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Pizza Quinoa Burgers

5 from 3 votes

Vegetarians and non-vegetarians love these hearty, filling, and completely vegan quinoa burgers!

Vegetarians and non-vegetarians love these hearty, filling, and completely vegan quinoa burgers!

You only need 6 ingredients:

Quinoa

Tomato paste

Pinto beans

Oregano

Salt & onion powder

(View The Video, Above)

The best part about these healthy, vegan quinoa burgers?

Unlike most homemade veggie burgers, you actually need NO food processor or blender to make them!

Simply combine the ingredients together in a bowl, mashing the beans with a fork and stirring everything until even. Then form into patties and fry or bake, just like you would with any other vegan or non-vegan burgers.

quinoa burger
quinoa burgers recipe

More Recipes With Quinoa:

Breakfast Quinoa Bowls

Black Bean Mexican Quinoa Casserole

How To Cook Quinoa

One of my favorite easy weeknight burger recipes that both vegetarians and non-vegetarians love!

The burgers were adapted from my Veggie Burger Recipe and these Quinoa Pizza Bites.

Pin it now to save for laterPin Recipe

Pizza Quinoa Burgers

Vegetarians and non vegetarians love these hearty, filling, and completely vegan quinoa burgers.
Prep Time 14 minutes
Cook Time 21 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Yield 4 – 5 burgers
5 from 3 votes

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup tomato paste
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 3/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1 cup cooked or canned pinto beans
  • burger buns and toppings of choice

Instructions

  • Combine the quinoa, water, and 1/4 tsp of the salt in a pot. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer 14 minutes or until fluffy. If you wish to bake instead of fry the burgers, preheat oven to 400 F. Mash beans fully, then stir together all ingredients, including the quinoa. Form patties, and either fry over medium heat in a little oil OR place on a greased baking sheet and bake on the center rack 15 minutes, flip carefully (smushing back together if they crack while flipping), and bake an additional 6 minutes. Let cool completely. They are delicate due to the lack of flour, but they do hold together nicely as long as you use a spatula to move the patties. Top with traditional burger toppings or pizza toppings (such as fresh basil and tomato sauce) as desired.
    View Nutrition Facts

Notes

Also be sure to make this Coconut Curry Recipe.
 

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Published on February 2, 2017

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65 Comments

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  1. Audrey Schlegel says

    Looks like this one could really wow the crowds! Seriously, I have friends and family who all are different types of special dieters, and I think this one would check all the boxes, so less work when inviting people other! (a small note: those who proudly say “I eat everything” and then refuse to taste any dish introduced as vegan are also a special kind of special dieters (and for me personnally, the only type of special dieters that would really get on my nerves).
    Just one question: would it also work with beans other than pinto ones? (black beans? chickpeas?). Because pinto beans are hard to come by where I live… (no, I am not living in the Antartic – just in Germany).

    • Julie Dove says

      It would definitely work with white beans. Garbanzo beans might be too dry, but be sure to report back if you try!

      • Amy says

        HI Julie,

        I am planning on making these tomorrow night and I was wondering if that is tomato sauce and mozzerrella cheese in the pic on the burger? Do you suggest that?

        Thank you Amy Elkins

      • Chrissy says

        I tried it with chickpeas (garbanzo) and it was AMAZING! Was not too dry at all!

        I did use a potato masher to mash the beans wich was way easier then a fork.

    • Cecilia says

      I just made them using chickpeas. Julie is right, chickpeas are a bit dry. They were difficult to mash because they’re kind of hard (maybe a food processor would help? I don’t have one so I don’t know). I mean, it worked. I made patties that were edible and tasted good, so you can use chickpeas. But the chickpeas are kind of dry and hard and I think it would be better with a softer white bean.

    • Kim Iverson says

      I’ve tried all sorts of beans when in a crunch (even mashed up a can {yes, with some of the liquid} of Busch’s Baked Beans) for burgers of this sort. Most are pretty mix and match. Thinking for us I’ll try black eyed peas with this recipe. If you end up with it being too liquidy, you can use bread crumbs, crackers (unsalted are best), biscuits, cornbread, or mashed potato (dried or premade) as a good thickener to dry out and still have flavor too. 🙂 This is what happens when one runs low on groceries and scrambles at the last minute for fixes, haha.

