Homemade Sweet Potato and Quinoa Veggie Burgers

I'll be the first to say, these are some of the most delicious burgers I've ever had... and there's not a hint of meat or eggs to be found. Hell, I'll even stack them up against a cheeseburger any day. Okay, maybe not a *bacon* cheeseburger, but they're pretty damn delicious.

As with everything I've been making recently, I have tested and developed my own recipe for these delicious patties of heaven. Mostly out of necessity.But it's oddly satisfying going through the researching, looking up various ingredients, taking a piece from that recipe, an ingredient from this recipe, until I have something I think will pull together nicely.

The thing I love about this particular recipe is that it is so versatile, so much so I should really call them kitchen sink veggie burgers. I've swapped black beans for garbanzo beans, diced up leeks instead of onion, add extra or different peppers depending on how spicy I want them, throw in some diced mushrooms if I have any on hand, so on and so forth.

The first veggie recipe I ever made after we went vegetarian was... meh at best. The patties fell to pieces on the grill and we had basically veggie burger crumbles. The two patties that actually made it to the finish line didn't really win the race either. With every bite, more and more of the patty would ooze out on all sides of the bun. 

So I was determined to figure out why, and ended up making veggie burgers probably 4 more times after that over the course of 2 weeks. And surprisingly enough, we still like eating them! Handsome tells me this is by far his favorite version yet, so we're sticking with it. And look at how helpful he always is, I can't say no to that face! 

Sweet Potato & Quinoa Veggie Burgers

Makes about 10-12 patties

1 sweet potato, cooked and mashed

16oz (2 cups or one can) chickpeas, mashed

1 cup quinoa, cooked and strained of any excess water

1/2 onion, diced OR one bunch diced green onions

1 leek, diced

1/4-1/2 cup corn meal, panko or ground oats 

4-8 garlic cloves, diced

2-4 peppers, diced (anaheim, jalapeno, etc)

5-10 crimini or other mushroom, washed and diced

1-2 tsp nutritional yeast

2-3 Tbs coconut oil

To taste: salt and pepper

Pierce your sweet potato and put it in the over at 400 degrees for about an hour, rotating half way through. Even tho the recipe calls for one, I recommend making more than one at a time so you have cooked sweet potato ready to go for other recipes. 

Cook quinoa according to package instructions, usually 2 cups water to one cup (rinsed) quinoa, bring to a boil then simmer with a lid on for about 15 mins or until they have sprouted and the water is gone. Strain and let cool for a little bit.

If you're using canned beans, drain and rinse them. If you're using bulk beans, they will already need to be soaked, rinsed and cooked. Toss them in a blender and pulse until they're 'riced'.
Dice up your various other veggies: leeks, onions, peppers, garlic cloves, and whatever other veggies you'd like to add such as mushrooms if you have them on hand. Then dice up some variation of pepper, for us it's whatever we can pull from the garden or what friends bring over (anaheim, jalapeno, etc.). 

Add all this to your bowl or mixer and pulse once or twice. Add cup panko/cornmeal/ground oats, nutritional yeast, dash of salt and a few dashes black pepper. 

Mix together until it starts to stick together. If you're using a mixer, set it on the lowest setting and drizzle oil while it mixes. If you're mixing by hand, add 1 Tbs of oil at a time until it sticks together and has a nice smooth consistency.

Form your patties and place on a lined tray, cover and put in the fridge for an hour. Then store in an airtight container for up to a week, or freeze for, I don't know.. a while. They typically don't last long in our freezer so I couldn't tell you how long they keep in the freezer, but my adult logic tells me probably some time. 

When you're ready to cook them, either slap those puppies on a well oiled grill or a well oiled pan (preferably cast iron) for about 3 minutes each side, or until nice they're nice a crispy. Put that between two whole wheat buns and add your favorite toppings or condiments. I love using kale instead of lettuce because the warm burger will steam it and give you a nice texture. 

If you try these with different ingredients than listed above, let me know what you use and how it turns out! Thanks for stopping by, cheers!