Today we are exploring New York City and discovering all the tastes this vast city has to offer. While I’m out and about, enjoy these hearty vegetarian burgers!
Juicy, hearty, spicy vegetarian burgers full of flavour and topped with a cool and spicy sriracha sauce. Get out your buns and let’s get grilling!
Vegetarian burgers don’t always get the best reviews. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a commercially made vegetarian burger because they always just seem so lackluster and like they are trying to be meat. You aren’t meat, Miss Vego Burger, you are a vegetarian burger and you need to celebrate your uniqueness and embrace your true personality! Down with the burger patriarchy! Ahem.
When Yum. Gluten Free Magazine contacted me to contribute to their burger issue I jumped at the chance to create a vegetarian burger that could proudly stand on it’s own two feet and declare – yes, I am a vegetarian burger and I have a lot to offer the world of flavour! I attempted to Oprah the burger. Yes, Oprah can be used as a verb.
The thing with meat is that it is layered and complex and contributes lots of umami flavours by virtue of the glutamine (an essential amino acid) found in muscle. Take away the muscle, and you need to add that umami back in, and bump up all the other flavours to create a whole vegetarian burger experience that doesn’t feel like second place. So, we are bringing soy sauce into the picture to contribute umami, cumin for a deep background flavour, and sriracha and chili flakes for top level heat (reduce/omit to tone down the spice).
The body of these burgers is made up of black beans and quinoa. Black beans are sensationally hearty and make a wonderful base for a burger when coupled with quinoa. When you bite into my hearty, wholesome vegetarian burgers you get spicy, umami, hefty burger, creamy avocado, and spicy cool sriracha yoghurt. Every bite is full of flavour. There’s nothing weak, wimpy, or second place about these vegetarian burgers. Stand in your truth Miss Vego Burger and embrace your natural beauty. 
Spicy Black Bean Burgers with Sriracha Sauce
Gluten Free | Vegetarian | Makes 4, easily multiplied
Preparation Time: 45 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Tip: If you don’t want these burgers to be quite as spicy you can leave out the sriracha and the red chili.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup quinoa
- 1 ½ cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup black beans (approximately 400gram tin)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon gluten free soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 egg
- 1 spring onion, thinly sliced
- ½ red chilli, finely diced
- ¼ cup coriander leaves
- 1/3 cup quinoa flakes
To serve:
- 1 small avocado
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- ½ cup Greek yoghurt
- 1 tablespoon sriracha (plus extra to serve)
- 4 gluten free hamburger buns
- Lettuce leaves
Method
- Place quinoa and vegetable stock in a medium size saucepan. Cover and bring to the boil. Allow quinoa to boil for 5 minutes, then turn the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain thoroughly, and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Drain tinned black beans and rinse. Place some paper towels on a rimmed baking sheet and spread beans out to drain completely.
- Preheat oven to 180C (350F) and line a rimmed baking sheet with baking paper.
- Place one cup cooled quinoa and half the drained black beans in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until a chunky paste starts to form.
- Place paste into a bowl and add cumin soy sauce, sriracha, pepper, egg, onion, chilli, coriander, quinoa, and remaining beans and quinoa and mix thoroughly to combine.
- Form batter into four patties and press down slightly to flatten.
- Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Then turn patties over and bake for a further 15 minutes.
- Mash avocado with a little salt and pepper and lime juice.
- Mix sriracha with Greek yoghurt.
- To assemble: slice buns and place lettuce on each. Top with a spicy black bean burger, a dollop of mashed avocado and a serving of sriracha yoghurt.