      Hope that helps.

    • Peggy says

      Can you find borlottis beans? It used to be hard for me to find pinto bean where I live (regional Australia), so I substituted borlotti beans. The borlottis have worked for me EVERYWHERE, in every recipe that calls for pintos. Even though I can now get pintos, I find I’ve come to prefer the slightly richer flavour of the borlottis.

  2. Amanda says

    I made these last night as patty melts with vegan cheese for my kids and they loved them! I added 3T of aquafaba and that helped bind them. Double the recipe if you have more than 3 people. It is a great last minute meal – comes together quickly and we had everything in the pantry. Next time I would try adding a bit of nutritional yeast.

  3. Cathy Wright says

    How much cooked quinoa? I usually make more than 1/4, and in fact have 3 cups of cooked Q sitting in the fridge at the moment.

    • Jake says

      1/4 cup of dry quinoa is equivalent to about 2/3 cup of cooked quinoa. You can make a lot of these burgers with that much quinoa!

  4. Valerie says

    Hi Katie! First off, this looks amazing! Your recipes always inspire me to cook healthier and I love how good they always turn out.

    Secondly, I just wanted to suggest that you remove the email subscription pop-up, or at the very least limit it to one pop-up per visit. It’s incredibly annoying, and it honestly makes me want to leave your website- instead of joyfully being able to look at all your recipes and click from page to page, I have to keep stopping, x-ing out of the pop up, and then do it all over again! It’s especially annoying because I AM subscribed to your email list and I get all of your recipes already! Anyways, just a thought.

    Seriously, you’re the best. <3 This is just a suggestion to make your website better than it already is.

    • Julie Dove says

      This is a glitch with the plugin – it should only be showing up once every month per ip address and absolutely never on multiple pages in one session. We are working on fixing this. Thank you for the feedback, and rest assured it is being looked into!

      Julie (media director)

  5. Dawn says

    These are seriously good! We made them last night and topped them with some Trader Joe’s almond mozzarella and both my husband and I loved them! Very filling, as you said, and just delicious! The recipe made three burgers for us.

  6. Ali says

    I made these tonight, and honestly, we were a bit disappointed. They were really bland despite adding basil and garlic powder to the recipe. After I made the first one, I added whole wheat bread crumbs, which greatly improved the consistency. If I make these again, I’m going to add a lot more flavor!

  7. Carm says

    Hi Katie. Love your blog. Just a question about the smart points.
    I calculated them amd got 4 SP using the total fat but you’re supposed to calculate using saturated fat. I did it again and got 3 SP. please help with this discrepancy. Thanks a lot.

  8. Orchid64 says

    I made this for dinner this evening and thought it was excellent. The only change I made was to add some freshly grated Parmesan to the mix and some garlic salt and freshly ground black pepper. I used homemade pinto beans. One piece of advice is to fry rather than bake because you can get a better contrast between the outside(crispy) and inside (soft). Also, these are delicate and lose structural integrity pretty easily so you need to support them with your spatula and topping with cheese is pretty much a must to hold it together (but it is also what makes it seem so much like pizza). I would recommend anyone making veggie (or homemade fish) burgers buy a burger press. It really helps form a compressed patty that stays together tightly. If you line the press with plastic wrap with enough extra to cover the top, put in your burger mix, fold over the plastic on top with enough slack on the sides for the burger, then press and wrap up, you have a nicely made, and ready to store burger. That’s what I did with these and they stayed together quite well and made 4 relatively flat burgers. I had them on sandwich thins with mozzarella. I will be making this again for certain! Thank you.

  9. Ashley Diana says

    Can’t get over how amazing these look! I also can’t express enough how useful your video tutorial is! I want to try these so bad and if all goes well i’ll be sharing it with loads of my friends and family! Love this, thanks! x

  10. Melanie says

    I think next time I’ll try to make these burgers without adding all of the water. Maybe just a few tablespoons. They were way too mushy as written. I added 1/2 of flaxmeal and that helped them firm up more. Like some others mentioned, a bit of nutritional yeast tastes fab with these too! If you are lucky enough to have leftovers, they tasted better on day 2 ?

