These easy vegan black bean burgers are nutrient and flavor-packed, loaded with fiber and protein, aren’t mushy or crumbly, and naturally gluten-free!
Bean burgers don’t always have the best reputation, but that’s completely unfair when they’re done right. These 30-minute vegan black bean burgers, inspired by my vegan meatballs, are moist without being mushy, crisp outside with a tender center, packed with flavor, and won’t fall apart. Plus, unlike many store-bought meat-alternative burgers, they’re made entirely of simple pantry staples (no mystery fillers or preservatives!).
Even better, they’re budget-friendly, easy to customize with seasonings and flavor boosters, and packed with plant-based protein and fiber to keep you satisfied for longer. They’re also naturally vegan and gluten-free, nut-free, and perfect for meal prep. Make an extra batch and freeze them for low-fuss BBQs, game days, 4th July, and weeknight meals!
You might also enjoy quinoa lentil burgers, red lentil patties, or cauliflower fritters.
The Ingredients
- Black beans: Use regular/home-cooked or low-sodium canned black beans for ease. Kidney beans/pinto beans also work.
- Ground chia seeds: (or flaxseed) Combined with water, they create an egg replacement to bind the veggie black bean burgers.
- Nuts/Seeds: These add protein, healthy fats, and a slightly crunchy texture. I used sunflower seeds, though pumpkin seeds, walnuts, pecans, or cashews also work.
- Oats: Use certified gluten-free oats if needed. To bind and thicken. Chickpea flour or buckwheat flour should also work. Regular AP flour may work, but I haven’t tried it.
- Tomato paste: Adds rich, savory depth to the black bean patties.
- Soy sauce: For umami-rich saltiness. Use tamari/coconut aminos for gluten-free black bean burgers.
- Aromatics: Garlic and onion add delicious flavor depth.
- Spices: I used onion powder, smoked paprika, ground cumin, chili flakes (or chili powder/cayenne pepper), salt, and black pepper for savory, smoky, spicy flavor.
- Fresh herbs: I used parsley. Green onion, cilantro, or chives would also work.
Recipe Variations
These homemade black bean burgers are surprisingly easy to customize.
- Spicy black bean burgers: For more heat, add diced jalapeno, or make tasty chipotle black bean burgers. Cajun seasoning/taco seasoning or curry powder also work.
- Flavor boosters: Add nutritional yeast for cheesy umami depth, white miso paste, or mushroom powder (or sub some beans with chopped, sauteed mushrooms).
- Vegetables: Add up to ¼ cup finely chopped sauteed or caramelized onions, bell peppers, grated zucchini/carrot, shredded broccoli, spinach/kale, or corn kernels.
For the full ingredients list, measurements, complete recipe method, and nutritional information, read the recipe card below.
How to Make Vegan Black Bean Burgers
- Mix the ground chia seeds and water, and set aside for 5 minutes to thicken.
- Rinse, drain, and pat the beans dry. Also, mince the garlic and chop the onion.
- Process the oats and seeds in a food processor or blender.
- Add the remaining ingredients and process until slightly chunky.
- Divide the mixture into four portions and form the black bean burger patties by hand.
If it’s too sticky, add more oat flour. If it’s too dry, add water (one teaspoon at a time). Letting the mixture rest for 10-15 minutes also helps.
- Heat a little oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, pan-fry the black bean burgers until warmed through, browned, and crisp all over (about 12-15 minutes).
For more flavor: Brush the black bean patties with sriracha or barbecue sauce after flipping.
- When ready, the vegan burgers are firm, crisp outside, and soft and juicy inside. For firmer middles, then bake the black bean patties for 15 minutes at 375°F/190°C. Enjoy!
Storage Information
Store: Refrigerate them in an airtight container, separated with parchment paper, for 3-4 days.
Freeze: Flash freeze on a tray until solid, then transfer to an airtight container separated by layers of parchment paper for 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or cook from frozen, adding a little more time.
Reheat: Pan-fry or air fry/bake with a little more oil until warm and a little crispy.
The Best Toppings For Black Bean Burgers
My favorite way to enjoy vegan black bean burgers is on fluffy gluten-free burger buns with any of the following:
- Fresh lettuce/leafy greens
- Tomato slices
- Fresh onion, caramelized onions, or onion rings
- Avocado Basil Pesto
- Cucumber or pickle slices
- Sauteed mushrooms
- Vegan cheese (or vegan cheese sauce)
- Sauce (ketchup, burger sauce, keto bbq sauce, chipotle mayo, etc.)
