Tabitha Brown's Favorite Sauces To Pair With Black Bean Burgers

Black bean burgers are a delicious and nutritious alternative to meat burgers, but you don't have to be a vegetarian to enjoy them. Beans bring a satisfying, earthy flavor, which lends itself to layering with ingredients like quinoa and sweet potatoes for a fulfilling patty that's not lacking in the taste department.

When making veggie burgers, be sure to amp up the savory notes, made easy with seasonings and spices — for example, the signature McCormick blends by Tabitha Brown. For an even more pronounced toothsome and meaty bite that rivals that of ground beef, Brown adds pecans to vegan black bean burgers for an unbeatable texture.

Food Republic caught up with the actress, Emmy-Award-winning host, New York Times bestselling author, and vegan cook for her take on the best sauces to pair with a black bean burger. Brown disclosed that she absolutely loves barbecue sauce as a topping, and we'd be hard-pressed to disagree. Its sweet smokiness is a match made in heaven when paired with mild and slightly nutty black beans.

You can whip up a batch of your own sauce, but there are also plenty of tasty ways to improve the bottles that you can buy right off the shelf. In fact, grillmaster Bobby Flay spruces up store-bought barbecue sauce with three simple ingredients. One of his tips is to add Worcestershire for an umami punch, but vegans should note that it's usually made with anchovies; however, fish-free versions are also available.

Tabitha Brown also mentioned that she loves avocado sauce on her black bean burgers. Her favorite method for making it, she explained, is to "take avocado, garlic, onion, basil, and olive oil — blend it up, and you have a nice green sauce." Essentially, you substitute avocado for parmesan for creamy, inexpensive pesto.

Buttery avocado is a perfect match to go with the beans, and the sauce Brown suggests making with it provides a bright and fresh balance to the otherwise mellow burger. She went on to advise that you "drizzle that on top" and that her choice of toppings to bring it all together would be "kale, tomatoes, onion, and pickle." She says, "it's very good" this way, but also encourages you to pick and choose your own preferred garnishes, because, to use her famous catchphrase, "however you burger is your business."

Other excellent sauce ideas for black bean burgers include lemony tahini sauce, poppy-seed and mustard dressing, curried ketchup (perfect with a spicy Thai peanut veggie burger), cashew-based queso sauce, and French or Thousand Island imitation special sauce a la McDonald's or In-N-Out. Both of those restaurants use animal products in theirs, but you can make your own homemade versions with vegan mayo to keep everything egg-free. If you'd like to level things up from extra-special to extra-fancy, you can follow the recommendations of an expert who weighs in on the best wine to pair with veggie burgers.