these are the best bean burgers that I have made. I used to love bbq before I became a vegan. These remind me so much of bbq. If your from the south, then you know what I am talking about. :o)

Jillian Michaels, from The Biggest Loser, posted a jalapeno-red bean-bbq burger recipe on facebook a while back. I thought it sounded good, so I printed it off. The original recipe called for an egg white, so I decided to do a chia egg in place of that. I made a couple of other changes to the recipe, so I'll share with you what I did. First, let me tell you that when I cook bean burgers, they never seem to turn out like the picture in the recipe. The picture below doesn't do the burgers justice.


Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup onions (chopped)
1/2 cup tomatoes (chopped) I used the last of my fresh Roma's
1 clove garlic (minced)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 (15 ounce) can light red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1/4 cup dry wheat bread crumbs
1 tablespoon wheat germ
2 tablespoons barbecue sauce
1 chia egg (I did 1 teaspoon chia seeds to 3 teaspoons of water)

Directions:
Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, tomato, garlic and chili powder. Saute for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, coarsely mash the beans in a bowl.
Add in onion mixture, breadcrumbs, barbecue sauce, and the chia egg (I mixed 1 teaspoon of chia seeds with 3 teaspoons of water and let that sit for about 5 minutes before adding it to the mixture).
Shape into 4-6 balls (depending on how large you want your bugers), and place in the freezer for about 15 minutes. To me, this helped them to stay together better when I flattened them out into patties.
Heat a little olive oil in a nonstick skillet and cook the burgers for about 5 minutes on each side (until golden brown). I'm sure I cooked mine a little longer, because they aren't too golden. :o)

I had mini burgers last night with tater babies. The only thing I put on my little burgers last night was lettuce. I just couldn't get over how good they were without all the toppings.


~Peace~

14 comments:

  1. These certainly look interesting! I would've never though of it myself :-)
    Thanks for sharing, Michelle!

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  2. mmm these sound amazing AND you used a chia egg; I <3 chia eggs as a binder!

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  3. Those burgers do look good - I think a burger with beans that holds together is always good! The tomatoes in the burgers sounds like a great addition, and I like the fries too. Yum! By the way, I remember you asked where my parents live - they moved to Tipton Co. just north of Memphis a few years ago. They still commute to Memphis for work, but the love living in the country ! (I think they are crazy for doing that!)

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  4. It's great to find a fav burger recipe! I love the addition of BBQ sauce. I think I'll have to give these a try. Thanks for the recipe and the tips on the chia egg...I've never used it before for binding!

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  5. The look wonderful.. but I have no idea what are chia seeds! Never heard of them... an egg substitute?

    ciao
    Alessandra

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  6. Yes, the burgers look good, but those tater babies look great! Are they frozen fries?

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  7. Those burgers do sound good. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

    Ali

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  8. nice, and i think they look ok in your pic!styff ikethis is so good to have in the fridge, to top salads with or to snack on...i need to make some...!

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  9. I love making my own veggie burgers...well I love eating them because they are more Johanns specialty! looks so yummy!

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  10. These look great! Can not wait to try them. Just as a little FYI that I just discovered if you are using already made bread crumbs from the grocery store they have all kinds of things in them like eggs and milk! I have been using regular bread crumbs this whole time and assumed the ingredients were bread and crumbs.....lol! I was quite surprised when I read the ingredient list. I ended up switching to panko bread crumbs because they do not have an animal products in them.

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  11. What a great idea! I haven't had red bean ones before!

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  12. I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe so much! I have the same problem with bean burgers. Either mine turn out nice and firm and keep their shape, or they seem to melt in the pan, and I get a big globular bean mess. I'll have to try this recipe!

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  13. Now here's a recipe I've never seen before and I am going to have to try it! I use the "chia egg" for various foods and it seriously can't be beat. Do you have a market near you that sells chia seeds? I've been getting them online for about 2 years now from thechiaseed.com because I have yet to find any stores near me that carry it. The closest whole foods to me had them once about a year ago but then stopped carrying them because I guess not enough people knew how awesome chia seeds are!

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  14. J. - I also have to order my chia seeds. I order mine from Vitacost.com. I actually order several things from them. My nearest wholefoods is a little over an hour away, so we don't make it very often.
    If you try the burgers, let me know what you think. :o)

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