Optionally enjoy with crispy baked potato wedges or sweet potato fries, grilled vegetables, vegan potato salad, vegan coleslaw, etc. Alternatively, skip the bun and serve the black bean patties alongside steamed or roasted vegetables, in grain bowls, salad bowls, or crumbled in tacos and wraps.
FAQs
Can I make the black bean burger recipe ahead?
Sure! Shape the patties in advance, storing them in a parchment-lined container in the refrigerator (for 1-2 days) or freeze (up to 3 months). Cook from frozen, adding extra time.
Can I Bake or Grill the black bean veggie patties?
Freeze the burger patties for 30 minutes to firm up, then grill over medium-high heat on a grill silicone mat or oiled tin foil.
Alternatively, lightly oil and then bake for 25-30 minutes at 375F/190C.
Can I make them into meatballs?
Sure, you can shape the mixture into smaller patties or meatballs, or check out my vegan meatballs recipe.
Top Recipe Tips
- Pat the beans dry: To avoid mushy black bean patties.
- Leave chunky: Only partially mashed beans create the best texture.
- For even-sized patties: Divide the mixture by weight.
- Don’t crowd while cooking: So they properly sear rather than steam.
- Don’t flip too soon: Let a crust form before flipping to prevent crumbling. Avoid overcooking, though, as they’ll become dry.
- No food processor? Mash everything with a potato masher or sturdy fork.
You Might Also Like
- Millet fritters
- Chickpea fritters with veggies
- Stuffed potato cakes
- Zucchini and potato vegetable fritters
- Carrot fritters
- Vegetable pakora
- Chickpea broccoli nuggets
If you try this easy vegan black bean burgers recipe, I’d appreciate a comment and ★★★★★ recipe rating below. Also, please don’t forget to tag me in re-creations on Instagram or Facebook with @elavegan #elavegan—I love seeing them.
Vegan Black Bean Burgers
Video
Ingredients
Burgers:
- 1 (15 oz) can (270 g) black beans drained and rinsed (see notes)
- ½ cup (60 g) sunflower seeds (see notes)
- ⅔ cup (60 g) oats (gluten-free if needed)
- 1 tbsp (30 g) tomato paste
- 1 ½ tbsp soy sauce (gluten-free if needed) or tamari
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- ½ large (65 g) onion chopped
- 3 chia eggs or flax eggs (3 tbsp ground chia seeds + 1/4 cup water)
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes or less/more to taste
- ¾ tsp sea salt or less/more to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- 3 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped
Other Ingredients:
- Oil for frying
- Vegan barbecue sauce (optional)
- 4 burger buns regular or gluten-free
- Fresh veggies of choice e.g. tomatoes, lettuce, onion, cucumber
- Vegan cheese
- Dressing of choice (see notes)
Instructions
- You can watch the video for visual instructions.Mix 3 tablespoons ground chia seeds with 1/4 cup of water in a small bowl and set the mixture aside for 5 minutes to thicken. If you don't have ground chia seeds, simply blend whole chia seeds in an electric spice/coffee grinder or blender for a few seconds.
- In the meantime, rinse the canned beans very well in a sieve, then drain them and pat dry.
- Process the oats and the sunflower seeds in a food processor or blender (use the pulse function).
- Next, add all the other ingredients to the food processor and mix again. Don't over mix, as the burgers should still have some texture.
- Form 4 burger patties with your hands. If the mixture is too sticky, you can simply add more oats. If it's too dry, add a little water.
- Heat some oil in a large frying pan and add the four burger patties. Fry on both sides until they firm up. It will take about 12-15 minutes in total. Check the oven method in the recipe notes below. Tip: Brush some vegan barbecue sauce or Sriracha onto the burgers after flipping them! It adds an even more delicious flavor and it furthermore makes them look juicier.
- Assemble the black bean burgers with burger buns of your choice and add fresh ingredients such as onion rings, tomato slices, cucumber slices, fresh lettuce leaves, avocado (guacamole), etc. I also added my Easy Vegan Cheese Sauce. Serve with homemade crispy Oven-Baked Potato Wedges, and Vegan Onion Rings.
Notes
- Beans: You can use canned beans that are already cooked or cook dry beans until soft (which takes a while though).
