Quinoa and Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 2/3 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 3 tablespoons ground flaxseed

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400º F. Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them into 1/2 inch rounds. Add these to a baking sheet and bake at 400º F for about 25-30 minutes, until thoroughly cooked and tender. This dry cooking method will seriously dry out the potatoes, but that’s what we want here. Meanwhile, cook a batch of quinoa according to package instructions (typically 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa) until fluffy. Set both the sweet potatoes and quinoa aside for now.

2. In a food processor, combine the parsley, garlic and sunflower seeds and just pulse them several times to make a kind of chunky pesto (which is incredibly delicious by itself…). Set this aside.

3. The flaxseed here is used like an egg, which will bind the ingredients together and create a much more “meaty” texture in the finished burgers. To do this, combine 3 tablespoons ground flaxseed with about 1/4 cup of water and set aside for 5-10 minutes until it creates a gel.

4. Finally, we’re ready to actually start making the burgers! Back in the food processor, combine 1 cup of the cooked quinoa with 1 cup of the baked sweet potatoes (simply smash as many of the rounds as you can into a 1 cup measure) along with the rolled oats. Pulse this mixture until it has turned into a smooth puree. Then, add in the remaining ingredients (the parsley garlic sunflower blend, paprika, soy sauce and flaxseed gel). Pulse several times until incorporated.

5. Lower the oven heat to 325º F and measure out the burgers into 5-6 round patties, about 1/2 inch thick, onto parchment paper or a Silpat. Stick in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes on one side, then carefully use a spatula to flip and cook for another 20 minutes or so until thoroughly firm. Allow to cool before serving with fresh greens, avocado and slices of red onion. Leftovers can be stored for weeks in the freezer.