These aren’t your ordinary black bean burgers. These savory, spicy and smoky vegan patties are topped with creamy guacamole and crispy baked plantain chips for an explosion of burger flavors and deliciousness!
Black bean burgers are so reliable, aren’t they? As a 20+ year vegetarian, they’ve always been there for me.
A black bean burger was the first meatless burger I attempted to make at home, back in my late teens. When the cook at a restaurant I worked at found out I was a vegetarian, he instructed me to go home, mash up a can of black beans with some onions, garlic, breadcrumbs and spices, and cook it up as a burger. It worked and I was thoroughly impressed. Since that day black bean burgers have always been there for me. If nothing else, I’ve got a can of black beans in the pantry and some onions on the counter.
These burgers are so not reliable. I mean, I never have plantains hanging around my kitchen. That’s okay though. They were so worth it.
The plantain chips are very addictive. The recipe makes just enough chips for about four burgers with maybe a chip or two on the side. I suggest you double the chip portion of the recipe though, because if you’re anything like me, most of them will be gone by the time you get to assembling the burgers.
The burgers themselves were the most flavorful black bean burgers I’ve ever had, and as you might have guessed at this point, I’ve had a lot of black bean burgers. Plenty of spices, liquid smoke and jalapeño peppers are the key ingredients I have to thank for that.
Finally, guacamole. I figured out just a short time ago that guacamole’s home is on a sandwich. Guacamole especially belongs on a smokey southwestern-inspired spicy burger, like this one, and it especially, especially belongs with plantain chips. It’s like eating a burger and chips and dips all rolled into one.
Smoky Black Bean Burgers with Guacamole and Plantain Chips
Ingredients
For the Baked Plantain Chips
- 1 green plantain
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- salt
For the Smoky Black Bean Burgers
- 1/2 red onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 jalapeño pepper seeded and stemmed
- 1-14 oz. can or 1 3/4 cup black beans rinsed and drained
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
- 1 tbsp. lime juice
-
1
tsp.
liquid smoke
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 tsp. chipotle chili powder
- 1/2 tsp. chili powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1-2 tbsp. olive oil
For Serving
- 4 burger buns
- lettuce leaves
- guacamole
Instructions
Make the Plantain chips
-
Preheat oven to 400º. Line 1 or 2 baking sheets with parchment.
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Slice plantain very thin. A mandoline slicer works best for this.
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Arrange plantain slices on bakings sheet(s) and brush with oil. Sprinkle generously with salt.
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Bake until crisp and lightly browned, about 15 minutes, flipping halfway through.
works best for this.Make the Smoky Black Bean Burgers
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Place onion, garlic and jalapeño into food processor bowl and pulse a few times to chop. Add beans, panko, cilantro, lime juice, liquid smoke, cumin, chili powder, chipolte chili powder, salt and pepper. Pulse again until ingredinents are well blended.
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Shape mixture into 4 patties.
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Working in batches if needed, coat a large skillet with oil and place over medium heat. Arrange patties in skillet and cook until lightly browned on bottoms, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook until browned on opposite sides, about 5 minutes more.
Serve
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Stuff buns with burgers and top with lettuce, guacamole and plantain chips.
Recipe Notes
Make sure to get a very green, unripe plantain. This will ensure it crisps up nicely and doesn't stick during baking.
One can never have too many black bean burger recipes! They are a staple in our house too and I love how you can change up the flavor profile with just a few ingredient tweaks. These look amazing! I love how thick and hearty they are!
I make fried plantain chips a lot, never tried baked version sure going to try it , thanks for sharing, by the way, black bean burger sounds delicious.
Thank you! Hope you dig the baked plantain chips as much as I did! :)
Is this spicy I was looking to make this as a dinner for me and my 1 year old? Didn’t want it to be too spicy for him with the jalapeño and chili powder.
They aren’t super spicy, but still maybe a bit much for a one year old. I’d definitely leave out the jalapeno. With the chili powder I’d add a bit at a time and taste test – some brands are milder than others. You could also skip or replace some of the chipotle powder with smoked paprika – it’ll give you that smoky flavor without the heat. Enjoy! :)
what’s the protein and calorie nutritional value please? Thanks. They look good.
Thank you! I don’t normally calculate nutrition info for my recipes, but you can try this site if you’d like to take a crack at it.
I made these patties for dinner the other night and serves them with homemade aquafaba mayo, avocado, lettuce, and tomato on a gluten free bun. They were divine! Great flavours and I made a double batch so I could freeze some :)
Holy heck, this burger is delicious. I am gluten-free and didn’t have breadcrumbs so I used 1/2 cup GF oats, 1/2 cup almond meal, and a heaping 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (a tip from your “beefy” black bean walnut burger recipe). I’m also kind of averse to liquid smoke – it’s always so overpowering to me – so I used about 1 tsp of smoked paprika. I didn’t use a food processor as I wanted a lot of texture, so I just mushed it all up with my hands. Probably because of not using a food processor, it was a little dry, so I added a flax egg (1 Tbsp flax meal + 2 Tbsp water). I also didn’t add olive oil. I guess that’s why it was dry, too. Anyway, it’s perfect. I haven’t had the actual cooked burger yet as I’m going to freeze these patties for later (I hear freezing BB burgers and cooking them from frozen helps them keep their shape when cooking), but the batter is so good I was licking it off of my hands, haha. Thanks for a great recipe!
Excuse me I mean 1/4 cup almonds and 1/4 cup walnuts, for a total of 1 cup of breadcrumb substitutes, not 1/2 cup of each.
Boyfriend and his family loved these! They’re so good. And easy to make :) Adding this to my go-to recipes