Green Chile Quinoa Burgers
Green chiles and quinoa mingle with some pinto beans to make a healthier “burger.” These meatless Green Chile Quinoa Burgers are moist, delicious, and sure to be a hit with your family.
I am starting #WeekdaySupper off this week! Monday is always a meat free meal for us, so I’ve made some delicious Green Chile Quinoa Burgers for my contribution to #WeekdaySupper this week. Make you follow #WeekdaySupper on Twitter and see what others have offered up for this week’s menu! Or scroll down to the bottom and go directly to their blogs for their dishes this week.
I have recently been obsessed with non-meat patties. Since S and I have started doing a meatless meal one night a week, the quintessential hamburger is eluding me. I can make sandwiches to my heart’s content, but a veggie burger is something that I need to work on. Hence these Green Chile Quinoa Burger.
I have only had one veggie burger in my time. It was a mushroom lentil burger. It was dry and tasteless. I didn’t like it and it left me worried. Was this what veggie based burgers are SUPPOSED to taste like? Are they all supposed to be dry and paste-y?
Okay, does that look like it’s going to be dry and paste-y? I don’t think so. Does it look like it’s going to be
tasty and delicious?
Oh yeah, baby!
In the two patties/burgers that I’ve made, I’ve tried to keep them loose and not over process the ingredients. Similar to how you’d make a meat based burger. If you over mix a meat burger, it’s going to be dry and pasty. You want to carefully mix in the ingredients to ensure that it’s not only mixed well, but not over mixed so it’s dense and dry.
Why a meatless “burger” you ask? Well, I read something recently. Let me see if I can find it…
Here it is! Analysis of observed diets shows a positive relationship between dietary GHG emissions and the amount of animal-based products in a standard 2,000 kcal diet. Essentially, even low meat eaters eat enough animal based products to produce 50% more green house gas (GHG) emissions than vegetarians and 60% more than vegans. I read that was like, “Wow.” Now, I’m not going vegan or even vegetarian. BUT I am trying to cut down on the amount of protein in our diets and going meatless one night a week is a start.
The health factor should be enough to convince anyone, but the carbon footprint factor should be MORE than enough to convince EVERYONE. So, that’s my answer to “Why a meatless burger?”
Anyway…
Not to mention the taste factor. Just look at those delicious ingredients in that patty! The red quinoa, the green chiles, the cheese, and spices. YUM! Yup. I’m drooling just looking at them on the screen. I can’t WAIT to make these again!
And look! I even took them for lunch the next day and was THOROUGHLY exited to have them for lunch. Honestly. They were THAT GOOD!
See? Don’t I have such stylish containers for my lunch? *snort*
They traveled well. I smushed my bun a bit, but it tasted JUST fine. I even brought some condiments and toppings in separate baggies so I could eat it proper. I didn’t, however, have the fries with it like I did for dinner. My guilty pleasure; microwave fries. They’re SO good! And made for the perfect “burger” experience with this meal.
Green Chile Quinoa Burgers
Green chiles and quinoa mingle with some pinto beans to make a healthier "burger." These meatless Green Chile Quinoa Burgers are moist, delicious, and sure to be a hit with your family.
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked, red quinoa
- 14 ounces pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- 4 ounces chopped green chiles
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
- 1/2 cup fat free cheddar cheese
- 6 hamburger buns
- 6 tomato slices
- 6 red onion slices
- 6 lettuce leaves
- 6 slices Colby jack or pepper jack cheese
Instructions
- Place the beans and the egg whites in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Place in a large mixing bowl and add next 8 ingredients (quinoa through cheese) and stir well to combine.
- Divide the mixture evenly into 6 portions and gently form into patties.
- Heat a large skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Cook 5 to 7 minutes on each side or until the mixture is cooked through. Turn one more time and place the cheese slices on top to allow to melt slightly.
- Place one patty on top of each of 6 buns. Top with tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and condiments of choice and serve.
PEP Counts – Yields 6 Burgers:
Milk | Veg | Fruit | Bread | Meat | Fat |
0 | .5 | 0 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 1 |
Thanks for the party Ladies!! Just wondering, what time/day do you open it at?
Julie@ Sweet and Spicy Monkey
That linky is running all month, Julie. Hopefully, it will pick up the more I advertise it.
You got my southern heart and tummy with having pinto beans in these quinoa burgers. Great recipe.
Thanks, Renee. They were the BEST quinoa burgers yet. OH SO tasty! I finally got them to be nice and thick on this recipe. Makes for a more tasty burger.
I am a big huge fan of quinoa and I've never had it in a burger form. The green chiles sound like a great addition since I love those too! I am pinning this for later. I really like meatless meals, although there are two people in my house that do not. Too bad. They can give this a try too. Thank you for kicking off this weeks #WeekdaySupper and making these for us!
This is actually the second burger I've made with quinoa, I think. It's such a delicious protein replacement and SO YUMMY!
That looks amazing and great post too!! I love learning how to use quinoa in different ways!!
Thanks, Tara! I love using that versatile grain! It's so tasty!!