I don’t know about you, but when I cook, I like to make anything that can be repurposed in several different recipes in large quantities. This not only saves me time and energy, but it helps us get meals on the table faster during the workweek — which is always a bonus, especially when we’re juggling multiple karate classes, dance classes, guitar lessons, after school activities, and other events.
That’s why I made a BIG batch of Spicy Nacho Cashew Cheese Sauce. I only had to make the dairy-free cheese sauce one time, but was able to use it for:
- Ground Turkey Nachos
- Turkey Sausage And Nacho Cheese Breakfast Burritos
- Chicken and Cashew Cheese Quesadillas
- Ground Turkey Queso Dip
And now, I’m using it one last time to make Black Bean Burgers With Cashew Cheese Sauce. Brian no longer eats red meat or pork of any kind, so we rarely make burgers at home anymore. I wanted to expand our options a bit and try making vegetarian burgers and this was my very first foray into making my own black bean burgers. I was a bit curious to see how they would turn out…
It’s a really good thing that my Black Bean Burgers With Cashew Cheese Sauce turned out freaking amazing, because this recipe makes six black bean burger patties. Paired with a package of six buns, Brian and I ended up eating these babies for three meals. And what even better, we basically ate three full meals (burgers and salads) for about $12.00.
I first read a whole bunch of different black bean burger recipes to get an idea of how they are made. I then raided our refrigerator for leftovers — we had grape tomatoes, purple carrots, and green onions for the salad already. We also had the red onion and Spicy Nacho Cashew Cheese Sauce and leftover from other meals. I finally hit the grocery store for black beans, buns, a bag of spinach, and two bag salads. Instead of plain vegetarian black beans, I bought Bush’s Cocina Latina® Frijoles Cubanos, black beans seasoned with garlic, green, and red pepper, also vegetarian.
Making the Black Bean Burgers With Cashew Cheese Sauce
Making the black bean burger patties was much easier than I thought it would be — and I didn’t have to touch raw meat, so that was awesome!
I drained the sauce from two cans of black beans and dumped them into a large bowl without rinsing them. Using a fork, I smashed almost all of the beans, leaving it just a bit chunky with some whole beans still left. Then I added one large egg, seasoned breadcrumbs, diced yellow onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper for some kick, and mixed it all together.
I then added a bit of olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat and preheated the pan while I made the burger patties. I shaped them just a little bit larger than the buns I bought so they’d look abundant and plentiful. These babies don’t shrink while cooking like meat burgers, so the size of the patty will be the size of the finished burger.
When I was ready to cook the patties, I added a small amount of butter to the skillet and swirled it around a bit to melt it and then placed the patties in the skillet, cooking them on low-medium heat for about 5 minutes before flipping them over and cooking for another 4-5 minutes.
Because I only cooked two of the patties (I cooked them “fresh” for each meal), I had room in the skillet to toast our buns — I love me a burger with toasted buns! When the buns were ready, I assembled the black bean burgers, with spinach leaves, red onion, and Spicy Nacho Cashew Cheese.
OMG. YUM.
I’m not embarrassed at all to admit that I devoured my Black Bean Burger With Cashew Cheese Sauce. I took one bite and just kept going, speaking to no one. When I finished my burger, I was so full and no, I didn’t even have room to eat my salad. Lesson learned. For our next two meals, I ate my salad first like a good girl!
Black Bean Burgers With Cashew Cheese Sauce
These black bean cheeseburgers are meat-free and dairy-free, and totally packed with spicy flavor.
Ingredients
- 2 cans black beans
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 large red onion
- Spinach
- 6 buns
- Spicy Nacho Cashew Cheese Sauce
Instructions
- Drained the sauce from the black beans, but don't rinse them. Dump beans into a large bowl. Use a fork to smash almost all of the beans, leaving just a few black beans whole. Added the egg, seasoned breadcrumbs, diced onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper to the beans and mix it together.
- Add olive oil to a large skillet and preheat pan over low-medium heat. Shape the black bean mixture into six patties.
- Add a small amount of butter to the skillet. When the butter is melted, add the black bean burger patties. Cook for 4-5 minutes. Flip over and cook for 4-5 more minutes.
- To assemble burgers, top bottom bun with spinach leaves, top with a burger patty, Spicy Nacho Cashew Cheese Sauce, and a couple thick slices of red onion. Serve immediately.
Notes:
Use this Spicy Nacho Cashew Cheese Sauce recipe.
If you're cooking for two, like I was. Only cook two patties. Put the remaining patties in the refrigerator so you can cook them fresh for each meal.
