You might think homemade veggie burgers take a lot of time and effort - but creating these White Bean "Cheese" and "Bacon" Burgers was so easy! I am thrilled to put 'bean burger night' in my mealtime rotation.
The best part about bean burgers is that they are naturally rich in protein, fiber - and flavor. Plus you don't even need to lug out your food processor. These babies were fork-mashed and hand-shaped. Easy! Get my recipe...
My First Veggie Burger. I fondly remember my very first (non packaged) bean veggie burger. I loved it. And this was before I was vegetarian! My family and I would go to a spot called Carpo's in Santa Cruz, Cali. They were known for their burgers. But I started ordering the soy veggie burger and couldn't stop! It was juicy and tender and the beans were sweet and savory all at the same time. Plus the burger was huge! I'm talking Donal Trump "uge" .. did anyone get that reference?
So I wanted to create a bean burger at-home that reminded me of that burger - but that wasn't from black beans. Something sweeter. So I chose white cannellini beans.
Vegan "Bacon" is something I don't always buy. I usually make my own tempeh facon, but this time I decided to give the packaged vegan bacon a whirl.
For "Cheese" I usually use Daiya, but since I wanted a flat slice, I decided to use Follow Your heart brand.
White Bean "Cheese" & "Bacon" Burgers
vegan, makes about 4 burgers
Patties:
¼ cup nutritional yeast
½ cup bread crumbs, fine
1 can white cannellini beans, drained
dash salt
2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2-3 tablespoon olive oil
dash chipotle powder
dash garlic powder
dash black pepper
½ teaspoon liquid smoke (opt'l)
Burger Stuff:
4 buns
4 slices vegan cheddar "cheese"
8 slices vegan "bacon" (fried in 1 ½ tablespoon oil)
1 ½ cups watercress (or another crunchy leafy green)
4 tomato slices
4 tablespoon Vegenaise
4 tablespoon spicy Dijon mustard
foil or parchment paper for baking burgers
Directions:
1. Start off by turning your oven to 400.
2. For your burgers, place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and grab a big fork to start mashing. And mashing. And mashing until the mixture becomes a sticky paste of mashed beans.
3. Next you can line a baking sheet with parchment paper and start hand-shaping your burgers. You should get about 4 thick burgers - depending how big you make them.
4. Lay your burgers on the parchment paper and bake in oven for 20-30 minutes - or until brown crust starts to for on the outside. Longer baking times will dry out your burger more. For the last 5 minutes of baking you can add your slice of cheese to the burgers to get it to melt. You can also place your buns in the oven a few minutes to toast.
5. While your burgers are baking - you can fry your vegan bacon. Set aside along with the the other ingredients.
6. Start assembling your burgers!
..Vegenaise, Dijon, Tomato, burger, watercress. Slice and serve! Yes the burgers may crumble a bit into large chunks as you eat it - but really, that's the whole fun of eating a homemade bean burger!
