Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burgers

This is a recipe I'd been wanting to try for a long time, and I finally got the chance this past week! I'm not sure where it's from originally, but I got it from my friend Susan's food blog. These turned out well and tasted quite good, but they were a bit more labor intensive than I normally like for a week night meal. I baked the sweet potatoes the day before so they'd be ready, but the entire process on the day I made them still took nearly 2 hours. The good news is that the mixture yields a LOT of hamburgers! We have quite a few in the freezer for another time.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burgers

2 T oil
2 onions, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, grated finely
2 cups black beans, cooked
2 baked sweet potatoes, scooped out of skin
2 cups quinoa, cooked (red is best because it blends in with the other colors, but I only have white so that's what I used)
1 1/2 cup bread crumbs (or if you're me, Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing Mix!)
2 T caraway seeds
1 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp adobo sauce (didn't have any so left this out)

Saute onions and garlic in oil until lightly browned. Add carrots and black beans and cook an additional 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat. Mash slightly in pan, until beans are half crushed.


Meanwhile, cook your quinoa. This was my first time to cook quinoa, and I figured it should be cooked similarly to rice. Well, I googled "how to cook quinoa" AFTER I'd started cooking it (when will I learn?) and the good news is that I figured correctly. The bad news is that I was supposed to soak and rinse it first, to remove the outer hull which can give quinoa a slightly bitter taste. Next time!


In large bowl (VERY large bowl) add remaining ingredients and add the cooked onion/garlic/carrot/black bean mixture from the stove. Mix thoroughly. If mixture is too moist, add more bread crumbs. Form into patties and cook as desired.


We were on our way to an evening soccer game, so in the interest of time I fried them. I think I'll try baking them next time.


Here they are, ready to go to the soccer game!

Mmmmm!

Little Man was reluctant to try them, but after his brother C (pictured above) had eaten his, he told Little Man, "they're not as bad as they look!" High praise indeed. We had a 12 year old houseguest this week, and he asked me if there was any meat in the burgers at all, and was surprised when I said no. "Wow! They're good anyway," he said. And he ate two. It took 3 to fill my husband up, but that could partly be due to the fact that he'd skipped lunch.

Verdict: Very tasty. Would like to try again with adobo sauce and now that I know how to cook quinoa. Not a fast meal though, so I may wait a while before making.