Recipe: Pinto Quinoa Patties

I'm always looking for a good vegan burger recipe that's gluten-free or can be modified to be made without gluten.  One of the problems I have with most recipes is that without breadcrumbs or that gluten "glue," they just fall apart when you eat them.  Or worse, they end up in a crumbly pile when you try to flip them in the pan.

I was excited to try a recipe for "Chick-Quin Patties" by Kristina Sloggett of Spa Bettie that I found on a recipe card by Attune Foods that I picked up at the Vida Vegan Conference in Portland recently.  She uses crushed Erewhon Corn Flakes as the binder, with a base of cooked quinoa and chickpeas.

Since I also try to stay away from corn, I modified this by using Erewhon's Brown Rice Crisp Cereal instead.  And as I didn't have chickpeas in my pantry, I substituted pinto beans.  I also decided to go with the southwesterny feel of the beans by kicking up the flavor a bit with BBQ seasoning.  The end result was a tasty patty that held together pretty well when baked in the oven.

I also tried cooking the patties in a non-stick skillet just to see how they would do when flipping.  Because they were coated with the ground rice crisp cereal, they developed a nice brown crust, and with a careful hand I was able to flip them, and flatten and shape them with the spatula.

While they held together, I found that the fried patties were still fairly soft in the center.  On the other hand, following the recommendation of baking them in the oven on parchment paper resulted in drier, firmer patties.  I also found that refrigerating the mix prior to frying/baking helped keep them together.

This is a great recipe if you have leftover quinoa and don't want to eat it as a side dish.  Once you bake the patties and have leftovers, they reheat well in the microwave.

Pinto Quinoa Patties
2 cups Erewhon Brown Rice Crisp cereal, divided
15 oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup cooked red quinoa
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1/4 cup celery, diced
1/4 cup carrot, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbl ketchup
1 Tbl yellow mustard
1 tsp Sriracha

In a food processor, pulse Brown Rice Crisp cereal into a fine crumb, then set aside.  In food processor, pulse together remaining ingredients with 1 cup of cereal crumbs until ball begins to form.  Place remaining cereal crumbs on a plate.  Form mixture into 6 patties and coat with  cereal crumbs.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper and lay patties on top.  Bake at 325 for 25 minutes, turn and bake another 20 minutes or until firm and crisp on outsides.