5 Ingredient Vegan Black Bean Burger Recipe
Black bean zucchini burgers are going to become your go-to dinner on busy weeknights! These gluten free black bean burgers are so easy to make, ready in just 15 minutes from start to finish and made with just 5 ingredients!
Why you will love this recipe
- These veggie burgers are packed with flavor and are so easy to make. Plus they don’t fall apart when you are flipping them.
- Ready in about 15 minutes from start to finish. These zucchini black bean burgers cook on the stove and could easily be made in a cast iron skillet on the grill as well. If you don’t want to cook them on the stove, you could also make them in the air fryer!
- Packed with veggies – the zucchini in these black bean burgers adds moisture, ensuring they don’t dry out when cooking, This is a great way to get picky eaters to eat their veggies!
- Great for meal prep! These last up to 4 days in the fridge and there are so many ways to use them. Eat them like burgers, break them up over tacos, salads or burrito bowls.
- Budget friendly! These are less than $3 for the entire recipe! They could be even less expensive if you have zucchini growing in your garden or you are using dried cooked black beans (the instant pot is my favorite way to cook dried beans).
Ingredients
- Black beans – typically I always have instant pot black beans in the fridge but I made these with canned black beans because I figured that is what most people have in their pantry. You will want 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained well.
- Ground flax – ground flax replaces eggs in recipes and helps to bind together these burgers, ensuring they don’t break apart when flipping!
- Zucchini – the zucchini adds moisture to the burgers, but it’s important that you take the time to squeeze out as much excess liquid from the zucchini as possible before adding it to the beans and ground flax.
- Salt and Spices: Chili powder, ground cumin and garlic powder are all used to add flavor to these burgers.
How to make zucchini black bean burgers
Check out a step by step story on how to make easy black bean burgers.
Start by draining the black beans and rinsing them well. I like to use a fine mesh strainer for this step.
Add the rinsed beans to a large bowl. Mash half the beans with a fork.
Add the ground flax to the mashed beans and stir well, you want the flax to absorb any excess liquid from the beans.
Wash your zucchini and grate in on the large holes of a box grater. Squeeze out the extra water from the zucchini. I like to take a handful of zucchini at a time and squeeze it over the sink. You could also use a fine mesh strainer and cheesecloth or a clean kitchen towel but I prefer to squeeze over the sink.
Add the zucchini to the black bean mixture along with the spices. Stir well, making sure to fully incorporate the zucchini with the black bean mixture. This may take a minute or two to fully incorporate.
Preheat a large skillet (stainless steel or cast iron) over medium heat.
Take about 1/3- ½ cup of the black bean zucchini mixture and form into patties using your hands. Press them together well so they will not fall apart when cooking. I like to press them firmly into a tall cylinder shape, then flatten that with my hands. Store on a plate or cutting board until all the burgers are formed.
Once the skillet is hot, spray with non-stick (avocado oil, olive oil, coconut oil) and add the burgers. Cook for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, flip carefully and cook 3-4 more minutes on the other side.
Serve hot with your favorite toppings.
Top tips
- Mash at least half the black beans with the ground flax and let it sit together while you are shredding the zucchini.
- I typically use a box grater to shred the zucchini but if you are going to double or triple the recipe, you can use your food processor shredding tool to shred up the zucchini quickly.
- Be sure to squeeze out ALL THE EXTRA liquid from the zucchini before you add it to the black bean mixture. You can easily do this with your hands over the sink, no need to get a special towel. Just take about half the shredded zucchini and squeeze it between your hands, pressing until you can’t get more liquid. Add this to the black beans and repeat with the second half of the zucchini.
- Get your skillet HOT before you add the oil and black bean burger patties. This ensures that your burgers don’t stick. Also, don’t be afraid to really spray your skillet so these don’t stick. I like to use a stainless steel or cast iron skillet for this so you don’t have to worry about the coating on the skillet as the pan preheats.
- Depending on how large your zucchini is, you may decide to add 1-2 tbsp. ground oat flour, almond flour or breadcrumbs to the mixture to ensure the burgers aren’t too mushy on the inside.
- You can also use the air fryer to cook the burgers as well. Depending on the model you have, you may have to cook them in batches in the air fryer. Line the air fryer basket with parchment paper or silicone liner and cook at 390F for 10 minutes, flip and cook 5 more minutes.
Other additions
- Smoky flavor: Smoked paprika, chipotle in adobo (1-2 chipotles finely chopped)
- Spice: Red pepper flakes, fresh or pickled jalapeno, sriracha
- Other veggies: Red onion, green onion, roasted red pepper, shredded carrots.
- Other grains: Add 1 cup of cooked rice, quinoa, farro to the mixture. This will result in more burgers and you may need a ¼ tsp. extra salt.
How to serve gluten free black bean burgers
- On a bun with your favorite toppings (lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, etc.)
- On a lettuce wrap with pickled onions and sliced radish
- Broken up and served over salad (with avocado cilantro dressing)
- As part of a burrito bowl or burrito with spicy vegan chipotle mayo
- With rice, quinoa or sweet potatoes for a hearty grain bowl with your favorite veggies and chimichurri sauce
What to serve with these burgers
- Fries! Carrot fries, butternut squash fries or parsnip fries would be great out of the ordinary options
- Sweet potato tots or Broccoli tots
- Creamy Cilantro Lime Slaw
- Roasted potatoes
- Air Fryer Brussel Sprouts
- Mexican Cauliflower Rice
Storing leftovers
- Store leftover zucchini black bean burgers in the fridge up to 4 days.