- These vegan black bean burgers are firm on the outside but soft on the inside. If you want them to be firmer on the inside, you can first pan-fry the burger patties and then bake them in the oven at 375 °F (ca. 190 °C) for about 15 minutes.
- Oven method: Place the patties on a lined baking sheet, brush or spray with some oil and bake in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes or until they reach the desired firmness. Flip halfway through and brush with vegan BBQ sauce.
- Sunflower seeds: You can use nuts such as walnuts or cashews instead of sunflower seeds.
- Check the recipe for my delicious Vegan Thousand Island Dressing.
- Store leftover burger patties in an airtight container in the refrigerator (up to 3 days) or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Read the blog post above for more helpful tips.
- Recipe adapted from my Vegan Meatballs.
- Recipe serves 4. Nutrition facts are for one serving (only burger patties).
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
„Simple and Delicious Vegan“ Cookbook by ElaVeganCLICK HERE to order!If you are using Pinterest, feel free to pin the following photo:
Just made them, today for the 1st time they are very nice one of the best burgers i’ve had, so easy to make, very healthy very cheap. thank you for your recipe, they will be made every week.
That makes me so happy! Thanks for your great feedback. 🙂
i just made it my 2 year old ate it , he surprised me . and it was so good, thank you ela
Awesome, I am glad he liked it! 🙂
Hello Ela,
I made these yesterday and they are very good!
Even my fussy eater 23months old son ate half of a patty:)
Thanks for the recipe
That’s awesome, Melinda! I am glad you liked the recipe. 🙂
Hi, is there 275kcal per 100g of burgers? It’s written per serving, but I’m not sure what does that mean in grams?????
Hi Lara, it’s for one of four burger patties (1/4 of the recipe) as mentioned in the recipe notes. I didn’t weigh them. 🙂
I usually dislike veggie burgers but these are wonderful! I didn’t have tomato paste so I threw in some salsa and used walnuts which I had on hand. I used the oven method. Thanks for another tasty and easy recipe.
My pleasure, Joanne! I am glad you loved the burgers. 🙂
Si amazing! Thanks for sharing!
🙂
hi Ela, would ground flax seeds work as a sub for the ground chia?
looking fwd to making these!
Yes, that should be fine, Sarah! 🙂
Hi Ela,
Thanks for sharing the recipe. Are they replacements that you can suggests for the nuts and seeds as I’m allergic?
Hi Shena, not sure if you can eat peanuts as they are actually legumes and not nuts. Other than that you can just leave them out and add 2 tablespoons of oil for taste. 🙂
Sorry, i have a question. Do you use cook beans or raw?
Thanks
I used canned beans as mentioned in the recipe. Canned beans are always cooked. 🙂
Hello, thank you for sharing your recipe. I see that many people choose to bake, air fry or pan fry the patties.
What is your suggestion about these being cooked on a grill?
Thank you.
Hello Gladys, you can also grill the burgers, but I would recommend freezing them first (for about 30 minutes) to firm up! 🙂
I plan on making these sometime this week! I’m looking for a recipe that’s freezer friendly so I don’t purchase frozen, store bought as often and these look delicious! Also a fan that this uses ingredients I always have on hand. One question- does it matter what pats I use? Quick oats or rolled oats?
Thank you!! ????
Hi Caitlyn! You can use quick oats or rolled oats, both work fine in this recipe. I hope you will like the burgers. 🙂
I have made this for my family about 1/2 a dozen times over the past couple months! My daughter says this is her absolute favorite meal! Thank you so much! We went whole food plant based back in February and your recipes are ones we make every week and are our favorite! Thank you so much!
Wow, I am so glad you love my recipes and this one in particular! Thanks so much for your amazing feedback. 🙂
OMG — SOOO YUMMY !!!! They turned out perfect. I doubled the recipe. I served them on a pancetta roll, with baby spinach, red cabbage, sliced tomato, your Vegan Thousand Island Dressing & Easy Vegan Cheese Sauce … just DELICIOUS !!!!
Sounds fantastic! I am so glad they turned out delicious. Thanks for your amazing feedback, Manuela. 🙂
Hi! Thanks for this. We made them and they were tasty! The problem though was that we all suffered from stomach cramps.. Could it be the uncooked beans? We soaked them over night before hand. Looking forward to your comments as we would like to give it another shot..
Thanks again!
Sego
Hi Sego, did you use dry uncooked beans instead of canned beans? I hope you didn’t. The recipe says “One 15 oz can (270 g) black beans drained and rinsed“. Canned beans are always cooked.
Yes probably why you all had stomach cramps uncooked beans are actually very bad for you. But I don’t understand how you chewed them?
Hey, Ela! ????
Your recipe is amazing, as always! ☺️
Awesome flavor, great texture, simple and easy-to-find ingredients, and very, very fun to make! Although everything went relatively well, there was a minor, lets call it, “problem”; while I fried the patties in a pan without oil, they seemed to get cooked really fast, like in less than three minutes; however, their inside remained rather mushy. Why do you think this may have happened? Let me share with you three point which I believe may had been involved in this:
❶ I think I had overmixed the batter; It came out texture-less and
❷ I hadn’t used oiled while frying, and
❸ Before frying, I had refrigerated the patties for about an hour (although I don’t think this may have been the problem here)
I strongly believe one of the two first doings (or both) had something to do with the patties being almost burned on the outside, but uncooked on the inside.
Overall, the recipe is simply amazing, delicious and on top of all, healthy! ????
Once again, thank you for your contribution to healthy vegan lifestyle ????
Hello Chloe, thanks for your feedback! I am so glad you loved the flavor and texture. 🙂
To answer your question, I think it’s because you didn’t use oil and the over mixing most likely also didn’t help. Next time make sure not to over mix and also cook with a little oil at lower heat. If you don’t want to use oil, you can bake them in the oven after frying them in the pan. I mentioned this in the middle of the blog post and I will copy and paste it for you:
Hope this helps. 🙂
Much love,
Ela
Thank you for your kind answer, Ela! ????
Well, I suppose you are right – overmixing was surely not a good idea.
You know, I thought of baking them in the oven after frying, but after an incident a month ago I’m really afraid to bake plant-based meat alternatives like falafel, burgers, etc???? I made some greek Soutzoukakia with chickpeas, and with tomato sauce and baked them, but I accidentally overbaked and they came out extremely firm and hard-to-eat. Since that day, the thought of baking food like this gives me nightmares????
However, I’ll keep your advice in mind; thank you sincerely for all your work❤️
You are very welcome, Chloe! I hope the next version will turn out much better. 🙂
Hi Ela,
Thanks for the awesome recipe. I love the creations you post.
One question as I think I am misunderstanding.. is it 3 x flax eggs (each flax egg has 3 tbsp of flax and 1/4 cup of water) so times that by three (9 tbsp flax, 3/4 cup water)?
Thanks,
Devon
Hi Devon! It’s 3 tablespoons ground flax seeds mixed with 1/4 cup (60 ml) water. 🙂
Hope this helps.
Much love, Ela
These turned out amazing! I had to used some lentils, as I didn’t have enough beans. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Sounds great, Camilla! So clever to add lentils. 🙂
Ciao Ela!
Thank you for this delicious recipe.. but how did you do to make these perfect round-shaped??
I am glad you loved the recipe, Céline! I just shaped the patties with my hands. 🙂
The fat content in this is really high at 15% . If I grilled them or pan fried without out what would the far content?
Quite similar! If you want a low-fat version then leave out the sunflower seeds. It will be less flavorful though!
Hey Ella, looks amazing!
Wanted to ask about the GF bun, is there a recipe for that as well?
Hey Adam! Thank you. 🙂 The one in the photos is store-bought, however, I have a recipe for Homemade Gluten-Free Buns and for Homemade Gluten-Free Vegan Bread. The bread is also yeast-free and you can use the recipe to make buns. Hope this helps. 🙂
Ela
Hi Ela! This is a great recipe, so thanks a lot for sharing! In my country it’s really hard (not to say impossible) to find gluten free oats, and I’ve got celiac disease. Do you know of any ingredient I could use to replace them? Thanks a lot for what you do!
Hi Maitena! I believe you could use cassava flour or maybe even arrowroot flour. I haven’t tried these flour alternatives, but I know that regular wheat flour works, and we just need a flour that will thicken the mixture. Let me know if you give it a try. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
You are very welcome! I hope you will enjoy the burger. 🙂
Are the oats supposed to be cooked or uncooked before adding them to the processor?
Hi Jenni, they are uncooked. Please check the step-by-step process shots in the middle of the blog post. I hope this helps! 🙂