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In our last video, we ate a burger that Brian has been testing out. Everyone demanded 🙂 that we release that recipe, and here it is just in time for the 4th of July! This black bean “umami” burger is SO delicious and I’m really excited for you to try it. Brian has outdone himself with this one! Check out the recipe below and watch the video here.
When Brian was experimenting with this, I’ll admit I thought he was a bit nutty with all of the ingredients he was throwing in, but as he worked out the recipe and I taste tested it (again and again), I realized just how thoughtful he was with each ingredient that goes into this.
Everything really does play a part, so I hope you can try this one out exactly as he made it! That being said, there is always room for tweaks, so don’t worry if you don’t have the EXACT things we used. Improvise and experiment when necessary and share your results so we can all learn!
For example, we used raw unsalted pumpkin seeds, but if you can only find toasted ones, it will still work out just fine. There are a lot of different kinds of sun-dried tomatoes out there… just try to find dry-packed ones with the least amount of ingredients added. Definitely avoid the oil-packed cans.
You know Brian loves to add mushroom powder to everything and it really helps with that “umami” flavor in the burgers. We make our own in a spice grinder or blender using bags of dry portabella mushrooms from Whole Foods.
The recipe requires both old fashioned rolled oats and oat flour. We make our own oat flour in the Vitamix by blending rolled oats for 30 seconds or so, but you can also buy it pre-made. We usually just make a large batch and keep it on hand in one of our empty oat canisters. It comes in handy in a number of recipes!
The main tool you will need for this is a food processor. It is tempting to just dump all of the ingredients in and process, but trust me – Brian tested out several different methods and discovered the order in which you process the ingredients is key to getting the right consistency! This recipe will make four nice sized burgers. I used my food scale to portion them out EXACTLY (each was 111g in case you were wondering).
We also tested several cooking methods for the burgers. First up was using a grill pan on the stove. This worked really well, but we know everyone might not have a grill pan, so we figured why not test out a bunch of other ways?
All of the cooking methods are described in the recipe below. They all turned out really nice. Above is our air fryer, which only took about 10 minutes. Our apartment was smelling delicious with all of these burgers cooking!
The oven is a slower method, but would be an ideal choice if you are trying to cook several burgers at once.
Ultimately, for me, the best method was our good old friend, the trusty Griddler! Not only did the burgers get a nice crispy outer surface, but they ended up looking the best with nice even grill marks.
We will probably continue to use the Griddler for the most part, but we definitely want to try out an outdoor grill as well.
I made a nice platter of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, red onion and spicy brown mustard to go with our burgers. This is such a fun recipe to get you in the mood for summer!
Check out the video here and get the full recipe below!
Brian’s Black Bean Umami Burger
Ingredients
- – 1 x 15oz can black beans (no salt added if possible); rinsed and drained thoroughly
- – 1/2 cup raw unsalted pumpkin seeds (60g)
- – 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (35g; dry-packed, NOT packed in oil)
- – 1/2 cup large pitted black olives (just under half of a 6oz can; about 20 olives or 65g after drained)
- – 2 Tbsp mushroom powder*
- – 1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats (20g)
- – 2 Tbsp oat flour*
- – 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- – 1/4 tsp onion powder
- – Dash of cayenne pepper
- – Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions
- Rinse and drain the can of black beans. Spread them out on a plate covered with paper towels to soak up excess moisture.
- Add pumpkin seeds to a food processor. Pulse for about 20-30 seconds until all of the large pieces are gone, stopping before they turn into a fine powder. You are looking for a consistency similar to cornmeal.
- Add sun-dried tomatoes in with the pumpkin seeds and continue pulsing until tomatoes are broken down into small pieces.
- Transfer pumpkin seed / sun-dried tomato mixture to a separate container.
- Add olives to food processor and process until it almost forms a paste. You will need to stop and scrape down the sides a few times.
- Add mushroom powder and continue processing until combined.
- Add pumpkin seed / tomato mixture back in, along with black beans. Process until combined.
- Add in remaining ingredients (oats, oat flour, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne & pepper). Process until a thick “dough” is formed.
- Place mixture into a container with a lid and refrigerate for at least one hour (or overnight) before you cook the burgers.
- Divide into four even patties and shape into burgers. We like to use a burger press for uniformity!
- Cook burgers using one of the following methods:
STOVE TOP – Heat a nonstick grill pan or skillet on medium high. Cook for a total of about 2-4 minutes on each side until both sides are browned.
OVEN – Preheat to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip burgers. Continue baking for another 10 minutes.
AIR FRYER – Preheat to 350°F. Air fry for 5 minutes. Flip burgers. Continue air frying for an additional 5 minutes.
GRIDDLER – Switch to “grill-panini” setting and turn the heat to medium high. Place patties on Griddler and close, pressing down gently. Cook until browned, about 4-5 minutes, checking halfway through.
OUTDOOR GRILL / BBQ PIT – We have not tried this one yet, but we suggest using a grill mat. Cook on both sides until browned.
- Enjoy!
