Veggie + Venison = Veggison!

Okay, I gotta see this.

Now why on Earth would you take a perfectly good venison burger and fill it with vegetables? Well to start, I got the idea from Leanne Brown’s Good and Cheap, so here’s her plug. So many people piss and moan about healthy eating being too expensive. Leanne Brown came along and decided to make a cookbook of healthy and delicious meals precisely for people with a limited income and therefore, a limited grocery budget. The recipes are easy, healthy, and she even tells you the cost (based on NYC prices) of each serving. The best part? It’s available in a free pdf. Even downloads to a smart phone quickly. Most of these recipes in their entirety cost less than one fast food meal. No more excuses. Eat right!

This brings us to the reasons to throw some beans and veg in your burger: it really stretches a pound of meat. I made 5 probably-too-big burgers with one pound of meat. Sure, someone with a freezer full of venison doesn’t need to stretch a pound of meat, nevermind that the ground meat tends to show up in 2 pound logs. I personally had half a pound sitting thawed in my fridge after only needing 1 pound for another recipe. So here I am, needing to make dinner and I only have one pound of meat which is not enough to cover El Gallo’s appetite. But, I always have some kind of veg floating around and I always have cans of beans on hand. Done.

You really want to mash the beans up to help all of this stick together. Sweet potato would also be mahvelous in these burgers, but you will want to cook it first and mash it in with the beans. For the chipotle, I used dried chipotles that I reconstituted in water. Feel free to use the canned ones in adobo, and even drizzle in a little of the adobo, but do be aware of the spice level as chipotles in adobo can pack quite a punch. Use sparingly. One last note, be a little gentle with these guys, as they can be on the crumbly side. This is why we use a few eggs.

Veggison burgers

Print recipe

Ingredients

• 1lb ground venison
• 1 can black beans
• 1 cup veggies (finely chopped, I used red onion and bell pepper)
• 2 eggs
• 2 chipotle peppers (seeded if you like, finely chopped)
• salt and pepper to taste
• burger fixin's, like cheese!

Optional

• buns

Directions

Step 1

Heat a pan on medium (or heat up the grill). Put the black beans in a large bowl and roughly smash them with a fork or a potato masher. Add the ground beef, chipotle peppers, diced veggies and eggs. Season with salt and pepper and mix really thoroughly with your hands until everything is easily incorporated.

Step 2

Cook in the pan (or on the grill) until about half done, then flip. In a pan, this will take roughly 4-5 minutes per side, depending on how thick your patties are. Garnish with burger fixin's like cheese, avocado, lettuce, mustard, etc. Serve on a bun and enjoy!

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Non game substitution: Beef. Or chicken, or lamb or whatever ground meat strikes your fancy.