Southwestern White Bean Burgers with Avocado, Pepperjack, & Pico de Gallo

It’s burger season!!

And we’re kicking it off right now.

My mind is slowly exploding over the fact that it’s already Memorial Day, I am genuinely boggled by how quickly 2016 has been flying by. Obviously I’m thrilled about summer, beaches, barbecues, all that good stuff. But ugh, TIME. Would it stop moving for a sec, please?

But since I have no control over time (and I mostly mismanage it anyway) I decided to take control in the kitchen. And I did it with these killer white bean burgers.

Veggie burgers have a bad rap as being all sorts of weak, lame, and dissatisfying. And truth be told, most veggie burgers are all of those things! But I’ve had the pleasure of eating some truly great veggie burgers (the ones at Bareburger are fantastic), so I know from personal experience that a proper veggie burger can be just as beast-mode as its beefy counterpart.  The trick is simply a combination of pattie preparation + toppings domination.

Your average veggie pattie is a delicate little creature. They’re tough to handle and can fall apart quite easily, so a gentle touch is needed. One of the main keys to keeping these white bean burgers manageable is not over blending the beans. A chunky consistency ensures easier handling, so when pulsing in your food processor go easy on your beans. I have a tendency to get wildly impatient when using my food processor (shocking) and love to press a hard thumb onto “pulse” — This is NOT what you should! Lightly press that pulse button and use a small spatula to shift around your beans for even pulsing.

A chunky/crumbly texture is the goal here, not a smooth one.

The addition of an egg yolk and panko crumbs helps solidify the pattie “meat”, both when forming with your hands and during the actual cooking. If you’re having a touch time managing the recipe as written, add a little bit more panko to compensate. Your end result will be crispier, but I’d say that’s a very good thing.

Once your patties are formed it’s time to grill, and by grill I mean DO NOT use an actual grill — These will crumble quickly.  A flat griddle or pan are what should be used for cooking, so take heed! Once these are cookin’ be sure to carefully turn the burgers as directed — It’s really not that bad, but a little extra caution doesn’t hurt. The cooking time for these is longer than a traditional burger because we’re cooking them slow over a lower flame, but overall each burger takes about 12 minutes, so not too bad.

After the patties are cooked all that’s left to do is pile ’em high and devour. The patties themselves are fairly filling given the fiber-rich beans, but a slew of mega toppings solidifies these as a BEAST. Because the patties have a southwestern flare I kept that theme going with pepperjack cheese, avocado, pico de gallo, and sour cream, but feel free to pick and choose your favorites. And for you skinny minnies, you could always skip the bun for a low carb option, too!

OR you could inhale two of these the second you put your camera down. Whatever works.

Southwestern White Bean Burgers with Avocado, Pepperjack, & Pico de Gallo

Yield: 6 Burgers

Prep Time: 25 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 55 mins

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

• BURGERS:
• 2 cans White Beans, drained
• 1 Large Egg Yolk
• 2 1/2 tbsps Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, puréed
• 2 tbsps Low-Fat Sour Cream
• 1/2 cup Panko Crumbs
• 1 tbsp Lime Juice
• 2 tsps Minced or Crushed Garlic
• 2 -3 tsps Fresh Cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 tsp Sea Salt & Coarse Black Peppercorn – approx.
• PAM Cooking Spray

• TOPPINGS:
• 6 Whole Grain Buns
• Pepperjack Cheese
• 2 Avocados, sliced
• Pico de Gallo
• Low-Fat Sour Cream

Directions:

1. Amply grease large baking sheet with cooking spray, then set aside.
2. In food processor gently pulse white beans 5-6 times until a chunky consistency is achieved.  You don’t want the white beans to be too smooth/mushy, so don’t be afraid of big chunks.
3. Transfer white beans to large mixing bowl, then combine with remaining burger ingredients (save for the PAM).  Once well combined, with damp hands roll bean mixture into baseball-size rounds before placing onto greased baking sheet, gently flattening the tops with your fingers as you do.  Repeat until all ingredients have been used, making sure burgers are of comparable size.
4. When ready, generously grease skillet or flat-griddle with cooking spray before heating over medium flame.  Once hot, cook burgers for 3 minutes on either side, twice*, greasing the tops with cooking spray before every flip.  On the last flip for each burger, top with cheese.
5. Once all burgers are cooked, build with toppings as desired, then eat!

* Total cooking time per burger is 12 minutes

>> Chipotle peppers should be puréed in your food processor – A few pulses and you’re done!  Save the leftovers in your fridge.

soo good.

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