Sweet Potato Black Bean Burger
This Sweet Potato Black Bean Burger recipe will rock your world! These veggie burgers are full of flavor and texture. You’ll want to make a double batch and freeze half.
Serve these burgers with homemade Vegan Buns and some Vegan Guacamole for topping.
I love these black bean sweet potato burgers. I make them nearly every day in the summer. They definitely fit into my easy vegan lifestyle. Simply stated, I don’t want a lot of complicated recipes in my life.
These sweet potato bean burgers fit that easy vegan recipe to a tee!
Ingredients
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
Here’s what you’ll need for this sweet potato burger recipe:
- Sweet potato
- Oatmeal — We’re using oatmeal instead of bread crumbs to keep these burgers gluten-free
- Walnuts — A great, healthy fat option
- Black beans
- Dehydrated onions
- Garlic powder
- Nutritional yeast flakes
- Seasoning — I like adding taco seasoning to give the burgers a zesty flavor, but you can use any of your favorite seasonings here.
- Ground flax seeds
- Corn — You can use either canned or frozen
How to Make Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers
It’s pretty easy to make this sweet potato black veggie burger recipe, so let’s get started!
You will need a food processor, although you can get by with a blender. Here is the list of equipment used in this recipe:
- food processor
- skillet
- convection toaster oven (although any oven will do).
- spatula for flipping burgers
Cooking Instructions
The first step is to cook your sweet potato. First, you’ll wash it and then prick it with a fork, and then place it in the microwave. Cook it between 2 to 3 minutes.
Place the oats and walnuts in a food processor and pulse until a very coarse flour is developed. It’s ok if you see bits of oatmeal; it will add texture.
Next, chop up the cooked sweet potatoes and pulse that until smooth. Then drain the beans and add them to the food processor along with the seasonings.
Notice I don’t add any salt. Canned beans have salt already, so no need to add any extra.
I like to add a little bit of fresh corn. It adds both flavor and color to the recipe.
Finally, form the sweet potato veggie burgers dough into patties and then cook in a skillet over medium-high heat until browned on both sides (about five minutes each). Then place the burgers in a heated oven and cook for around 10 minutes. This helps the burgers set and become firm.
Marly’s Tips
Here are some tips for making these sweet potato patties vegan and perfect every time:
- You may need to use a spatula to help stir the ingredients in the food processor.
- Add the corn last.
- Use either fresh or frozen corn. Canned corn could work too, but it’s not as good as fresh or frozen.
- Cook the burgers on both sides until browned.
- Have your oven preheated for baking black bean burgers up to 10 minutes after they’ve been browned in the skillet. Baked veggie burgers add firmness to the burgers.
- The burgers will firm up as they cool.
- You can freeze these sweet potato and black bean burgers. Cook burgers and allow them to cool and then transfer to a freezer bag or container and freeze for up to 2 months.
- If you’re using a low salt taco seasoning, you can add additional salt to the burger batter, up to a 1/2 teaspoon.
- Sometimes I’ll sub different seasonings for variety, such a mesquite-grilled seasoning or spicy chipotle seasoning.
- If you want to grill these burgers, I suggest skipping the skillet and send the patties straight to the oven. Bake for about 10 minutes and then grill them. That way they’ll get a little firmness and will grill nicely.
Frequently-Asked Questions
Are Black Bean Burgers Good For You?
Yes, the majority of black bean burgers are good for you. That’s because they’re made with black beans, vegetables and grains. Black beans are loaded with fiber, potassium, folate, and a whole host of other important phytonutrients.
Can I freeze black bean burgers?
Freezing black bean burgers is one of the things I love about making them homemade. I prefer to make a double batch and then freeze half. The recipe below yields 4 to 6 burgers (depending on the size of the burgers), so you can expect anywhere from 8 to 12 from a double batch.
Baked Black Bean Burgers Toppings
These are my favorite bean burger toppings:
- lettuce/greens
- tomato slices
- sliced onions
- creamy vegan coleslaw
- mayo (store-bought vegan or homemade vegan mayo works)
- homemade BBQ Sauce
- vegan cheese
- vegan bacon (or maybe even my vegan bacon almond slivers)
There’s no end to delicious toppings for veggie burgers. What’s your favorite veggie burger topping? Is it onion rings? Something unusual? 🤨 Leave it in the comment below!
Gluten-Free Black Bean Burgers
It’s great that these bean burgers are gluten-free. Even if you don’t have sensitivities to gluten, it never hurts to give your body a break from gluten.
In fact, the wheat consumed 50 years ago is different than the wheat we eat today. Wheat was re-engineered so it would produce larger yields. As a result, some people claim that today’s wheat is harder on your body.
I’m not celiac, I do consume some gluten, but my priority is to minimize it in my diet.
That’s one reason I used oatmeal in this recipe instead of bread crumbs. And good thing I experimented with that because it’s my new favorite gluten-free veggie burgers ingredient.
Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 medium sweet potato
- 1 cup oatmeal
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- 15 oz black beans (canned) rinsed and drained
- 1 tablespoon dehydrated onions
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning (See note on salt)
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
- ¼ cup frozen corn
Instructions
- Scrub and wash the outside of a sweet potato. Use a fork to stab the potato several times and then place it in the microwave and cook for two minutes. Use oven sits to remove from the oven and allow it to cool. After it's cooled, chop into large cubes.
- Place the oatmeal and walnuts in a food processor and pulse until a coarse flour is formed.
- Add the cubed sweet potatoes, drained black beans, onions, garlic powder, taco seasoning, nutritional yeast flakes, and ground flax seeds. Pulse for a couple of seconds and then use a spatula to push the ingredients back down. Pulse again for several seconds. It's good to leave some texture in the burgers so don't puree it down to a paste, just creating a cohesive mass.
- Add the frozen corn and use a spatula to stir it throughout. Let that mixture sit for about 5 minutes.
- When you're ready to cook the burgers, turn your oven to 200°F and spray a skillet with vegetable cooking spray. Place the skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Form patties and place them in the heated skillet using a spatula.
- Cook patties for about 5 minutes on one side. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the uncooked side of the patties. Flip the patties and cook on the other side until the patties have firmed up and are brown on both sides.
- Place the cooked burgers on a baking pan and place that pan in your heated oven or toaster oven. Repeat cooking any remaining veggie patties using the process described above until all the burgers are cooked, allowing each about 10 minutes to stay in the oven before serving.
- Serve on toasted buns with dairy-free mayo, pickles, onions, and sliced tomatoes.
Recommended Equipment
(The products above contain sponsored links to products we use and recommend)
Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
How much miso?
Hi Maggie. See above. The word “miso” has been removed from the text of the recipe. The ingredients are correct.
This sounds so delicious! I noticed miso is listed in the directions but not in the amounts.
Hi Rebecca! Thanks for pointing that out. I removed miso from the text of the instructions. Hope you love this recipe!
This was a great burger!!! Had a white sweet potato (Japanese) already cooked so used that and omitted the corn. (not a fan in a burger). Pan fried for dinner and stored the rest for later. Better warmed the next day even!! Thanks Marly!!