I am not normally a recipe blogger. This is a special recipe.

These are known as “Lisa’s BBBs,” and I did get this recipe via my friend Lisa, but I don’t know if she invented it or just popularized it. Regardless, it’s gone viral in my friend circles and I have shared this recipe quite a few times. Despite a fairly generous amount of fermented chili gochujang, the burgers are very mild, and the gochujang adds important flavor so I don’t recommend reducing it.

The only modification I made to Lisa’s recipe was using flax eggs instead of chicken eggs as a binder, and using Rice Chex in place of wheat panko breadcrumbs. I tested both substitutions and it works great and keeps the recipe vegan and gluten free.

I love to scale this up by at least 4x for parties – you will probably need to divide everything into two big bowls to mash all the ingredients together. This recipe can feed (and please) a crowd and has been a fixture among my friends for many years. I’m giving you the “party version” alongside the regular version. There are no subtleties here – this recipe is quick, easy to make, and you can farm out steps to helpful partygoers.

Each patty probably has roughly 10-15g protein, at least 50g carbs and less than 5g fat.

Note: the Rice Chex is used to make gluten-free panko bread crumbs. You can crush it in a plastic bag with a rolling pin, or use a food processor; don’t crush it all the way to dust but instead try to leave it crumbly.

Ingredients (5-6 patties; feeds 3-4):

  • 1 tbsp ground flaxseed plus 3 tbsp water (as egg substitute; can use 1 egg instead if you like)
  • 2 cans black beans, drained
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 60g (3/4 cup) crushed Rice Chex
  • 2 tbsp gochujang (Korean chili pepper paste; check that it’s gluten free if relevant)
  • 2 tbsp wheat flour
  • 1 tsp table salt
  • 1 tbsp sugar

4x Scaled-Up Party Version (20-24 patties):

  • 1/4 cup ground flaxseed plus 3/4 cup water
  • 8 cans black beans, drained
  • 4 onions, diced
  • 4 red bell peppers, diced
  • 240g (3 cups) crushed Rice Chex
  • 1/2 cup gochujang (check that it’s gluten free if relevant)
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 4 tsp table salt
  • 1/4 cup sugar

Topping Ideas

  • burger buns
  • ketchup, mustard, mayo
  • hummus
  • avocados, tomatoes, lettuce
  • cheddar cheese or vegan cheese or vegan butter
  • bacon

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 375F
  2. Prepare flax egg substitute by combining the ground flaxseed with the water, and let stand 15m until gelatinous. (For 4x version, split in two small bowls. If you are using real eggs, you can skip this step.)
  3. Line sheet pan(s) with parchment, and spread beans out onto the lined pans. Bake for 15-20m or until the beans have split open and lost most of their moisture. Transfer baked beans to a large bowl (two bowls if you are making 4x) and mash them.
  4. While beans are baking, add some oil to a large pan and sauté diced onions and peppers over medium high heat until soft and starting to brown. Transfer to the bowl(s) with the mashed beans. (For 4x, you may have to cook the veg in two batches.)
  5. Don’t turn off the oven yet if you want toasted buns: instead, open the buns and place them soft side up on the sheet pans. Put cheese or butter on one side of each bun if desired. Toast the buns for 10 minutes or until they start to brown.
  6. Add remaining ingredients to the large bowls (divided for the 4x), and combine thoroughly with your hands. Form into patties. You can freeze uncooked patties at this point if you want!
  7. Sauté patties over medium heat with oil until they are noticeably browned and heated through, around 6 minutes (use more time over lower heat if frozen).
  8. Assemble burgers and serve! The cooked patties also keep pretty well.