Sweet Potato + Quinoa Black Bean Burgers With Lettuce Bun

These sweet potato and quinoa black bean burgers are filled with nutrients and protein. Loaded with amazing flavor from the spices and the perfect burger consistency. The lettuce bun has that perfect satisfying crunch.

I have tried a few homemade veggie burger recipes that never came out as good as I’d hope. After a lot of failed recipes and trial and error, I finally created one that was a winner.

This recipe is pretty easy. It does take some elbow grease to mash up the potatoes and beans.

First, you want to start with your potatoes. You want to cook them in the microwave. It’s a lot faster to do versus the oven.

Make sure to wash them before hand. Poke holes around the entire potato with a fork. This is to prevent your potatoes to whistle at you while they are baking. Interesting!

Place a damp paper towel in your microwave and place the sweet potatoes on the paper towel. Cook on high for 5 minutes. Flip over and cook for another 5 minutes. It depends on how big your potatoes are. Mine took a total of 10 minutes to cook to tender.

To check and make sure potatoes are cooked all the way through and soft, take a fork and poke it through the middle. If it goes in easily and smoothly, then they are done. You want to make sure the potatoes are nice and soft.

Split them open to cool off so you can handle them.

Lets take a minute to talk about the wonderful spices that make these burgers taste so delicious!…

A mixture of chili powder, garlic & herb blend, smoked paprika and onion powder…my god! So so good. The smoked paprika does wonders. It gives the burger a very faint smokey flavor. It’s amazing.

Once your potatoes have been cooled down enough to handle, you want to scoop out the potato meat from the skin, making sure to not get any skin in with the potatoes and add it to a large mixing bowl.

Add your rinse and drained black beans to the bowl. Mash the potatoes and black beans together. I used a large serving fork. But if you happen to have a potato masher, that might be easier.

When your potatoes and black beans are all mashed and combined well together, add in your spices, panic crumbs, egg, and cooked quinoa. Mix everything together very well until you have a thick pasty consistency.

Now the fun part. Form your mixture into burger patties. Make sure not to make them too too big, but not too small. Mine were about 3 1/2 – 4 inches round.

My mixture made 8 patties. I was only feeding my husband and I, so I will end up freezing the rest of the patties uncooked. You could also cook all the patties, and keep them in an air tight container for up to a week.

Place them on a plate as you are forming them into patties. Separate them with wax paper or parchment paper. Foil will work too.

Put them in the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes. This helps them firm up so they don’t crack or fall apart when cooking them.

When cooking them, you want to add some olive oil to a large sauté pan to prevent any possible sticking. Thats no fun. On medium heat, cook the patties for about 5-7 minutes per side. You want to get a nice golden brown on each side.

If you want to add cheese, make sure to add it right before the burgers are done. I used some shaved asiago cheese for mine. Take pan off heat, and cover to let the cheese get nice and melty.

You can use whatever you want for condiments, but I just used this amazing chipotle mayo. It is so so good, and gave the burger the perfect finishing touch. I highly recommend it #notsponsored.

Make sure to buy a large head of iceberg lettuce to make sure you get a decent size leaf for your buns!

Place the burger inside the leaf and fold over. Bam!…lettuce bun.

Enjoy my friends!