One of my favorite techniques for stretching my food budget is substituting half of the meat in my meals with beans. So, when I got an email from one of my readers, Lori, with a link to this Black Bean Turkey Burgers recipe on Allrecipes.com, I had to go check it out. It looked super simple and tasty, but I wanted to make my own version. I took a cue from Lori, who said she liked to add her own spices, like cumin and sriracha, and decided to throw a southwest spin on the black bean and turkey combo.
What’s in Black Bean Turkey Burgers?
Well, besides ground turkey and black beans (obviously) I used a simple mix of chili powder, cumin, garlic, and cayenne to flavor the beans and meat, then added sliced green onion for some color, texture, and flavor. That’s it! That’s all you need to make an insanely delicious black bean turkey burger.
How to Serve the Mini Burgers
You can eat these Mini Black Bean Turkey Burgers on a bun, but I opted for pita bread because they tend to be less expensive where I live. I added a few slices of tomato and made a simple avocado-sour cream sauce because avocado were on sale. The sauce was just for fun, really, so you can skip it if needed, or even just do sliced avocado if you’re short on time.
Can I Make Full-Sized Burgers?
I made these burgers mini-sized because A) they cook faster and B) two small patties will fit in my pita better than one large patty. Feel free to make regular sized patties if you want, just know that they’ll like need to cook a little longer.
Want Even *More* Flavor?
If you want to be extra fancy, you can mix some shredded pepper jack into the meat and bean mixture for little pops of cheesy goodness in your burgers. HELLO YUM. I love cheese in my burgers.
Mini Black Bean Turkey Burgers
Servings 5 (two patties each)Ingredients
BURGERS
- 1 15oz. can black beans* ($0.60)
- 3 green onions ($0.38)
- 1/2 Tbsp chili powder** ($0.15)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.03)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.04)
- 19 oz. lean ground turkey ($4.59)
AVOCADO SAUCE (optional)
- 1 avocado ($1.00)
- 1/2 lime ($0.20)
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/2 cup sour cream ($0.75)
- 1/2 tsp sugar ($0.01)
BURGER TOPPINGS
- 5 pita halves ($0.83)
- 2 Roma tomatoes, sliced ($1.12)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Drain and rinse the black beans. Place the black beans in a large bowl and mash them slightly with your hands or a potato masher. Slice the green onions and add them to the bowl along with the chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and salt. Stir until the beans are evenly seasoned.
- Add the ground turkey to the seasoned black beans. Mix well using your hands. Form 10 small patties (about 2-2.5 inches diameter, 1/2 inch thick). Place the patties on a roasting pan or a baking sheet covered with foil and wire cooling racks.
- Bake the patties in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until browned on the outside and no longer pink in the center. Alternatively, you can cook the patties in a skillet, on a grill, or using an indoor countertop grill.
- While the patties are baking, prepare the avocado sauce. Add the avocado (diced), juice from half a lime (about 2 Tbsp), garlic powder, salt, sugar, sour cream, and 2-4 Tbsp of water to a blender. Blend the ingredients together, adding the water slowly until a smooth, thick sauce forms.
- Smear some of the sauce inside each pita half, add a couple tomato slices, and two of the turkey patties.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Love turkey burgers? Try my Greek Turkey Burgers or Green Chile Turkey Burgers!
How to Make Black Bean Turkey Burgers – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Rinse and drain one 15oz. can of black beans. Place them in a large bowl and use your hands or a potato masher to slightly mash the beans.
To the mashed beans add: 3 sliced green onions, 1/2 Tbsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, and 1/2 tsp salt.
Mix the ingredients the bowl until the beans are well seasoned. If you’re using low sodium canned beans, or beans you’ve cooked yourself without salt, you may want an extra 1/4 tsp salt. If you taste this mixture now, it may be very strong or salty, but remember these seasoning have to spread throughout the turkey as well and will end up much more mild.
I’m not sure why ground turkey always comes in 19oz. packages, but they do (here in the U.S. anyway). If your packages aren’t 19oz, you can just use about 1.5 lbs.
Add the ground turkey to the bowl and mix with your hands until everything is evenly distributed.
