Kraft-y BBQ Bean and Veggie Cheese"burgers" with Grilled Onions and Mushrooms

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser

Much to my meat-loving family's dismay, I cook almost exclusively vegetarian. So I do my best to make vegetarian options so good, they don't even notice there's no meat! I have a well-stocked supply of canned beans in my pantry, and I always have a fridge stuffed with assorted vegetables. Golden! A quick trip to Wal-Mart and I had everything else I needed - including the gluten-free hamburger buns!

Vegetarian BBQ Veggie-Bean Cheeseburgers

Ingredients:
1/4 c chopped onion (red, yellow, or white; your call) plus the rest of the onion, sliced thinly
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup chopped veggies (broccoli, spinach, and/or cauliflower work best)
1/2 cup Kraft Shreds grated cheddar
2 Tbsp Kraft BBQ Sauce (any flavor, your preference) plus more for topping
1 tsp honey
2.5-3 Tbsp bread crumbs or whole wheat pastry flour (or gluten-free bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, etc)
1/4 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1/4 tsp pepper (optional)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika (you can use regular paprika if you must, but I highly recommend finding some smoked paprika! The smoky flavor makes everything taste like bacon!)
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 (15oz) can cooked beans (chickpea, cannellini, kidney, black, pinto, whatever,) drained and rinsed (or 10oz cooked beans)
1 cup mushrooms, sliced (cremini or shiitake work great)
4 slices Kraft Naturals Slices cheddar
Olive oil
4 buns, large rolls, etc.

Directions:
Over Low heat, heat a small skillet and add 1/2 tsp olive oil. When oil shimmers, add 1/4 c chopped onions and a pinch of salt. Stir to coat in oil and let cook and caramelize, roughly 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a food processor, pulse carrot and 1/2 cup chopped veggies (I chose spinach, tightly packed) until chopped finely. Add cooked onions, 1/2 cup Kraft Shreds, 2 Tbsp Kraft BBQ Sauce, honey, bread crumbs or flour, 1/4 tsp salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and onion powder. Pulse until combined but not pureed. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mash drained beans so that roughly half are mashed really well, and the other half just mashed a little. Combine with veggie mixture and mix well. *You can skip this step and just pulse the beans with the veggie mixture, but expect a fairly mushy burger!

Line a large plate or baking tray with parchment paper and form mixture into 4 patties. You may want to refrigerate patties for 20-30 minutes to help them firm up, or freeze for 10-15 minutes. Toast buns now, if you want them toasted.

Take small skillet used to cook onions and add 1 Tbsp olive oil and heat over Medium heat. When oil shimmers, add sliced onions and mushrooms. Add a few shakes of salt and pepper if desired. Cook until onions are translucent and mushrooms tender, roughly 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over Medium heat and add 1 Tbsp olive oil. Once hot, add burgers to the skillet and cook about 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown and crispy. Meanwhile, have buns ready and waiting!

You'll be tempted to push the burgers around in the pan and maybe flip them a few extra times, but resist. These are very delicate! Be gentle when flipping and removing so that they don't fall apart. You can either add the Kraft Naturals Slices for the last minute or so of cooking, or wait to add after you've placed the burgers onto the waiting buns.

Serve on toasted (or not) buns with Kraft Naturals Slices, more Kraft BBQ Sauce, and your grilled onions and mushrooms! Nom!

My family agrees that it was the grilled onions and mushrooms, plus the cheese and BBQ sauce, that really knocked these out of the park. Well, Hubby and I agreed. The kids ate theirs with cheese and ketchup, and made their usual retching noises the whole time. They're little jerks about pretty much anything I make. 

The kids were beyond thrilled about the cheese though. I don't offer cheese very often, because two of us are intolerant to dairy in one way or another. I chose sharp cheddar all around, since sharper cheeses have less lactose, which the toddler is intolerant to. And I took my enzyme pill so I could eat these with the cheese, as intended. It's been a long time since Mama's had any real dairy. On purpose, anyway...

Recipe adapted from How Sweet Eats
#saycheeseburger #collectivebias #cbias