These healthy quinoa burgers are packed with tex-mex flavors like chargrilled corn and red peppers, black beans, onions and topped with pineapple salsa.
So these burgers…
Where do I begin?
As summer is winding down, the nights are starting to get chillier and our fresh produce is reaching its peak, I'm feeling the need to soak up as much of this time of year as possible. From the food I'm eating to the daily walks I take, to eating my lunch outside – it's all part of the experience that we get to have for only a few short months a year.
Let's start with the grill.
Grilling is something we do on a nightly basis in my house during the summer. Whether it's meat, fish, veggies and even fruit sometimes, we're basically addicted to that char-grilled flavor.
Just recently I started to play with grilled corn. WOW. I've always been a fan of corn, especially from this local farm stand we have here in Vermont, but tossed on the grill?
My mind has been officially blown.
We've used grilled corn in many ways now – on tacos, in a salsa, in salads and now in these quinoa burgers.
I love everything about these burgers, but it's the grilled corn that really makes them shine.
The base is a combination of the classic tex-mex flavors – beans, onions, garlic, peppers, corn and SPICE – except rather than just tossing them all together and shaping them into patties, I wanted to impart this rich, smoky flavor by grilling some of the veggies first.
And all you have to do is toss a whole bell pepper and two ears of corn on a smoking hot grill, let them get nice and toasty and add it to your burgers. Simply magical.
Now I've found that the trick to making homemade veggie burgers (particularly with vegan burgers) is the chilling time. I always let my burgers sit in the fridge for an hour before cooking so they can firm up. They hold their shape better and are never crumbly.
The other trick, especially if you like to grill your burgers, is that you need to bake them first. Baking your burgers will create a crispy exterior, which gives the whole patty a little more structure and helps keep it from sticking to the grill.
Plus, once you throw it on there, it only takes about 2 minutes per side to be done – just enough time to get the beautiful grilled flavor.
So…as our love for veggie burgers continue, you can expect that I'll be experimenting with a few different flavors. This one isn't too unique, but I'm brainstorming some super fun flavor ideas.
What would be your ultimate veggie burger? Let me know in the comments below!
More Burger Recipes To Try:
- Curried Chickpea & Carrot Burgers
- Black Bean Quinoa Burgers
- Beet + Quinoa Veggie Burgers
- Vegan Quinoa Burgers
- Butternut Squash & Lentil Patties
Watch how to make these Tex-Mex Quinoa Burgers:
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:130]
Tex-Mex Quinoa Burgers
Ingredients
for the burgers
- 2 ears of corn husked
- 1 large bell pepper I like red
- 1/2 large red onion
- 1 large carrot
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 15 oz can black beans
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 cup gluten-free oats
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 flax / chia egg 1 tablespoon flax/chia meal + 3 tablespoons water
- 3 – 4 tablespoons flaxseed meal
- 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Salt & pepper to taste
for the toppings
- Gluten-free burger buns
- Fresh romaine lettuce
- Fresh tomato
- Smashed avocado
- Pineapple salsa
Instructions
- Heat a grill to medium-high heat. Place corn and pepper directly on grill and cook until charred on the outside; 2 – 3 minutes per side. Remove from grill and set aside until cool enough to handle.
- When cool, cut corn kernels off the cob. Remove seeds from the pepper and chop into 1″ pieces.
- Prepare the vegan egg by mixing the flax/chia meal with warm water and set aside to gel, about 5 – 10 minutes.
- Add onion, carrot and garlic to a bowl of a food processor. Pulse until ground and no large chunks remain, 10 – 15 pulses.
- Reserve ½ cup of beans and add remaining to the food processor along with corn and pepper. Process again until a dough starts to form. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
- Pour oats into the food processor and pulse until ground into a flour. Add to bowl along with quinoa, sunflower seeds and spices, mixing to incorporate.
- Add flax/chia egg to the mixture and stir together into the dough. Fold in black beans and use flaxseed meal as needed to help the dough bind together even more.
