A quick vegetarian dinner that really sticks, without spending hours in the kitchen, it’s possible. With these black bean pancakes, you get a hot dish in less than 30 minutes, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Canned black beans, sweet potato, feta, a few spices and a pan are enough to prepare a dozen small golden pucks. The idea comes from the site The Plant Based School, which imagined an express version, rich in protein and easy to batch cook for the week.
According to the values given by The Plant Based School, one in four servings provides around 18 g of protein, 13 g of fiber and 363 kcal, with little saturated fat. We therefore remain in the spirit of the Mediterranean diet: dried vegetables, olive oil, color on the plate.
These patties are perfect for a vegetarian burger, a complete bowl with rice and salad or a simple weeknight meal with a Greek yogurt sauce. Here’s how to prepare them without stress, and how to adapt them to your way of eating.
Black bean pancakes ready in 30 minutes: the express method
For these easy black bean pancakes, you need cooked and well-drained black beans, a sweet potato, half an onion, a clove of garlic, cumin and smoked paprika or chipotle, an egg, crumbled feta, a little flour and olive oil.
The sweet potato is pierced with a fork then cooked in the microwave for 6 to 7 minutes, before collecting the flesh. This hot puree joins the black beans in a large bowl to form the base, both creamy and dense enough for the patties to hold together.
We mash everything, leaving a few whole beans for texture, then add the finely chopped onion, grated garlic, spices, egg, feta and flour, plus salt and pepper. The dough should be thick, soft and a little sticky; if it seems too wet, add a spoonful of flour and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes.
Then simply form pucks with about 2 tablespoons of mixture and brown them in a non-stick pan with a thin layer of olive oil, 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until they are nicely browned on the outside and tender in the center.
Black bean pancakes rich in protein and fiber
Black beans provide most of the protein and fiber in the recipe, making these patties very filling for a light dinner. According to The Plant Based School, one serving provides approximately 18g of protein and 13g of fiber for 363 kcal.
Sweet potato, egg and feta complete the recipe nutritionally and taste-wise, with little saturated fat. For an egg-free version, the site suggests slightly increasing the flour, or even adding a little chickpea flour.
The pancakes also cook in the oven at 200°C for 20 minutes. They keep for 4 days in the refrigerator and 3 months in the freezer.