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Mark Bittman’s Classic Bean Burger Recipe

Excerpted from ‘How to Cook Everything Vegan’

3-minute read

Mark Bittman,

AARP

Published October 19, 2026

Mark Bittman’s classic bean burger with lettuce and tomato on a wooden cutting board

Mark’s Classic Bean Burger turns pantry staples like beans and oats into a crisp-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside veggie burger.

Ghazalle Badiozamani/Courtesy HarperCollins

My OB (original burger), with some of its evolutions captured in the variations. The simple bean-and-oat combination is easy, make-ahead, and always a crowd pleaser.

Classic Bean Burger

Makes: 4 large or 8 slider-sized patties

Time: 40 minutes, plus chilling time

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Ingredients

2 cups drained cooked black, white, or red beans, chickpeas, or lentils, or drained, rinsed canned beans (refrigerate the leftovers for something else)

1 small onion, cut into chunks

½ cup rolled oats (not instant), plus more as necessary

1 tablespoon chili powder or other spice blend

Salt and pepper

Bean cooking liquid or other liquid as needed

2 tablespoons olive oil for cooking, plus more as needed

Burger buns or slider rolls and all your usual fixings

Directions

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or wax paper. Put the beans, onion, oats, chili powder, and some salt and pepper in a food processor. Let the machine run, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed, until the mixture is thoroughly combined but not puréed, about 1 minute. (If you don’t have a food processor, put everything in a large bowl and use a potato masher.) Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.

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You want a moist consistency that will easily form cakes. If it is too wet, add more oats; if it’s too dry, add bean cooking liquid. In either case, add the ingredient 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse (or mash) after each addition. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir a couple of times with a soft spatula to make sure everything is evenly distributed.

Lightly wet your hands and shape the mixture into 4 large or 8 small patties; put them on the baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.

Put the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the patties; they should sizzle gently. Cook, undisturbed, until brown and crisp on one side, 3 to 8 minutes. Add more oil if the pan looks dry, then turn the burgers over carefully with a stiff spatula and cook until they feel firm and are browned on the other side, 3 to 5 minutes. While the burgers cook, toast the buns if you like. Serve hot or warm on buns or rolls with all your fixings.

Variations

To make a Black Bean–Sweet Potato Burger, substitute 1 cup grated raw sweet potato (about 1 medium) for 1/2 cup of the beans. Grind it with the other ingredients in Step 1. Everything else stays the same.

To make a Bean Burger for Grilling, I like red kidney beans here for their color after grilling. All you do is wait to add the beans to the food processor in Step 1. Instead, start by grinding 3 tablespoons chia seeds with the oats and seasonings; then add the beans and continue. (They’ll help make the burger sturdier without drying it out.) When you’re ready to cook, prepare a gas or charcoal grill for direct grilling over medium heat. Make sure the grates are brushed clean. Rub the chilled burgers on both sides with some cooking oil and put directly over the fire. Grill the first side until it forms a crust and releases easily when you try to slip a stiff spatula under it, 3 to 5 minutes. Repeat with the other side and serve.

For more than three decades, Mark Bittman has been leading voice in global food culture and policy, in addition to his work at The New York Times, where he created The Minimalist, was the Sunday magazine’s lead food writer, and became the country’s first weekly opinion writer at a major publication to concentrate on food. He’s the author of dozens of books, including Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food from Sustainable to Suicidal and the How to Cook Everything series. He’s editor in chief of The Bittman Project, a membership-based platform that includes a newsletter, website and the podcast Food With Mark Bittman.

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