- Shape into burgers, place on parchment lined baking sheet and chill in fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake burgers on the center rack for 25 – 30 minutes, flipping halfway through.
- Let cool for 5 minutes to firm up before serving.
- Fix up as you prefer and thoroughly enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
Filed Under:
New to cooking quinoa? Grab your FREE Quinoa Starter Guide!
Become part of the Simply Quinoa community and receive weekly emails with exclusive content that I only share in email, as well as my in-depth guide to starting your quinoa journey.
I always love the idea of making my own veggie burgers, but never take the time to do it. The fact that these have grilled corn in them is a major plus, so we’ll have to try it out.
Hi, sound delicious (minus the corn – cant eat it – sad face!)
Am I being a bit thick but you say reserve half a cup of beans – where do they then go?
Kind Regards – enjoy the rest of the summer
Nikki 🙂
Most delicious burger!
I love this burger. I didn’t want to take the extra time to grill the veggies before putting them together in a patty, but it proved to be worth it. Thanks for the recipe.
Oh yum Alyssa, these look fabulous! I can definitely see my family liking these burgers. 🙂
Looks like will be a delicious I think Personal chefs are responsible to control all the menu organization, grocery shopping, cooking, packaging and kitchen cleanup and make enjoyable and healthy meals that you will look forward to eating.
Pingback: Saturday Shares: Fitness, Fashion, Food and More | Jill Conyers
This would be the perfect way to use up some leftover quinoa! Looks delicious 🙂
I’ve been wanting to make a vegetarian burger. This one sounds perfect. We adore grilled corn to. Actually we adore any grilled vegetable.
Yum! What a great veggie burger!
Homemade veggie burgers really are a labor of love! Brilliant idea grilling the veggies first.
This gets me excited for grilling season!! 🙂
Perfection. I love everything about this burger!
Yum! For me the best veggie burger is a “veggie” burger. I’m not a faux meat fan – I like to taste the garden in there!
This sounds absolutely amazing – and that first picture is gorgeous!!
Oh my yum! This looks ah-mazing! 🙂
Pingback: 18 Healthy Burger Recipes | Food Done Light
Pingback: Healthy Burgers on the Grill
Is the nutrition label correct? The sugars and fat grams seem way too high.
It’s updated! Not sure why it wasn’t working correctly 🙂 xo
God Bless you for putting up this recipe! I am not the biggest fan of the commercial vegan burgers for some reason and heres one thats fresh, I can adjust any spices and this is more economical to boot! Plus youwrote hints how to make the recipe successful. I and desperately trying to lose weight as well and this is healthy! Knocked it out of the park Lady!
I’m so glad! Keep me posted on how it works for you 🙂
What should I do with the “reserved” beans?
You add them in with the flax eggs! I just made a note in the recipe 🙂
You are written recipe is different than the video. Strange. In video you fry, recipe directions in oven. Also doesn’t mention adding 1-2 cup of black beans.
Nope, it’s exactly the same 🙂 I mentioned in the video you can bake, fry or grill the burgers, and just like you see in the video, you remove 1/2 cup of black beans and add them in after you’ve processed everything together. Helps with the texture of the burgers!
Where do the sunflower seeds come into play?
Just updated! xx
Hello,
The ingredient list includes 1/2 cup on sunflower seeds. However, they are not mentioned in the instructions. At what point should these be added in? Thanks!
With the cooked quinoa! Updating now 🙂
can i use tahini instead of sunflower seeds
I haven’t tested it, but sounds lovely!
How much corn should I use if using frozen from a bag?
I’d say about 1/2 cup!
I cannot find the actual recipe for the Tex Mex burgers and pineapple salsa. Am I just missing it?
All set! Sorry about that 🙂
Can you freeze what is left over. I live alone and would like to make this in bulck
Looks awesome
Absolutely!
Pingback: The 11 Best Veggie Burger Recipes – chuckiesblog
Pingback: Bean Burgers – Just another WordPress site
could you prepare these through the bake portion and then freeze for future use
Absolutely!