Smoky Sweet Potato Lentil Burgers

I’m a big fan of veggie burgers. Would you have EVER thought?

My all time favorite is the Northstar burger, no question. God only knows how they master that perfectly smoky beet, brown rice and black bean heaven in a meatless burger. It’s nothing short of magical.

I’m not always in the mood to give an arm and a leg and $12.50 for that burger… unless it’s Earth Day AND after 3:00pm in which the burgers are free and the never-ending line makes you wonder if it’s worth it.

On normal days, I make one of my favorite burgs: double bean burgers or Greek veggie burgers. I also love the homemade veggie burgers at Whole World. Amy’s frozen ones aren’t bad in a pinch either.  I avoid most frozen veggie burgers because they usually have 20 gazillion ingredients with highly processed soy protein isolate as one of the top few ingredients.

Veggie burgers aren’t  super hard to make. The formula is typically a can of beans, some veggies, 1/2 cup flour or breadcrumbs, an egg or flax-seed to bind it and some spices.  I find that refrigerating the mixture for a while prior to cooking helps them to stay together better once cooked.

One of the happier moments in my life when I was at Heinen’s in Cleveland and stumbled upon canned organic lentils.  Lentils are kind of a pain to cook because they take 30 minutes.  Pre-cooked lentils are definitely the way to go for these burgers.  Trader Joe’s sells pre-cooked ones as well. You could also just whip up a big batch of lentils and have them throughout the week to throw on salads, in soups or mashed on toast with avocado, egg and hot sauce. Uh, yum.

I’m mildy obsessed with putting smoked paprika in everything I make. I highly advise that you invest in some.  The natural smoky flavor it lends to savory dishes is amazing.  I saw that they’re now carrying it at Trader Joe’s!

These burgers are a quick one-bowl deal and they make fabulous leftovers.

-makes 4 burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups cooked lentils (one can, drained)
• ¼ to 1/3 cup cooked sweet potato flesh (one small sweet potato, or even pumpkin/squash)
• ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup chopped greens
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup corn (I used TJ’s frozen roasted corn)
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp chili powder
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Poke sweet potato with a fork a few times.  Wrap loosely in a paper towel and microwave for 4 minutes, or until soft.  Set aside to cool.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mashing lentils with a fork as you stir.
3. Form mixture into 4 patties.
4. Refrigerate patties for at least 30 minutes (I kept mine in the fridge overnight).
5. Cook over medium heat in a bit of olive oil until browned on both sides.

Enjoy one on a bed of greens or on a whole wheat bun with loads of mustard.

Tonight’s post-dinner snackage included egg whites with hot sauce, mini Triscuits with kalamata olive hummus (recipe coming soon) and granola with soymilk.

Snack much?  Eeeee!