Gluten Free Recipe: Kickin' Kidney Bean Burger

"Where did I put that damn beano?" my husband wondered, as he returned to the kitchen to assemble his second Kickin' Kidney Bean Burger. Actually, it's not beano - it's the gluten free version of it, but the name escapes me for the moment.

Two hours later, dishes done, leftovers in the frig. I wish he'd found the damn beano or whatever the heck it's called:).

For the last few months, I've been playing around with this recipe from Vegan Mouse, one of my favorite vegan bloggers. The nice thing about many of her recipes, including this one, is that it is practically gluten free to begin with. I had to use gluten free flour in place of wheat flour and gluten free breadcrumbs instead of whole grain bread crumbs and wheat free tamari instead of soy sauce. I also added some other ingredients to her basic recipe. The result was a vegetarian burger that was soft on the inside and crisp on the outside.

Last month, I made and froze rolls from one of my favorite Bob's Red Mill gluten free bread mixes called Hearty Whole Grain. Forty-five seconds in the micro and voila, we had rolls for our Kickin' Kidney Bean Burgers.

The orange stuff spilling out from the front of the burger is homemade Thousand Island Dressing. While this kind of dressing is usually made with regular mayonnaise, I used vegan mayonnaise and soy yogurt as the base.

I think this recipe would easily lend itself to a variety of substitutions. You could use white kidney beans or black peans or pinto beans instead of kidney beans, add other grated veggies like zucchini or yellow squash, use red onion instead of scallions. And you could probably change up the seasonings - for example, instead of the bbq slant with liquid smoke and chili powder, you could go with cumin, curry powder and cilantro instead of parsley. Go wild!

Kickin' Kidney Bean Burgers

1 14 oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
8 oz. extra firm tofu, squeezed to remove excess water, and crumbled
1 carrot, grated
1 celery stalk, diced
3 scallions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup gluten free breadcrumbs
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 tbsp gluten free flour (I used chickpea flour)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp wheat free tamari
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika (optional)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mash the beans in a bowl, leaving some of them whole. Add the crumbled tofu and blend. Add the rest of the ingredients and use your hand to mash everything together. Avoid mashing too thoroughly as it's nice to have some of the beans remain whole for textural purposes. If possible, chill the mixture for 30 minutes and then form the mixture into burger patties. I skipped the chilling step and was able to make patties without a problem.

Place the burger patties on an oiled baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, turning them over halfway through the baking. This will allow them to brown and crisp on both sides.

Thousand Island Dressing

1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp vegan mayonnaise
2 tbsp plain soy yogurt
1 tbsp dill relish
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp celery seed (optional)
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
few drops tabasco sauce
1 tsp agave syrup

Combine in a bowl and whisk well. Slather generously over your Kickin' Kidney Bean Burger!

Click here for printable recipe
Next time I'll remember the potato chips but meanwhile, these vegetarian burgers were pretty darn good on their own! BTW, this post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.