Spicy Black Bean Burgers

A couple of weekends ago, I went back to Philadelphia for a family BBQ. My aunt introduced me to Morningstar's Spicy Black Bean burgers and I fell in love! While not the best veggie burger I have ever had, it was by far the best boxed version I have come across. Over the last few weeks I have looked in Whole Foods and a few Food Emporiums but have yet to come across the product. Reading over the ingredients in the burgers, I saw TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) was the first ingredient, followed by black beans. Well I've had a bag of TVP in my cabinet for a couple of months now and figured I would have a go at making my own version of the burgers.


On my way to Whole Foods to pick up some ingredients for the burgers I came across one of the most beautiful summer skies. I felt like such a tourist pulling out my camera, but I really wanted to share (raindrops and all)!
Note these are vegetarian as are Morningstar variety, but the egg white could easily be substituted.


For the recipe I used:
-1/4 c TVP
-1/4 hot water
-15.5 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
-1/2 onions ( I used yellow here, but in the future I think I would do a nice mix of yellow, red, and green)
-1/2 c frozen corn (fresh works as well)
-1/2 green pepper
-an egg white
-1/2 c bread crumbs (I ended up using wheat crackers)
-1/2 tsp cayanne pepper
-dash red pepper flakes
-1 tsp chili powder

Because it is a dehydrated product, TVP needs to be reconstituted in hot water for about ten minutes:
Meanwhile, I mashed the beans with my potato masher, and finely chopped the onion and pepper and added them to the beans along with the corn, cilantro, and garlic.

After chopping the peppers and onions, I didn't feel like being bothered by the garlic so I actually pulled out my garlic press, which I rarely use. After quickly getting some minced garlic, I remember why I don't like the press, it gets a little messy to clean.

How do you prefer to to cut your garlic? or other vegetables? Do you have any cool gadgets to make the job easier?


After adding the veggies, I removed the excess water from the TVP with a towel and added it to the mix along with the egg white, seasonings and ground crackers/bread crumbs.

I then formed the mix into patties, placed them into the refrigerator for 15 minutes and baked at 350 for 30 minutes, flipping patties halfway through cooking time.

In the end I was quite pleased. While Morningstar might still have me beat, I came pretty close.
Nicole