Form the mixture into about 10 small patties, 2.5 inches in diameter and about 1/2 inch thick. There are several ways you can cook these patties, including a skillet, a grill, or something like a George Foreman Grill. I chose to bake them because Lori said she likes this method best and because they can just cook all at one time without much babysitting. I made a make-shift roasting pan by covering a baking sheet with foil (for easy cleanup) and placing two wire racks on top. This allows the hot air to circulate under the burgers and for the fat to drip away.
Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. After baking they should be browned and no longer pink in the center. You may need to sacrifice one patty and cut it in half to be sure. Remember, if you make a different sized patty, the baking time will vary.
While the patties are baking, you can make the avocado sauce. Add 1 diced avocado, the juice from half a lime (about 2 Tbsp), 1/8 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, and 1/2 cup sour cream to a blender. Blend the ingredients together, adding water slowly (about 4 Tbsp), until you have a thick, smooth sauce.
To make the “burgers”, spread some of the avocado sauce inside half a pita, add a few slices of tomato, and two of the mini black bean turkey burgers.
Easy, delicious, and super healthy! Seriously, these burgers come together in just a few minutes and bake quickly, so this is a great weeknight meal option. :D
I had these for lunch every day last week and still looked forward to them on Friday. And, 2 co-workers complimented my lunch. Since I’m looking to increase my protein consumption, these were perfect…inexpensive, delicious, and packed with protein.
This recipe was amazing! I had coworkers in the break lounge lurking wondering what I was having. Will surely put this in my regular recipe rotation. Thank you!
Awesome flavour. I had some leftover tortillas so I formed the burgers into rectangular shapes and used 2 per wrap. I had a package of southwest dressing which I mixed with a bit of sour cream, chili and cumin. Very tasty
Yay! I’m so glad you tried (and liked) my recipe suggestion! I like the idea of using pitas; buns ARE weirdly expensive. For the commenter who suggested using more seasoning, I make mine with smoked paprika, sriracha, cumin, and cayenne, and I love that combination. I also use shredded cheese, bread crumbs, and egg, but it looks like they might not be totally necessary as binders–though the cheese is pretty delicious. :c)
I know I would have loved some shredded pepper jack in there, but in all honesty, I forgot about it when I was at the store! Then after I realized, I figured it might have made them a little too costly anyway. Next time, though, I WILL add some cheese! <3 cheese
I’ve been using the recipes from your website for about a month, and usually I’m just a lurker. But these burgers turned out so great!! I didn’t make avocado sauce, but later I surely will. Thank you so much for giving us all foodspiration on a budget!
Usually I love everything you make, always so much flavor. But I thought these were a little bland, the sauce was great but the burger didn’t have much flavor. Maybe I will add a little more spice and try it again.
These look great and would be perfect for work lunches. I like how easy it would be to alter the flavorings in this recipe and make the burgers have a whole different flavor. I want to try Asian spices and I think it would also be really good with white beans, craisins, sage, etc. for a “Thanksgiving” flavor,
Just had these for dinner. Added an egg to the mix as I was having a hard time mixing in the turkey.
The avocado sauce is magnificent.
Thank you Beth!
These look amazing! I especially love the idea of using 1/2 a pita pocket. Thanks for sharing.
These looks packed. I find this recipe similar to falafel burgers I make. And may I say this is a win dish with turkey… And itt’s cheap to make too!
Love this! Sometimes I cut meat with zucchini or tofu, but I’ve never done beans. I’m thinking chickpeas and turkey for a falafel-meatball hybrid?
Oooh, that is SUCH a good idea! I might have to try it myself. :)
I made these tonight for dinner. I assumed you meant 1/8 tsp, rather than 18 tsp, of cayenne. I also upped the flavor/spices by using Cuban style black beans. These were great, and very quick.
One note – I cooked them on my outdoor grill. The combination of beans and meat is very crumbly, especially for the grill. I will probably bake them as you suggested next time, although I hate having the oven on in the summer!
Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
Thanks for catching that typo!
These look amazing, but with 18tsp. of cayenne pepper I’d be breathing fire! :D Did you mean 1/8tsp. by any chance?
I did, sorry about that! Thanks for letting me know! :D
Mmmmm. You’re speaking my language, Beth. I’m a HUGE fan of black beans and turkey burgers, so this recipe is right up my alley!! :-)
This looks yummy! Did you meant to write 18 tsp of cayenne? Or just 1tsp
I meant 1/8th. Sorry about that!!