Sweet Potato Salsa Veggie Burgers with Cholula Mayo

Is everyone just about fed up with winter? I am always so jealous when I see pictures of my Arizona friends in shorts living the good life. I just keep looking longingly out my window at my snow covered grill and wishing that I could walk outside and pick a bunch of basil from my garden and grill some sort of Caprese skewers with fresh grilled corn on the cob smeared with basil butter and grilled peaches for dessert. And then I would spread out a blanket and eat it as I watched the fireflies start to flicker, sipping my homemade ginger ale with fresh mint from my garden. That would be lovely.

Today’s recipe reminds me of summer and barbeques, but it is actually very winter friendly. Roasting sweet potatoes is a great way to add a little cozy warmth to your house and you don’t need a grill to make these toasty burgers. The patty is crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, but not too soft. It holds up when you bite down. None of that squishing out the sides stuff that sometimes can happen with a veggie burger. Baking it before pan frying or grilling helps it cook all the way through and hold together beautifully. And after you bake them, you can freeze them or save them for another day! Just pan fry or grill them when you are ready to eat them.

They are full of roasted sweet potatoes, beans, corn, green chilies, salsa, and all sorts of seasonings. A little corn meal and some panko helps them hold together and gives them a hearty texture. And while some veggie burger recipes get kind of cumbersome and require lots of different steps, like roasting and toasting and pureeing and caramelizing, this one is simple. After you roast your sweet potatoes, all you need is to mix everything together in a bowl. You can even roast the potatoes up to three days ahead of time to make dinner time a breeze.

And the best part of all…..the Cholula Mayo! Its pretty amazing. Cholula sauce is a Mexican hot sauce and it is sold at most grocery stores either in the hot sauce section or the Hispanic section. I put it on everything and my two year old asks for it all the time. She will eat anything with Cholula on it. I’m usually not a big fan of mayo, but combine mayo and Cholula sauce and I could eat a bowl of just that for dinner. It goes perfectly with the Mexican flavors of the burger.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Makes 8-9 burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 can (15 oz.) Great White Northern beans
• 2 C. mashed roasted sweet potatoes (about 4 small, roasted sweet potatoes)
• 1 can (4 oz.) diced green chilies
• 1/2 C. corn (fresh, frozen or canned)
• 2/3 C. salsa (I used medium heat salsa, not too chunky, but not too runny)
• 1 TBSP. lime juice
• 1 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. coriander
• 1 tsp. Mexican oregano
• 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp. salt (may need more depending on the how salty your salsa is)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/3 C. corn flour
• 1 1/3 C. panko bread crumbs, plus more for coating
• 1/2 C. mayonnaise
• 2 1/2 TBSP. Cholula sauce
• buns, tomatoes, lettuce, avocados, peppers, any other toppings you would like

Directions:

1. Roast the sweet potatoes at 400 F. for about 30 minutes, or until soft. Set aside to cool. You can do this a couple days in advance or earlier that day. Just store the cooked sweet potatoes in the fridge.

2. Add the beans to a large bowl and mash roughly. There should still be chunks of beans. Add the diced green chilies, corn, salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, coriander, oregano, smoked paprika, and salt. Stir to combine.

3. Add the sweet potatoes, minus their skins, and mix until just combined. Taste and add more salt if needed. If your salsa is less salty, you may need to add more salt.

4. Add the beaten egg, corn flour, and panko and stir together. Do this step right before baking the burgers. If you want to make part of this meal ahead of time, just mix everything except the egg, corn flour, and panko and add them right before baking.

5. Preheat the oven to 375 F. And prepare a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Sprinkle some panko onto a plate. Form some of the sweet potato mixture into a patty shape. I like to use my burger mold so that all my burgers are the same shape and size, but you can just use your hands if you don’t have one.  It might get a little bit messy, so wet your hands before forming the burgers so it doesn’t stick to your fingers. Place the patty into the panko on the plate, then flip it over to coat the other side.

6. Transfer to the baking sheet with a spatula. Use the spatula to press in the edges of the patty so the burger is nice and compact. Repeat with the rest of the dough, adding more panko to the plate as needed.

7. Bake the burgers for 25-30 minutes. At this point you can wrap them up tightly in plastic wrap and store them inside a Ziploc bag in the freezer for another time, or you can pan fry them or grill them. I usually pan fry or grill three or four for my family, and then freeze or refrigerate the rest. To pan fry, heat a drizzle of oil over medium heat and place the burgers in the pan. Flip once the bottom is nice and toasty and browned. Repeat on the other side. To grill, brush oil on a hot grill. Place the burgers on the grill and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side.

8. While the burgers are baking, mix together the mayo and Cholula sauce in a small bowl and set aside. Prep all the burger fixing at this time, too.

9. Place inside a toasted bun and top with a generous amount of Cholula Mayo, tomatoes, avocadoes, peppers, lettuce, and anything else you think sounds good.

I hope this burger brings a little summer into these long winter months.

By Edible Experiments