Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Black Bean Burgers

Sometimes a recipe comes to you that is really worth trying.  This is one of them.  I found it on Fat-Free Vegan then made my own changes.

1 1/3 cups rolled oats (old fashioned oats) 
16 ounces refried black beans (1 can)
3/4 cup medium tomato-based salsa
1/2 cup sesame seeds (why not!  they were just sitting there left over from making tahini)
1 tablespoon soy sauce 
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Put the oatmeal in a food processor or high speed blender and pulse 5-6 times or until the oat flakes are somewhat to mostly chopped up.

Pour the oats into a large bowl.

Add all the rest of the ingredients and mix until well-homogenized.  If you like your burgers more chunky, use drained black beans instead of refried black beans and mush the beans up as much as you want with a fork, then add them to the oats and seasonings.

Burger mixture ready to chill for 30-60 minutes (or longer if you other projects keep you!)

Let the mixture sit in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes (however much time you need for doing the next thing on your "list"!).  Using a 1/2 cup scoop, (or a slightly smaller one--I used a number 16 scoop) scoop out burgers and place them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  The number 16 scoop made 11 burgers.  

Number 16 scoop...in the neighborhood of 1/4 to 1/3 cup

After scooping them out, pat them down gently to the thickness you like.

Bake at 375 degrees F. for about 20-30 minutes.  You want the outside slightly crispy and the inside. still moist.  I cooked ours for 25 minutes.  

Burgers ready to cook and the great crockery bowl Sister T just gave us

Baked burgers...not burned!

They look a little dark but are definitely not burned.  They smelled divine while baking.  When they were cooked, I let them cool on the pan for a few minutes.

NEWS FLASH!!!  You CAN make bean burgers that do not fall apart!  I am so thrilled with these.  You could adjust the seasonings to please yourselves.  I call this SUCCESS!  Now to see if Dear One will eat them. I hope so since there are 10 more of them to eat.  I may try freezing some of them to see what happens to them.