Springtime Veggie Burgers

These are, hands down, my favourite burgers. They are bursting with a variety of flavours and are chock full of vegetable goodness but are firm and don’t fall apart like some other burgers that are full of veg. They also are tender on the inside and crispy on the outside and are baked not fried so fat free as well. Plus they can be gluten free, hoorah! I can’t tell you how many good looking recipes call for 1 cup breadcrumbs which includes the disclaimer “use gluten free bread to make it gluten free” which looks good on paper, but we really don’t eat much GF bread so I don’t have any just lying about waiting to be processed into crumbs. 

 This recipe is adapted from this website: http://www.dietdessertndogs.com/2009/05/01/vegetarian-veggie-burgers-that-are-made-from-vegetables

 Springtime Veggie Burgers

 1 ½ cups black beans

Which is 1 tin, drained and rinsed.  I cook mine from scratch because I’m a smarty pants, but do what you like. Also you can use any kind of beans, but we like the black beans best.
1 cup chopped, mixed vegetables
I do 1/3 cup dry (not oil packed) sun dried tomatoes, 1/3 cup carrot and 1/3 cup bell pepper, but again whatever floats your boat.
4-5 spring onions, (green and white bits) chopped
½ cup sunflower seeds
1 TB hemp seeds
or 1 TB pumpkin seeds or 1 more TB sunflower seeds. Whatever.
1 TB tamari or soy sauce
½ tsp dried dill weed
½ tsp dried basil
¾ tsp dried tarragon
¼ tsp sea salt
1 tsp hot sauce like *sriracha* or Tabasco
1 tsp ground flax (optional)
¼ cup fresh parsley or coriander (optional)
¼-½ cup wholemeal flour (I use buckwheat to make it GF)
1/3 cup frozen sweetcorn, defrosted

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. Place everything except flour and corn in the food processor and whiz until all mixed up and just small flecks of vegetables remain. If you like chunkier burgers, process a bit less.

3. Sprinkle in ¼ cup of flour to start and pulse to combine then check the texture. It should be moist but still hold together. If it’s too wet, add more flour.

4. Spoon into a bowl and mix in the sweetcorn  by hand.

5. Form into 7-8 burgers, depending on big you like ‘em. Flatten them to ½ inch thickness and place on cookie sheet, spacing evenly.

Here they are raw waiting to go in the oven

6. Bake for 15 minutes and then flip ‘em over and bake 10-15 minutes on the other side. They can also be cooked on a flat grill if you brush both sides with a bit of oil and grill 8-10 minutes on one side and 5-8 minutes on the other. But why stand over a hot grill when you can bung ‘em in the oven and go off and read a book?

Here it is cooked, mmm mmm good!

These would be great on a bun with all the accoutrements, but we tend to eat them with salad and a baked sweet potato.  A good way to get your 5 day in a burger form. Yum Yum!