NOTES:
- *We make our own mushroom powder and oat flour. For the mushroom powder, we buy dried portabella mushrooms and grind using our spice grinder. For the oat flour, we blend old fashioned rolled oats in our Vitamix for about 30 seconds until a fine flour is formed. We usually make larger batches of both of these to keep on hand for recipes.
- *We prefer to store the uncooked mixture in the fridge for up to 3-4 days and cook these fresh right before eating, but you can also cook the patties in advance and store in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
- *Our favorite buns to use are Angelic Bakehouse Sprouted Grain Buns. You can also find Ezekiel Sprouted Whole Grain Burger Buns or serve these with a lettuce wrap or crumble over a salad!
We toasted up some Sprouted Grain Ezekiel Buns and loaded on the toppings! Honestly, this was almost too much bun for me, and I might do it open faced next time. The flavor of the burgers is SO good – you don’t want to distract from that.
My favorite buns are actually from Angelic Bakehouse. They are a bit softer than the Ezekiel buns. You could also eat these with a lettuce wrap, a toasted whole wheat pita, or just crumble over a salad. You really can’t go wrong.
We served ours with a side of our Garlicky Kale Salad (with carrots mixed in) and some Trader Joe’s “Soycutash” (made with corn, red pepper and soybeans instead of the normal lima beans in succotash).
We certainly hope you are able to try these out this summer! You can watch the recipe video here and don’t forget to leave us a comment if you make them.
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Cuisinart CFP-9GMPCY Food Processor, 9-Cup, GunmetalTDHDIKE 3-in-1 Stuffed Burger Press
Cuisinart GR-4N 5-in-1 Griddler
Ninja Foodi Digital Fry, Convection Oven, Toaster, Air Fryer
Calphalon Classic Nonstick Round Grill Pan, 12″, Grey
AmazonBasics Silicone Baking Mat Sheet, Set of 2
*We have the Silpat baking mats, but the Amazon Basics brand above is basically the same thing for a lot cheaper. Just make sure you find the correct size mats for the baking sheets you have.
Silpat Non-Stick Silicone Jelly Roll Pan Baking Mat (2, 14 1/2-Inch by 10-Inch)
RENOOK Grill Mat Set of 6 – 100% Non-Stick BBQ Grill Mats
KRUPS Electric Spice Herbs and Coffee Grinder
OXO Good Grips 5 Lb Food Scale with Pull-Out Display
365 Everyday Value, Black Beans, No Salt Added, 15oz
365 Everyday Value, Pitted Black Olives, Large, 6oz
Forest, Mushroom Dried Portabella Conventional, 1 Ounce
Angelic Bakehouse Bun, Sprouted 7-Grain Hamburger
Food For Life, Organic Ezekiel 4:9 Hamburger Buns, 6ct, 16oz (Frozen)
Want to try your black bean umami burger. Do not have a food processor but I have a Vitamix. Will that work instead?? If not any suggestions?? Keep your recipes coming. It has been way TOO
LONG!! Happy 4th!! Long time subscriber
Hello! You may be able to use a Vitamix, but I’m not sure how it would turn out honestly. I will give it a try and see what happens and report back to everyone 🙂 We’ve gotten this question several times.
Awesome stuff! Not a vegan, but love your recipes for healthy options. Thanks for another great tutorial.
Thanks Kendall! I can’t get enough of these burgers!!
nice pics
Thanks Kari! This was a fun one to shoot 🙂
I’ve been looking forward to making burgers but most recipes call for using a food processor, which I don’t have. Would this work in a blender?
It may, but I’m not sure if there will end up being enough liquid to blend. I’ll have to try it next time we make them and report back… there might be some adjustments needed. Let us know if you try it!
Hi – I love your u tube videos!! The only recipe I’ve tried so far is Brian’s kale salad with garlic dressing – I love it, I add some tahini to the dressing, it’s very good.
I decided to try making the black bean burgers but I had to substitute some ingredients:tomatoes packed in oil (my Whole Foods was out of the dry packed), I used Kalamata Olives instead of canned since I had them in the house, the dough has a distinctly olivey smell to it so that may have been a mistake, I also substituted a hot cereal mix I buy locally for both oat ingredients, the mix’s ingredients are barley, oats and buckwheat all ground up.
The dough is in the fridge – I will probably make them tomorrow.
Thank you both so much for the videos, I am a fan, and love Peef and Jessica’s sense of humor.
Good improvising… curious to know how they turned out! Thank you for watching and following along 🙂 Peef says hi! LOL
I recently stumbled across your videos and I’m totally hooked. Your story is inspiring and motivating. My husband and I have been plant base for 3 years and each of us have had great health success. Still weight to lose however. THIS BURGER RECIPE IS FANTASTIC!!! Excellent instructions. Excellent flavor. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes. Thank you for all your hard work.
Thank you Shanie! So glad you enjoyed the burgers. Congrats on 3 years of plant-based eating 🙂
I love your videos and your recipes. I cannot wait to try these burgers! You two are so inspiring..
Thanks Betty!
