Category:

Mini Lentil Burgers

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There are endless variations to this recipe — try varying the spices or substituting beans, baked sweet potato, or pureéd carrots for the lentils.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups cooked green lentils, divided
  • 1 onion, peeled and quartered
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 1 cup packed baby spinach (optional)
  • ½ teaspoon dried basil
  • ½ teaspoon dried oregano
  • ½ teaspoon cumin
  • ½ cup rolled oats
  • Sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. In a food processor, combine 1 cup of the green lentils, the onion, garlic, spinach, dried basil, oregano, cumin, and rolled oats, and process until smooth. The mixture should be moist, but not runny. Depending on the amount of moisture in your lentils and/or spinach, you may need to add more oats.
  3. In a large bowl, fold the blended lentil mixture with the remaining cup of whole lentils. Season to taste with salt and pepper. For toddlers and babies, you can omit the salt and pepper.
  4. Using an ice-cream scoop, scoop the mixture onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until browned and crisp on the bottom. Use a spatula to flip the burgers, pressing them down gently. Bake for another 5–10 minutes, until browned on both sides.

Notes:

Besides my knife, my 1 ½-tablespoon ice cream scoop gets the most use of any of my kitchen tools. It’s great for whipping up mini burgers, cookies, veggie meatballs, and savory soup dumplings.

Posted in Dinner, Entrees, Lunch, Recipes

Michelle is passionate about eating well and taking animals off the menu. She writes recipes for Mommy Nearest, and blogs about vegan food and cooking with her toddler at Michelle’s tiny kitchen. You can connect with her on Instagram and Pinterest.