Black Bean Burgers & Loaded Nachos
That lockdown fatigue was finally starting to hit me hard at the start of March this year (staved it off for nearly a full year!) and I decided I wanted to do a themed meal on the weekend with a main and a side. I’m very much a one-pot, one-plate meal girl but I wanted to try and mix it up for once. I decided on doing black bean burgers from scratch with some fresh and crunchy loaded nachos – it was such a fantastic meal!
Ingredients
The Burger
1 can of black beans (approx 230g drained)
1 finely chopped red bell pepper
1/2 finely chopped brown onion
1 medium egg
1 tbsp harissa paste or chipotle paste
3 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (+ extra as you go, so make sure you have 1 cup in total to hand)
2 brioche burger buns
Salt and pepper to taste
The Nachos
100-150g of plain salted tortilla chips
1 tub of ready made salsa or 1 cup of chopped plum tomatoes
50g cheese of your choice (I used a smokey cheddar)
100ml soured cream
Small can (roughly 200g) of sweetcorn (I used one that had peppers mixed in)
Method
Drain the black beans and put in the oven under 200ºC fan oven for 5-10 mins until dry to touch.
Pour a little olive oil into a pan and add in your finely chopped onion, harissa paste and finely chopped pepper. Stir fry until fully softened and the moisture is evaporated as much as possible.
Add in the black beans from the oven, sprinkle in some salt and combine well. Again, pan fry until the moisture is gone.
Add the cooked veg into a bowl or food processor. Crack in 1 large egg and your spices (the paprika, garlic powder and some 1tsp salt ) as well as 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs. Pulse gently so the mixture is still chunky and textured.
Shape the mixture into hand-sized patties and coat in more breadcrumbs. I was able to make about 4 from this recipe and froze two patties for later.
Pan fry the patties with a little olive – you can also bake these if you want healthier version!
You can use the other 1/2 of the onion as a burger topping – I caramelised mine in a pan with a bit of olive oil and salt. Or you can just save it for another dish.
Assemble your bun! My order was: onions, sliced smokey cheese, patty and sour cream.
The Nachos
The nachos are dead easy to make, just layer the tortillas, sour cream, sweetcorn and grated smokey cheese in an oven proof dish. Stick the dish in the oven for a few minute under the grill setting to melt the cheese. Dig in!
PS – you can find a reel I did of the process on my Instagram if you want to see a behind the scenes.
