Making Burgers: Chipotle Black Bean Burgers

This week I thought I'd focus on making burgers for once a month cooking.  Though many people think that OAMC is all about casseroles and soups, it really isn't!  Burgers reheat well directly from frozen, and they are a great way to incorporate seafood, which is usually tricky to reheat.  Alternatively, there are some great vegetarian burger recipes out there, so you can also go healthy if you like.  In fact, the burger recipe I did for this post is a vegetarian chipotle black bean burger with corn.  Original recipe was found at Bev Cooks.  The ingredients for four burgers are listed below, so you can shop a little by ingredient before clicking the link to view the directions:

Ingredients for 4 burgers:

• 1 (14.5 oz) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 Tbs. minced white onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup smoked chopped almonds
• 1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 4 Tbs. jarred chipotle spread, divided
• 1 egg

Toppings:

• 4 sliced pepper jack cheese
• 4 onion buns, split and lightly toasted
• mixed greens
• sliced avocado
• coarse salt, to taste
• lime wedges, for serving

This recipe actually instructs you to bake the burgers,  but I froze them using my typical method, which involves a sort of flash freezing method that will allow pan reheating later.  First, you'll want to spray some cookie or baking sheets with canola oil.  This will make it easier to get the burgers off later.  You'll also want an ice cream scooper (or alternatively, a measuring cup) to create equal size burgers.  I prefer the ice cream scooper as the goopier burgers tend to stick in the measuring cups.

Set up for freezing burgers:  cookie sheet, spray oil, and an ice cream scoop.

After you've sprayed your cookie sheet, you'll want to scoop your burger mixture with the ice cream scooper.  I use a heavily heaped scoop for appropriate size burgers the way I like them, but you can play around.  Another option is to use your kitchen scale to weigh out 1/4 lb. or 1/2 lb. patties.

Heaping scoop for a nicely-sized burger patty.

Keep scooping patties, leaving room to smush out and form the patties when you're out of the mixture.

Scoops of burger mixture, leaving room to form the patties.

Formed patties.

Then you simply place the burgers in the freezer for several hours until frozen solid.  They should come right off the cookie sheet, but if not, a rubber spatula should help to loosen them.  Then you can place the burgers in a gallon zip lock or other container. The bonus to freezing this way is that the burgers do not stick together in the zip lock bag, since they were frozen individually.  Another bonus to freezing burgers this way is that more fragile burgers tend to hold up better (those with lots of veggies, low amounts of binders like egg or bread crumbs).

Tips:  

• When planning for once a month cooking, do the burgers early on in your recipes, as it takes up room in the freezer to freeze them using this method.  
• Don't forget to consider meatball recipes for tasty burgers (yep, you heard me correctly).  You'll have to play with the portion size a bit with a meatball recipe, but if it is meant to hold together for a meatball, it should do well as a burger.
• If the burger recipe includes a tasty mayo or aioli, consider freezing it in ice cube trays for single serving portions.
• Rewarm the frozen patty in a pan over low heat with some cooking oil.  You're still trying to brown the patty, but go slow so the frozen center will cook.  Alternatively, you can speed up the cooking a bit by steaming, like the pros do.  Once your pan is hot and the burger is in, pour 1/4 cup of water in the pan and cover.

Tried and True Recipes Using this Freezer Method: 

• Chipotle Black Bean Burgers (veggie)
• Hoisin Salmon Burgers with Spicy Ginger Mayo
• Cabernet Burgers
• Crab and Shrimp Cakes with Lemon Aioli
• Thai Sesame Patties
• Quinoa Masala Burgers (veggie)
• Bacon Chickpea Burgers