Chocolate Bean Burgers To Go: With Hot Chilli Sauce

 A versatile and tasty veggie burger with a good grating of chocolate to give extra richness and flavour. Although quick and cheap to make, these chocolate bean burgers contain egg so are not suitable for vegans.

To call these vegetarian patties, chocolate bean burgers, is perhaps a bit of a misnomer. Leftover burgers would be a more apt name. It was hot, I wanted to eat something with salad and there were a few things in the fridge that needed using up. I’ve never added chocolate to burgers before, but if it works in veggie chilli and in these falafels, I reasoned, why not in burgers?

Garlic Scapes

One of the things that needed using up was our last remaining bunch of garlic scapes. In case you’re wondering, scapes are the unopened flowering tops of garlic. If you grow your own, it’s best to pick these off the growing plants to allow energy to concentrate in the bulb rather than the flower.

Good news for us, as it means we have garlic to eat before it’s actually time to harvest the crop. They taste mild and fresh and I’ve been slicing them up and cooking them in any number of dishes. Spring onions, wild garlic or leeks would all make good substitutes in these chocolate bean burgers.

Chocolate Bean Burgers

Burgers are a lot easier to make than you might think. These are versatile and tasty veggie burgers with a little chocolate for added richness and flavour. As well as the garlic scapes, I also had a sweet yellow pepper that needed using up. These both went into the chocolate bean burger mix along with an egg and a few other ingredients.

Turns out, chocolate works really well as a bean burger ingredients. It adds additional depth and also colour.

The chocolate bean burgers are delicious served with chilli sauce and a load of veg. This simple griddled asparagus is a perfect accompaniment as is this corn salad with feta. Take a look at the chilli sauce review below or have a go at making my “best chilli sauce ever“.

Instead of serving it with chilli sauce, try a drizzle of my easy blue cheese sauce instead. It works a treat.

Alternatively serve in a burger bun with the usual accompaniments.

Chilli Sauce

Both CT and I like a bit of chilli with our burgers. Normally I’d add some to the mix. However, I’d been sent three mini trial pots of Rugeroni’s chilli relishes to try out and I reasoned that they’d be just the right thing to accompany the burgers. The relishes are made to an ancient and secret family recipe that has travelled from Italy to Argentina and now to England. All contain chilli, garlic, tomato, olive oil and various herbs including oregano.

With their beautiful dark red colour, they are visually very pleasing. The rich umami scent emanating from the newly opened jars made me feel incredibly hungry. As the name relish implies, these are not smooth sauces, but have a slightly chunky texture and include the chilli seeds. All of them are fresh tasting, very lively on the palate and a great hit with both of us.

Original Chilli & Garlic is hot, but not enough to blast you away. However, caution is advised. I’m a bit of a chilli head after all. Mild Pepper Chilli & Garlic feels quite tame in contrast, but the herby flavours come through more readily. Lime Chilli & Garlic was perhaps my favourite as it had a limey zing to it which I’m quite partial to.

Perfect for the BBQ season, I can confirm all three of them go very nicely with a burger. They’re also rather good with a cheese platter, in a sandwich and with pretty much any egg dish you care to mention. I’m not sure if the mini jars I received can be bought. But the full size ones are 200g and are stocked in various farm shops, delis and cafes in Cornwall and beyond. You can also purchase them online.

Smoked Chilli

Whilst we’re on the subject of chilli, I’ve been sampling some chilli products from Gran Luchito. They use rare smoked Mexican chillies and the smoking gives quite a different dimension to one of my favourite spices. The smell is rather addictive and the flavour is complex and lingers long on the palate.

I’ve completely fallen in love with the mayonnaise (180g). I was pleased to note it was made with free range eggs. And wow, it makes a mean cheddar and salad sandwich.

The smoked chilli honey (250g) is almost indescribable, but so, so good. It’s smokey and sweet and hot and completely confuses the senses. I used it in these Smoked Chilli Energy Bars and was particularly pleased with the result.

The smoked chilli paste (110g), I am using in all sorts of ways. It is hot and flavourful so a little goes a very long way. This is very pleasing as I don’t want to run out. It worked delightfully in this Three Allium Smoked Chilli Tart and now I’ve finished the mayonnaise, I add a bit of the paste to normal mayonnaise and enjoy it all over again.

Not only am I impressed with all three of these products, but I was won over by the charm of the gift box the products came in. Tied up with string and a smoked chilli on top, I really wished to savour the moment. But I also wanting to dive straight in. Tough decision.

Other Bean Recipes You Might Like

• Aduki bean dip (vegan)
• Black bean & bulgur wheat salad with feta
• Bunny chow – bean curry in a bread bowl (vegan)
• Corn spinach polenta with refried beans & Mexican salsa (vegan)
• Egyptian falafel (vegan)
• Mexican bean soup

Keep in Touch

If you’d like more savoury chocolate recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.

Choclette x

Chocolate Bean Burgers. PIN IT.

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5 from 2 votes

Chocolate Bean Burgers

A versatile and tasty veggie burger with a good grating of chocolate to give extra richness and flavour. Quick and cheap to make, but contains egg, so not suitable for vegans.

Cook ModeToggle to keep screen awake

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Main Course, Supper

Cuisine: British

Keyword: bean burger, chocolate, kidney beans, quick, savoury, veggie burger

Servings: 4 burgers

Calories: 168kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 1 handful garlic scapes chopped (or use spring onions, leeks or wild garlic)
• 1 large sweet pepper seeded and finely chopped (I used a yellow bell pepper)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 400 g tinned red kidney beans washed & drained
• 10 g dark chocolate grated (I used 100%)
• 1 small egg
• 1 dash soy sauce (I used shoyu)
• 1 handful fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp flour plus extra for shaping (I used wholemeal spelt)

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

• Fry the scapes and pepper gently in 1 tbsp of oil for a few minutes until soft.
• Add the cumin seeds and fry for another couple of minutes.
• Mash the beans up in a bowl using a potato masher.
• Add the remaining ingredients and stir. If possible leave in the fridge to firm up for half an hour.
• Divide the mixture into four. Flour your hands and shape into flat (ish) rounds.
• Fry the burgers in the remaining tbsp of oil, turning them after a few minutes.

Notes

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on serving size and exact ingredients used.

Nutrition Estimate

Calories: 168kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 355mg | Potassium: 444mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 2191IU | Vitamin C: 58mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 3mg

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.

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I am entering the burgers into Cooking with Herbs with Karen at Lavender and Lovage. I used a large bunch of parsley and whilst the scapes may not strictly be herbs, I reckon they count as such. It’s being hosted this month over at Lancashire Food.

Cumin is the spice of the month, so I’m submitting this to The Spice Trail over at Bangers & Mash.

Barbecues, Picnics and Outdoor Eating is the theme for this month’s Family Foodies which is hosted by Lou of Eat Your Veg and Vanesther of Bangers & Mash. These veggie burgers would of course make excellent BBQ fare for the vegetarian in your life.

June is the season for scapes, so I am entering the burgers into Simple and in Season with Ren Behan.

I made these chocolate bean burgers with home grown garlic I also used a tin of budget kidney beans and a pepper which would have gone over if I didn’t use it right then. So I’m sending them off to Credit Crunch Munch. Linzi over at Lancashire Food is hosting this month.

Bean burgers don’t need to have any Extra Veg in them, but it’s always good to get some in if you can and these ones had a yellow pepper included so they are making their way to Utterly Scrummy Food for Families and Fuss Free Flavours.

As the Scapes came from our plot, you can’t shop much more local than that. The egg is also very local and free range too of course. So these are also going to Shop Local over at Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary.