So, not that you have some canned beans, what are you going to make with them?
How about bean burgers? Laughably cheap and really easy? Of course!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cooked beans (any variety), drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, pine nuts, or steel cut oats
- 1/2 cup minced onion
- 1/2 cup grated carrot or other vegetable
- 1/2 cup cooked brown rice or other grain
- 1/2 cup oatmeal
- 2 tablespoons whole grain or bean flour
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- breadcrumbs or other coarse texture flour for dredging
- Optional seasonings: 1/4 teaspoon thyme, rosemary; 1 teaspoon chili powder; 1/2 teaspoon cumin; black pepper; hot sauce; garlic salt
- optional: 1 tablespoon milled flax seed
Mash up the beans as best you can with a large spoon against the side of the bowl. Use a food processor if you like, but the beans you canned should be fairly soft and squishy already.
Mix all other ingredients except the breadcrumbs into the mashed beans. Add any of the seasonings you want – I put in a couple of hefty splashes of Tabasco(R) sauce, a teaspoon of dried mixed herbs, and some garlic salt.
The mix should be very sticky – if it’s watery add some more oatmeal, if it’s crumbly add some more liquid. Try the mix to see if it needs any more seasoning.
Shape the mix into patties. I got about 8 large patties out of my mix, but the quantity will vary depending on how you shape the patty. Coat the patties with the bread crumbs or wheat germ and let them sit for a while for the crumbs to adhere properly to the surface of the burger – 5 to 10 minutes or so.
Heat up your frying pan with a little oil in it – olive or sunflower will add lots of healthy fats to the burgers.
Fry on both sides till Golden Brown and Delicious – it’ll take 3-4 minutes per side.
Serve as you would any other burger!
Health benefits: as well as all the benefits from the beans, the oatmeal and brown rice have lots of fibre as well as trace minerals and nutrients. The seeds and nuts add more of the essential amino acids, minerals and nutrients our bodies need. Flax seeds add omega-3 essential fatty acids.
Cost estimate: 25c for a pint jar of beans (because you made them yourself, right?); the sunflower seeds, pine nuts, or whatever other seed or nut will vary, but let’s say about 10c. The onion, carrot, or whatever other veggie will come to about 10c. The other seasonings, rice, etc – let’s say about 25c. Throw in another 25c for things I am uncertain how much they cost at the teaspoon-out-of-a-jar-that-cost-a-dollar.
About 95 cents for 8 large, healthy, low fat burgers that taste amazing (take it from this carnivore, they are DELICIOUS), are packed with dietary fibre, minerals, vitamins, and more protein than you can shake a stick at? What are you waiting for – make some today!
With thanks to the lovely and talented Hilah for the recipe (warning: some adult language).
Edit Sep 2023: tweaked the recipe to account for GF options. I have had success with steel cut oats and oat flour, but I know there are a lot of people who react badly to oats. Please substitute as necessary and I would love to hear what you did!