These Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers are 100% vegan. They are egg-free and dairy-free. Made with flaxseed meal, garbanzo bean flour, rolled oats, and seasonings. These homemade plant-based burgers are sure to please!
This black bean burger recipe is kid-approved. Looking for some other kid-friendly recipes? Try my Easy Calzone Pizza Dippers and Vegan Stree Tacos recipes. Both are kid-approved and easy to make.
Smoother your plant-based burger with vegan burger sauce. Add tomatoes, pickles, sliced onions or pickled onions, and top it with a vegan burger bun!
To make these homemade vegan sweet potato burgers you’ll need
- For the sauteed veggie mixture
- red bell pepper
- shallot (or red onion)
- garlic
- (affiliate link) Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
- tomato paste
- a little oil for sauteing OR some veggie broth – see below
- For the sweet potato/black bean mixture
- canned black beans (2)
- cooked sweet potato
- For the spices and seasonings
- ground cumin
- chili powder
- onion and garlic powder
- smoked paprika (don’t sub sweet paprika)
- salt and pepper
- For the binder
- ground flaxseed (flax meal)
- (affiliate link) garbanzo bean flour
- old fashioned rolled oats
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Since going plant-based, what do you miss most? I’ll be honest, I did miss a few things, but I was able to create some pretty tasty vegan versions – Like my Best Vegan Mac and Cheese, and my Game Day Chili – both so good!
But what I really missed were the burgers!
You remember: you take that first savory chewy mouthful of a burger – layered with the salty-sweet, crunchy, vegetables, and tangy condiments – and chow down. An absolute gastronomical pleasure!
And I missed it. But I was a plant-eater and I wouldn’t look back.
After a while, I broke down and actually tried the fake meat burgers. I’m not naming brands – but you know the two most popular ones… They are good. Don’t get me wrong.
These store-bought vegan burgers taste like meat burgers. And it’s really nice to have options when eating out. But, honestly, they weren’t for me. At this point in my plant-based journey, I was craving the tastes of veggies and legumes and such; and so really didn’t crave the taste of the meat in my burger anymore. But I did miss the crunchy, chewy, savory-sweet, burger-eating experience.
So I tried the store-bought bean burger. Oh yes! So good! BUT….so full of oils and strange ingredients I had never heard of.
Bring on the homemade black bean burger!
The Problem with Homemade Vegan Black Bean Burgers:
Yep, unfortunately, there is a problem. When a black bean burger is vegan, we don’t use eggs. Without eggs, things fall apart. Pretty quickly. So we can throw in some other things to try to bind the homemade vegan burger – like flaxseed meal, oats, and (affiliate link) garbanzo bean flour. The problem then is that it gets too dry.
Adding in some sweet potato along with the black beans makes it a little less dry and the black bean burger still manages to hold together.
(Love sweet potato? Me too! You’ll love my recipe for African Peanut Soup. It is made with peanut butter, and vegetables, with a base of sweet potato.)
Pro Tips and Suggestions to Make Your Homemade Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers as Tasty as Mine!
Read through the tips and suggestions section for some important information.
- I think about this recipe in 3’s
- The sauteed veggies. Start this step first and then set aside with finished. You can work on the other parts of the recipe while the vegetables are sauteing.
- I do saute my veggies in a little oil. It softens the veggies and they are not soggy.
- BUT I have found though that if I saute in veggie broth, they still soften just fine – but I don’t have the added oil, calories, and fat! They can be a little soggy though.
- If you choose to saute in broth instead of oil, line the pan with broth and watch carefully so that it doesn’t dry up and your pan (and veggies burn). Add a little extra broth if necessary.
- You also need to make sure that if you have extra broth left in the pan after your vegetables soften, you drain it off so that your burger is not too wet and mushy.
- The black bean/sweet potato mixture. Drain the beans and rinse well. Mash the sweet potatoes together with the beans. You will have some beans that are left whole. This is desirable.
- The last step is to add in the oats. You might have to mix with your hand at the end.
- Braggs Amino Acids are a very important ingredient that adds an umami (meaty/savory) flavor. You can probably find this in most stores in the health/alternative foods section or on Amazon (affiliate link).
- Form the burgers by hand. Six burgers will fit on a large cookie sheet. Put on parchment paper or on (affiliate link) a silicone mat.
- Cook for 30 minutes and then take out of the oven, turn the burgers and put back in to cook for another 30 minutes. These black bean burgers will be delicate! Pro tip: use a very small spatula or pancake turner along with your other hand to gently turn.
Serving Suggestions for your homemade sweet potato burger:
- You can be traditional and serve your burger on a bun with all the toppings.
- Save yourself the carbs and make a lettuce wrap for your burger.
- Or put it on a plate next to a pasta salad like my Easy Vegan Italian Pasta Salad or Red Wine Vinegar Coleslaw with Peanuts and drizzle a little reduced balsamic on top of the burger.
- These freeze well. Put a piece of wax paper between each burger or they will stick together when frozen.
The Recipe for Homemade Vegan Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers:
Vegan Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers – Better Than Homemade
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon avocado oil (or broth – see notes)
- 1 medium shallot diced (can sub red onion)
- 2/3 cup red bell pepper diced
- 1 Tablespoon garlic minced
- 1/4 cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos
- 2 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 15 ounce cans black beans drained and rinsed
- 2/3 cup cooked sweet potato
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 Tablespoons chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 Tablespoons ground flax meal
- 1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
- 3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°
- Cook/microwave sweet potato if not already cooked.
- Chop all vegetables.
- In a large saute pan, pour in 1 Tablespoon light oil such as avocado oil. On medium heat, saute onions, bells peppers, and garlic until softened – about 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in tomato paste and liquid aminos. Set aside.
- While the vegetables are sauteing, drain, rinse and mash black beans along with the sweet potato. Leave some beans whole.
- Mix together seasonings: ground cumin, chili powder, garlic and onion powders, smoked paprika, salt and pepper, along with the ground flax meal and the garbanzo bean powder. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the sauteed vegetable mixture, black bean/sweet potato mixture, and seasonings mixture.
- When everything is mix well, add in the oats, 1/4 cup at a time. Mix well. I usually have to start mixing the last 1/4 cup by hand.
- With your hands, form six even patties and carefully place on cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper. If they break, mold back together before putting in the oven.
- Cook at 325° for 30 minutes. Take out of the oven and carefully turn. Put back in and continue cooking for another 30 minutes.
- These black bean burgers will be delicate. Handle with care.
These were so good and easy to make. I replaced the garbanzo flour for cassava flour and it worked great.
I’m so glad you liked it and thanks for the great idea to replace the garbanzo flour. I know it can be tricky to find.