  11. Tree says

    These are delicious! Even better the second day. I think the ratio for water: quinoa is a little high. Other than that, I was pleasantly surprised at how “together” they turned out, considering how wet they were going in. Bon appetit!! Thanks.

  12. Leeann says

    I LOVE this recipe. My only comment is that it made 3 decent sized burgers … no where near 4-5. Maybe I did something wrong. Anyone else find this?

    Again, great recipe and will make again and again.

    • Jason Sanford says

      I love the picture! They look a little wider than Katie’s in her post, so just make them a little less wide to get the same size. Hope that helps!

  13. Deanna says

    Hello
    Is it possible to omit the beans altogether? I can’t eat them, any kind….or is there an equivalent option to the beans thats would serve the same purpose?

  14. Amanda says

    I just made these tonight and they were a hit. Even my picky 4 year old ate them. They kind of reminded me of a vegetarian pizza sloppy joe. They weren’t super messy (the actual burger) but once you put the toppings and sauce on it became a little more tricky to eat – but worth it! I will definitely plan on making these again.

  15. Wendy says

    Awesome, easy recipe! I’ve made this with chickpeas that were cooked from dry in a pressure cooker. I overcooked them a bit because I was afraid of under-cooking. As a result they were not dry or difficult to mash and they worked great. Canned chickpeas would be another story. Have also made with canned cannellini beans and leftover pizza sauce which worked fine too. I bake mine on parchment paper brushed with a little oil or misted with cooking spray.

  16. MCDVOICE says

    Hi this recipe looks so delicious! I wonder what would happen if I replaced the quinoa with black beans, hmmm…..

  17. Lucia says

    Unfortunately, this to not remind me of pizza. I need something more to give it some flavor. I like the idea of such little ingredients because I do have them on hand I wonder what else can be added to step up the flavor also they didn’t bind together as good as I had hoped. I like your blog and I will continue to look through your recipes keep up the great work!

  18. Aayushi says

    Hi. I’m wondering what tomato paste to use ? I have tomato puree from the store and also fresh tomato sauce, but that is chunky. Any tips ?

    • Jason Sanford says

      I would google tomato paste to get a better sense of what you’re looking for, as unfortunately neither of those products are what tomato paste is. It should say “tomato paste” on the label.

  19. Shonna says

    Omg!!! Was looking for a veggie burger recipe that doesn’t have chunks in it when I came across this recipe. I was surprised to see that I had everything I needed at the house! They come together easily and taste wonderful. I’m gonna freeze the extra patties for lunch portions. They are delicate but they will hold up on the bun and would be amazing in a pita pocket or Buddha bowl.

  20. eva says

    Hi there! I’m a new vegan so I’m trying dishes and I love this recipe! the burger is so easy to make and it tastes so good. The first time I made it exactly as you directed and it was delicious. The second time I added some garlic powder, dry minced onion, basil, pepper and a tiny bit of Italian seasoned breadcrumbs and it enhanced the flavor still very delicious!

  21. kd12 says

    Hi — To everyone who commented about wanting a substitute for tomato paste or to up the burger’s pizza flavor, try using a great tasting seasoned tomato-based pizza sauce like Trader Joe’s in the recipe. The pizza taste is already there in the jar. Just play with the other seasonings to adjust.
    And thanks Katie for another great recipe!

  22. Kat says

    Adding this to next week’s dish list!
    Will have to make some small adjustments for what I have on hand.
    A can refried beans, some nutritional yeast…
    Will let you know how it goes. So excited!
    Gonna make buffalo cauliflower and zucchini for mom & me for lunch today!

  23. Elissa says

    I cooked them in a pan and they did not hold together at all. Maybe baking them in the oven will be better?

  24. Gretchen says

    5 stars
    These were great! I made them just as listed and had no problem with crumbling. Put it in a pita with pesto and little bit of mozzarella
    Will definitely make again.
    Also I mixed it the night before, held together nicely.

  25. Deborah says

    Hi friends, could you please confirm the baking temperatur?. The video shows 350 and the instructions say 400. Also would you still recommend baking 15 minutes then flip and bake for 6 more minutes? Can’t t to try these?

    • CCK Media Team says

      Hi, yes we recommend baking and then flipping and then baking again. The recipe box is the most updated version (although the video version works too). Hope that helps!

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