Quinoa Black Bean Burger

I am SO excited to blog this recipe!! Since Brian has decided to become vegetarian it has been an extra challenge in the kitchen to make totally meatless meals. For 4th of July the plan was burgers and hotdogs. Well, last time we just did a plain 'ol Morning Star burger. I decided this time the ONLY burger we would have would be a vegetarian burger (No worries meat lovers...we still had Turkey Dogs and BBQ). ANYWAY, there was no question that we wanted to try this burger out because we had one a few weeks ago at Burger Up. I did a search on Pinterest and wouldn't you know it, the first recipe that came up was a burger inspired by the Burger Up Marathon burger! The original recipe is here. And fyi..it was SOOO good! I made them mini so everyone could have a taste without ruining an entire burger if they didn't like it. THENNNNNN I served them with mini Honey Wheat Hawaiian rolls..SO GOOD! And the sauce that accompanies it was so freakin good you will not believe it! Are you drooling yet? I am..I think I need another one!

Quinoa Black Bean Burger

Ingredients:

Burger:

* 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa (whoops! I accidentally used this amount of RAW quinoa..no wonder there was so much!)

* 3/4 cup Vegetable stock (or amount as called for on the quinoa package)

* olive oil

* 1 carrot, peeled and grated (or finely diced)

* 2 Tbsp. onion, chopped

* 2 Tbsp. ketchup

* 2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper

* 1 tsp. ground cumin

* 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

* 1 tsp. sea salt

* 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained & rinsed

* 1/2 cup panko (more as needed for texture)

Cilantro-Lime Aioli:

* 1/4 cup mayonnaise (I used the Olive Oil kind)

* 2 Tbsp. lime juice

* 1 Tbsp. freshly chopped cilantro

* Small pinch ground black pepper

Directions:

Prep: Cover a cookie sheet with foil and lightly mist with olive oil.

1.  Rinse quinoa in a mesh strainer until water is clear. CAREFUL. The first time I did this I put the water on too hard.

2. Place quinoa on stove mixed with the 3/4 cup vegetable stock. Cook according to directions on package. (the picture on the right is what it looks like after it is all done)

3. Saute the onion and carrot in olive oil until soft. About 8 minutes.

4. In a small bowl mix together 2T. ketchup, 1 1/2t. cayenne, 1t. cumin, 1t. cinnamon, and 1t. salt. Set aside.

5. Pour the black beans, onions and carrots in a bowl and smash everything together as much as possible. (Brian helped me with this!) Add in ketchup mix and mix until blended.

6. Fold in cooked quinoa and 1/2c. Panko. 

7. Form into 6 patties. Unless you are like me and made way too much...I made as many mini patties as I could fit on a cookie sheet and put the remainder in the fridge for later.

8. Lightly spray the tops of the patties and bake in a 400 degree over for 15-20 minutes.

9. While the Burgers bake, mix together all ingredients in the aioli sauce and set in fridge so flavors can infuse.

10. Assemble each burger and enjoy!

Breakdown:

Making it the way I did with WAY too much quinoa made each patty about 2WWPP. (they were about 1/4 cup in size).