Ever since I’ve had my VitaMix, I have not replaced my food processor. Can this recipe be made without a food processor?
You MIGHT be able to use a Vitamix, but I’m not sure if there will end up being enough liquid to make it work. I’ll have to try it next time we make them and report back… there might be some adjustments needed. Let us know if you try it!
Awesome. New favorite burger.
Lovely flavors. Love this channel/blog
Thank you!! 🙂
I sorta made these last night. It is such a great burger and I am excited to eat the leftovers. It turns out I was out of black beans, so I used chickpeas. I have lots of pecans currently, so I used those instead of the pumpkin seed. I didn’t have any olives, so I used canned pumpkin. It was so good. I image if I really followed the recipe I would get even a richer flavor but you did have to use the products you have.
Great improvising! 🙂
I’ve been following your youtube channel for a while now, and love your content. I’m really looking forward to making these burgers, they sound very yummy! Thanks for making this blog so we can print out the recipes and see your other content.
Thank you for following along Kathy! Hope you enjoy the burgers!
Awesome. This is a really long process for me but will try it as it looks soooo good!
I promise it goes quickly once you get it down! Haha! I made 3 batches the other day to freeze and it went quickly. It does seem like a lot of steps at first haha.
Hello. How do I freeze these? Cooked or not?
Thank you for the recipe.
Either way can work! I prefer to cool them partially and then freeze.
For some reason, YouTube put one of your videos on my home page. I am grateful they did! You have inspired me to follow your example!
I am a 312 lb, 64 year old man who has found his answer!
I will be gathering up food and utensils, (Thank you for your Amazon page), this week to start next week.
I am really proud of both of you! I can’t thank you enough!
Hi Mark! I am glad you found us. It can be a tough transition in the beginning (not gonna lie) but it’s SO worth it in the end. Please keep in touch and let us know how it goes for you. You can always message us on Instagram or Facebook too 🙂
Made these burgers tonight and they were so good. Thanks for all you do.
Thank you Linda! Glad you enjoyed them!
My go-to burger. So delicious with your ketchup recipe.
I’ve never liked sun dried tomatoes until now.
Thank you so! Two months on the journey.
Glad you enjoyed it! The sun-dried tomatoes really make it I think!
I am making this right now and the dough seems pretty crumbly. Were yours like this or should I add some water before I put it in the refrigerator?
They can be a bit crumbly sometimes, but adding a bit of water is a good call if they seem too dry.
Oh my…just made these burgers and they are sooooo good! Love the recipe, I will definitely make them again!!
My, oh My! What a rush of flavors inside of my mouth! First I thought the tomatoes were the stars. Then I thought, nope….it’s the olives. Umm…maybe the mushroom powder? Then I came to the conclusion that it’s a perfect combination of everything that goes into it. Good job Brian! This is not the first of your recipes that I’ve tried, nor will it be the last. Keep ‘em coming!
I just made the burgers. Great taste! We really enjoyed them. But, I think I may have done something wrong in the process. Used a nonstick pan for cooking, worked great. However, as we ate them they fell apart. What went wrong? I still have 2 burgers in the fridge. Should I add a little more oat flour to them? Help!
I am excited to try this recipe. I mixed up the burgers this morning and the dough is chilling in the fridge as I type this. Happy weekend!
I have made my first batch of this recipe… Now I am going to be cooking them- Think I will use the Griddler. My question was going to be, “Can these be frozen?” Then I saw this post from Bryan Veloso and Jessica’s answer… Now my next question is, “Do you freeze them uncooked? If so, do you thaw them completely first, or cook them frozen?
Or do you cook them and then freeze them?” If this is the case, how do you reheat them? I will do this tonight and adjust for future recipes based on your answer….
THANK you in advance for this recipe… I know from other recipes of yours I have tried, that I will really like them.
Yes, these can be frozen! I like to partially cook them for just a few minutes first and then freeze. Then you can thaw and cook more when ready to use!
Tasty!! And fail proof directions too. I enjoyed mine open face with mustard.
Just me eating so I am asking if anyone has frozen the patties? Before or after cooking?
We have frozen them both before & after cooking! My preferred method is to cook them partially for a few minutes and then freeze!
I respect recipe developers for their creativity and hard work. However, I did not care for this recipe at all. I’ve tried several black bean burger recipes and find them all quite tasty and easy enough to form and handle. I found this one dry, although still manageable. However, neither I nor family members found the flavor acceptable. The oats seemed to dominate and gave the burgers almost a sweet flavor. I will eat up the rest of the batch (because I don’t like to waste food) although family members will not. Will not make again.
HOLY MOLY! I was excited to try this recipe finally because it has ingredients that I haven’t seen in other peoples Black Bean Burgers. Brian, these are amazing. Possibly your best recipe yet. The mushroom powder and olives are genius. Home run my friend.
You’ve guys inspired me to try a plant-based whole foods eating plan. Can wait to try this black bean burger! BTW, loved the episode where you came to Huntsville – my hometown! ** Cab I substitute green olives for black?
You probably can – but it might taste more like olives because I think green ones have a stronger taste!