- You can also freeze leftover black bean burgers. To freeze, add wax paper or parchement paper to a baking sheet. Freeze the burgers on the baking sheet in a single layer. Once frozen, store in a freezer safe bag with squares of wax paper or parchment between the burgers.
- To cook from frozen: Cook in a 350F oven for 15 minutes.
- To reheat after defrosting: Defrost in the fridge or in the microwave. Once defrosted, cook on a hot skillet with non-stick spray (avocado oil, olive oil, coconut oil) about 5 minutes.
Substitutions
- Black beans: You could also use white beans (cannellini bean, great northern white beans, navy beans), or red beans (dark or light kidney beans) in place of black beans.
- Ground flax: Ground flax is the binder that ensures the burgers hold together well. You can grind your own flax in a coffee grinder or high speed blender. If you don’t have flax, you could use ground chia seeds.
- Zucchini: Zucchini adds moisture to the burgers. You could use summer squash or shredded carrots in place of the zucchini if needed.
- Spices: The garlic powder and ground cumin are optional ingredients. If you don’t have them, you can simply omit them. If you don’t have chili powder, you can use 2 tsp. paprika, ½ tsp. ground cumin, ½ tsp. garlic powder and ¼ tsp. dried oregano in place of the chili powder.
- Salt: Salt helps to elevate all the flavors in the dish. If you cannot tolerate salt, be sure to use your favorite no sodium added alternative.
If you love this recipe, you should try
- Mexican Black Bean Lentil Burgers
- Sweet Potato Lentil Burgers
- Vegan Lentil Quinoa Meatballs
- Mexican Rice and Beans
5 ingredient vegan black bean burger recipe
$2.58 Recipe/$1.29 ServingGuided Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked black beans (drained) - $0.99
- 3 tbsp ground flax seed - $0.21
- 1 medium zucchini, shredded - $1.00
- 1 tbsp chili powder - $0.25
- 1/2 tsp sea salt - $0.03
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional) - $0.05
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin (optional) - $0.05
Instructions
- Rinse and drain black beans. Add ground flax seed and mash half the black beans with a fork, making sure to incorporate the ground flax seed into the mash.
- Let the ground flax and mashed beans sit together while you grate the zucchini. You can use your food processor attachment or grate by hand.
- Once the zucchini has been grated, you will have to wring out the excess water. You can use your hands or a clean cheese cloth to do this.
- Add the zucchini to the black bean and ground flax mixture. Add the spices and stir well, to fully incorporate the zucchini and spices.
- Form the burgers into 6 equal size patties, about the size of your palm cupped.
- Preheat a cast iron skillet (affiliate link) over medium heat. Spray with non-stick or add about 1 tsp. avocado oil and brush it out to cover the surface.
- Add the vegan black bean burgers and cook for 6 minutes over medium heat. Flip and cook 4 additional minutes.
- Serve with your favorite toppings.
These completely fell apart and did not hold together at all. What did I do wrong?
Hi there Hannah,
Did you squeeze out all the water from the zucchini? Did you use ground flax?
If you answered yes to both of those, you could try adding a tablespoon or two of oat flour to the mix next time to help it stick together even easier.
Hi. I tripled your recipe, do you think I can throw them in the oven?
Hi there Sue. Yes, put them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and spray it with olive oil before adding the burgers. Bake in a 425F oven for about 20 minutes then carefully flip and bake another 10 minutes.
Is it ok to use oat flour instead of ground flaxseed?
I haven’t tried this with oat flour but I bet it would work well. I would add 1 or 2 more tablespoons of oat flour to ensure you get the same consistency. Let me know if you try this!
Loved the flavor! But mine turned to mush – any tips on avoiding that? Thank you so much!
You may need to add 1 more tablespoon of ground flax, your zucchini may have had a bit more water than the mine!
Easy to make. I used ground chia seeds and they turned out great.
Is the nutritional information for 1 pattie?
The nutritional info is for 3 servings, so 2 patties if you make 6 like the recipe indicates.
Hey, can I freeze the black bean burgers? If so, how long are they good for??
Thank you!!
Hey Grace! Yes you can freeze these after cooking! They will last about 2 months in the freezer!
Easy to make and soooper delicious!! They came out real well!
They still taste like beans, but with the toppings and condiments it really doesn’t matter, they’re pretty good!
As I am not using oil any more, do you think these could be air fried?
Hey there Debby! I am sure you can air fry these, but I haven’t tried this yet. Be sure to put down parchment paper before you air fry them as I’m guessing they will stick without oil. Let me know if you have any luck!
If I am using carrots instead of zucchini, do I have to squeeze the liquid out?
I haven’t tried this for myself but I’m guessing you do not need to squeeze out any liquid. Zucchini are very watery where carrots are not. Let me know how this turns out!
@Samantha Rowland, I used carrots and did not squeeze out the water and they were great.
Great to know!! So glad that is now an option for others!
It was AMAZING and DELICIOUS !!
Can these veggie burgers be pan fried, frozen and then reheated in the microwave? Sometimes I just need something wuick, but also healthy and more filling than a protein bar.
YES!! I do this all the time! Hope you love these as much as I do!
BEST BLACK Bean veggie burger I ever tasted. Thank you for the recipe. Pat
Love this recipe, so simple and easy to make, I cannot wait to make it at home! Just need to get myself some ingredients first…