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Eat these Smoky Millet Pinto Bean Patties with a fork or pile them on buns, burger style. Either way, pair them with your favorite BBQ sauce and enjoy!
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Is it just me or do you want to dive head first into that drippy BBQ sauce? This post is not about BBQ sauce though, it’s about the vehicle to get that sauce to your mouth.
The perfect compliment for your favorite sauce are these Smoky Millet Pinto Bean Patties. They’re tender and moist on the inside, but the outside has a nice crunch – especially if you bake them, which is my preferred method.
Lots of flavor and veggies packed into these pinto bean patties, but if you’re feeding a veggie-hater, no worries, they won’t know they’re in there.
If you’re not familiar with millet, it’s a gluten free whole grain – technically a seed, but it’s used like a grain. It’s high in protein, fiber, magnesium, and phosphorus.
Millet is versatile and can be used similarly to rice. I like to make a large batch of millet (or any grain for that matter) at the beginning of the week so I have enough to use in several different recipes that week. Cook once, eat twice (or more!).
Check out these other delicious millet recipes:
- Lemon Millet with Chickpea and Dill
- Millet Black Bean Patties with Pineapple Avocado Salsa and Spicy Chipotle Sauce
- Apple Pie Mixed Grain Cereal
I like to eat these pinto bean patties with a fork, but my kids prefer to eat them burger style with all the traditional burger toppings.
They are delicious either way.
This recipe makes a big batch of patties, but don’t let that scare you – they freeze beautifully! Like I said before, cook once, eat twice (or more!).
No one wants to spend hours in the kitchen – especially in the summer, so, make the big batch and freeze any leftovers for another day (directions in the recipe card below).
More vegan burger recipes
- Falafel Burger
- Autumn Burger
- Spicy Bean Burgers
- Vegan Mexican Burger
- Chickpea Veggie Burger
- Spinach Artichoke White Bean Burgers
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! If you tried it, please use the star rating system in the recipe card and leave a comment with your feedback. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For even more easy family recipes, be sure to check out my cookbook, The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook!
Smoky Millet Pinto Bean Patties
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons flaxmeal
- 6 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons warm water divided
- ½ of a red onion peeled and diced
- 2 carrots peeled and diced
- 1 rib celery diced
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- pinch of cayenne
- 1 can (15 oz) pinto beans rinsed and drained (or 1 ½ cups cooked beans)
- 1 ½ cups cooked millet
- 4 scallions sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- dash of liquid smoke
- ¾ cup panko breadcrumbs (gluten free if necessary)
- BBQ sauce for serving (your favorite or check out my recipe for tomato free BBQ sauce.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Stir together the flaxmeal and 6 tablespoons of warm water in a small bowl and set aside to thicken. This is your flax "egg."
- Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons water in a skillet over medium heat. Add the red onion, carrots and celery and sauté for about 3 to 4 minutes until starting to soften. Add an additional tablespoon or 2 of water if the veggies start to stick.
- Add the thyme, smoked paprika and cayenne and sauté another 1 to 2 minutes to cook through. Take off heat.
- To the bowl of a food processor add the sautéd veggies, pinto beans, cooked millet, scallions, parsley, salt, liquid smoke and flax "egg" that you set aside earlier. Pulse until combined, but not completely smooth – you still want to see small bits of the veggies.
- Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and add the panko breadcrumbs. Stir to combine. The mixture should easily come together to form a patty when molded in your hand. If it seems to wet, add a little more panko.
- Form the mixture into patties with your hands and set on the baking sheet in one layer.
- Bake the patties 30 to 35 minutes, flipping them over half way through.
- Serve with your favorite BBQ Sauce (or my tomato free BBQ Sauce). They are also great on a bun, burger style.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition values are calculated using online calculators and are estimates only. Please verify using your own data.
Gin
Ha yes, I’m _totally_ diving into that sauce! Awesome ingredients, lovely seasonings, practical…you’ve done it again Jen! You really need to write a cookbook lady. <- 🙂
Jenn S.
Gin, you are so sweet!! It’s on my wish list for one day. Fingers crossed! 🙂 Thank you for your kinds words. Let me know if you try them!
Alisa Fleming
Honestly, I’d be attracted to just about any main dish with barbecue sauce drizzled over it like this, but these millet patties make it guilt free too!
Jenn S.
I’m the same way, Alisa! Love the stuff! Thanks!
Jenn S.
Me too, Alisa! I love the stuff. Thanks!
Lucie
Millet is my favorite veggie pattie ingredient! 🙂 I love the pinto beans in there too – such an underused legume but they taste awesome!
Jenn S.
Thank you, Lucie! I think we’ve talked about our mutual love of millet before. 🙂 And, yes, pinto beans are awesome!!
Christine | Vermilion Roots
I’m so happy to see a recipe using millet. It’s such an underrated ingredient. Would love to give this a try!
Jenn S.
I agree – it’s not just for the birds! 🙂 Thanks, Christine!
Jacqueline Meldrum
Oh yes please. I think I will have mine nursery style with mashed potatoes and baked beans,
Jenn S.
Sounds like the perfect plate to me! Thanks, Jac!
Vanessa
I love millet! I can imagine it tasting super delicious in these patties 😉 I also need to make your BBQ asap. It looks insanely good! Yum!
Jenn S.
Oh, that’s not my BBQ sauce. LOL! I do have a BBQ sauce on the blog (Sweet & Smoky Lentils), but I used store bought here. Thank you though. If you love millet, you will love these!
Vanessa
Oh No! I thought that was your tomato-free BBQ sauce. My bad! Looks delicious either way ?
Jenn S.
I know, I probably confused people by suggesting to use that…which I do think would be excellent with this. I just didn’t have any made at the time, so for pics I just used bottled.
Aimee / Wallflower Kitchen
I have a bag of millet flakes that I’ve not used yet, I’m assuming they would work? This sounds so delicious, I’m obsessed with smoky flavours so I know I’d love these!
Jenn S.
Hmmm, I don’t know. I’ve actually never heard of millet flakes. I’m imaging them like potato flakes that you rehydrate and make into a “mash.” I could be totally off base on that. If it is like a mash, the ratio of dry to wet might be different…the whole cooked millet is sticky like rice. Sorry, I’m so not helpful on that! If you try it, let me know!
Uma
Last week we made black bean pattie! This sounds similar 🙂 looks great!
Jenn S.
Can never have too many veggie burger recipes! Thanks, Uma!
Linda
I love anything with a smoky flavor. These sound delicious, Jenn. Alex turned me on to millet a few months ago so I have some in my pantry. Need to make these soon!
Jenn S.
I love it – has a nice nutty flavor. Let me know what you think when you make them! Thanks!
Molly Kumar
This looks so yummy and crispy! I love the fact it can be frozen for later use too – Nothing like make once and eat multiple time recipe 🙂
Jenn S.
Absolutely! Why make cooking harder than it is, right? Thanks, Molly!
jill
How do you cook the millet? How much water and how long? I’ve never made it. Thanks!
Jenn S.
Hi, Jill. You cook it just like rice. 1 cup of millet to 2 cups of water (or broth). Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Fluff when done. You can also toast the millet first in a dry pot – about 3-4 minutes – then add the water, boil, simmer, etc. Super easy! I hope you love it!
Strength and Sunshine
I kid you not, I have a killer pinto bean burger recipe that I need to post….
Haha, and I’m totally out of homemade burgers (I have some frozen pre-made) but I need to stop being lazy and make a new batch of FRESH homemade burgers for the freezer!
Jenn S.
Well, I’d love to see your version too! It’s always good to have the veggie burgers stocked away in the freezer!