Even though I am not a vegan, we mostly eat vegan.

It came out of necessity because my bae doesn’t do well with dairy, so I had to get creative with dairy alternatives. Which wasn’t that hard, tbh.

I don’t feel like we sacrificed flavor for healthier alternatives. I mean have you ever tried nutritional yeast?? It tastes like cheese. Its perfect in pesto and on pizza. And my vegan cookies do not taste dry or sad without butter!

We were already eating lots of veggies anyway, so minus all the dairy, it was like a good portion of our diets became primarily plant based!

Neither boo or I were big red meat eaters before this. I’m not gonna lie … the occasional filet mignon, or when I am wandering through Sprouts and get a massive craving for a full size Thanksgiving style turkey … are DEFINITELY things I enjoy now and then …

And in all honesty, I truly just feel stronger when I consume SOME animal products. I cannot live without eggs from happy, bug eating, wandering in the field getting sunshine chickens (it’s very important to me that the chickens were happy… I’m weird, what can I say). I adore a beautiful salmon filet.  And again … turkey meat just really melts my butter.

BUT I’M ALSO EXCEEDINGLY OBSESSED WITH ALL THE VEGGIES.

AND ALL FRUITS.

AND ALL THE NUTS.

AND ALL THE SEEDS.

AND ALL THE BEANS.

OH SWEET LORD, THE BEANS…!

And that brings me to the bean burger. 

Every Sunday, I take a pound of dried beans (dried is better!! Read my post on BPA and how horribly bad it is for you here) and I put them in the Instant Pot. It takes 30 minutes guys, to go from hard as rocks dried beans to totally ready to eat/enjoy/throw on your salads/mash up into bean burgers. Is Instant Pot hiring??  I should be it’s publicist.

I admit – I made up this recipe.  I always wing it, so I don’t know the full proportions of how much for all the ingredients, so hopefully what I’m about to type here is kind of close to what actually comes out when I make these.  Sometimes I add all bell pepper and no jalapeno. Sometimes I skip the bell pepper all together and use extra garlic. You do you, boo. Cooking is so fun because the rules are there are no rules!

Some quick tips for delicious bean burgers:

If they are too wet, add some more almond flour.

If they are too dry, add some lemon juice.

You want some spice? Add some jalapeno and seeds.  Too spicy for you?  Don’t add seeds next time.

Don’t sweat it.  Enjoy the process and don’t get hung up on the details.

BBQ Bean Burgers!

• 3-4 cups cooked beans (I like black beans, sometimes I throw in red beans too for some variety)

• ½ cup red onion, chopped

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 jalapeno, minced (add seeds for spice!)

• ½ red bell pepper, mince

• ½ cup almond flour

• 1 tsp cumin

• 2 tsp smoked paprika (simply magical!  Gives these their BBQ flave!!)

• 1 TBS olive oil

• Zest of one lemon (add the juice if your mixture is too dry)

• ½ tsp good salt

   

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Add the beans to a large mixing bowl.

Start mashing up the beans with a potato masher.

Add the rest of the ingredients.

Mix with a wooden spoon to combine.

If the mixture seems to dry, add the lemon juice from the lemon you just zested.

If it’s too wet, add a little more almond flour. 

Line a cookie sheet with some parchment paper.

Make your bean patties, about the size of a regular burger patty.

Space them out on the cookie sheet.

Pop them in the oven for 30-35 minutes. 

Serve with your usual burger fixins!  Sweet potato fries, avocado, BBQ sauce, sexy mustard with the whole mustard grains, lettuce, onions, pickles, greens, top with sauteed mushrooms and onions, green salad, wilted greens, kale chips, cucumber/tomato salad, potato salad, sliced watermelon, fruit salad, etc! The possibilities are endless!

Enjoy this recipe and leave me a comment letting me know how you liked these bean burger babies!!

Happy Bean Burger-ing!

Xoxo,

Emily 😊