Quinoa and Black Bean Burgers
Published Mar 27, 2020•Updated Feb 04, 2025
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Made with cooked quinoa, black beans for texture, and quick cook oats to hold everything together, Quinoa and Black Bean Burgers are packed with protein and hold their shape well. These hearty burgers are great to freeze and are my most-requested vegetarian dinner.
This blog serves so many functions for me – first and foremost it connects me with all of you amazing readers and home cooks! And so many of you have told me lately that you are trying to incorporate more plants into your diet. Me too.
But this blog also serves as my own recipe box. These pages hold all of the recipes that I regularly make for my family. All of our favorites live here. These Quinoa and Black Bean Burgers are a complete reinvention of one of my original most popular recipes. The older recipe had a longer list of ingredients and involved pre-cooking onions in a skillet, making them not something I wanted to tackle on a regular basis. At the end of the day, this version is not only easier, but we like it even more!
I love to make a batch of these and freeze them. If you want to mix up the flavors, just do so by adding some different spices. I’ve tried almost every single one of my homemade seasoning blends here including blackening seasoning, ranch seasoning, and Tex Mex seasoning. Quinoa and Black Bean burgers are a bit of a blank slate, ready to adapt to whatever flavor combos you can dream up!
These burgers have a mild, savory flavor and a tender texture that holds up well to cooking in a skillet. Best of all – they hold up to any type of toppings you can dream of. We like it classic with ketchup, lettuce, and onions or as shown here with arugula and a very heavy dose of Avocado Crema.
Quinoa and Black Bean Burger Ingredients
- Black Beans – Of course – these are key! You’ll mash these beans to give the burgers a soft texture and savory flavor. Canned black beans work well, but you can also easily start with dried beans. (I’m an Instant Pot fan when it comes to cooking beans from dried, but you can cook them on the stovetop, in the IP, or even in the oven – here’s a great tutorial.)
- Cooked Quinoa – And these too. I love to buy the pre-cooked vacuum-sealed bags of quinoa at the grocery store to save time. Or you can cook up a batch in about 20 minutes. You’ll need 1 ½ cups of cooked quinoa (which is made from ¾ cups dry quinoa).
- Tomato Paste – Tomato paste gives these burgers a great savory “umami” flavor and helps them to retain moisture as they cook.
- Egg – One egg in the mix acts as a binder for the burger patties.
- Quick Cook Oats – Be sure to get Quick Cook Oats for the right texture in these burgers. Do not use Rolled Oats or Instant Oats. The quick cook oats will be barely noticeable in the finished burgers but they absorb moisture and help to hold everything together.
- Garlic, Chopped Cilantro Leaves, Salt and Pepper – You’ll need all of these for flavor.
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Freeze This Meal
One of the best things about Quinoa and Black Bean Burgers is that they are super freezer friendly. We keep a batch in the freezer for nights when we want a healthier, plant-based twist on burger night.
To freeze the burger patties, line a sheet pan with parchment or wax paper. Place the formed (but uncooked) burger patties on the sheet pan and freeze until solid, 4 to 5 hours. Transfer to a freezer-safe bag and freeze for up to 6 months.
To cook from frozen: Defrost the burger patties in the fridge on a flat surface for about 24 hours. Cook according to the directions in the recipe.
Printable Freezer Label
Print and attach the label below so cooking instructions are ready when you are!
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Quinoa and Black Bean Burgers
Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Skillet, Grill, or Grill Pan
Ingredients
For the Burger Patties:
- 1 14-ounce can Black Beans
- 1 1/2 cups Cooked Quinoa (see note)
- 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
- 2 cloves Garlic, chopped
- 1 Egg
- 1/2 cup Quick Cook Oats (see note)
- 3 Tablespoons Cilantro Leaves, finely chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
For Serving (optional):
- 4 Hamburger Buns
- Lettuce
- Thinly Sliced Tomatoes
- Avocados or Avocado Crema
- Thinly Sliced Red Onion
Instructions
- Drain and rinse beans. Transfer to a large bowl and mash with a potato masher, dough cutter, or with the back of a sturdy spoon. (You want about half the beans to be in pieces and half the beans to be smooth and creamy.)
- Add quinoa, tomato paste, garlic, egg, oats, chopped cilantro, salt, and black pepper. Stir everything together to combine.
- Divide the mixture into 4 portions. Use your hands to form 4 burger patties that are about 1/2-inch thickness. (If you aren’t cooking the burger patties right away, see the instructions below to freeze.)
- Sear the burger patties over direct heat on a grill or heat 1 Tablespoon cooking oil in a large skillet and sear on both sides. The patties are done when they are golden brown on the outside and hot all the way through to the center.
- Serve with any of your favorite burger toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can I bake these burgers instead of frying?
Hi Claire – I actually have no idea! It never occurred to me to do anything other than sear them in a skillet. From a food safety standpoint you definitely will be fine baking them. Make sure they reach 160 F in the center. I don’t know if they’ll hold together very well, but they’ll still have great flavor. The benefit of cooking them in a skillet is just that you get that golden brown crispy exterior that you see in the photos. But you might be able to achieve that baked at around 425 F and sprayed with a bit of oil before baking. Let me know!
Hi Jess,
My 3/4 cup of quinoa yielded significantly more than 1 1/2 cups cooked. I measured the 1 1/2 cups and discarded the rest. The results were more crumbly than I expected. Did I do something wrong? I added an extra egg to the remaining mixture but I’d rather do it your way. Thanks!
Dennis
Hi Dennis – I’m so sorry to hear that. You were right to discard the extra quinoa as any more than 1 1/2 cups can definitely make them too crumbly, but I’m not sure what might have happened otherwise. If the mixture is too dry to easily form patties, you might try adding a bit of extra water just to get it sticky enough that it will stay together. I recently made a video of the burgers, so you might check that out and see if the texture of your patty mixture looks similar to mine – https://www.instagram.com/reel/ChCa-NZlo97/. Otherwise, I would just try adding water until the mixture comes together. It won’t change the flavor, but will help them come together. I hope that helps!
Hi, looks like a great recipe as I’m trying to get as much freezer food prepped as possible before our little one arrives! I can’t have quick oats (glycemic index) but I can have rolled or steel cut. Do you know of any adaptation where I might cook them to be able to use them similarly or is there another substitute you’d recommend? Thank you!
Hi Katie – you can just pulse regular rolled oats in a food processor until they’re broken up into pieces that are roughly 1/3 the size of the rolled oats (obviously there will be smaller and larger pieces, but that’s what I look for) and use those in the recipe in place of the quick cook ones. Just be sure to measure them after you grind them up. Congrats on the new little one!