Build Your Own burgers!

Written by on Wednesday, 06 November 2019.
Tagged: dinner, healthy cooking, healthy eating, lunch, nutrition

Ready In: 45 minutes
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 3

A firm favourite amongst teenagers and kids burgers aren’t always the healthiest of choices. However, making your own lets you put a healthy spin on this household favourite, by opting for lean meats, wholegrains and a rainbow of veggies. What’s more, these are great to get the little ones involved in the cooking (such as forming the patties). Serve these burgers “family style” - place all the vegetables, patties and bread rolls in the middle of the table and let your children build their own burger. The greater the variety of vegetables, the more colourful the table will look!

Ingredients

500 g lean beef mince
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons mixed dried herbs (e.g. Italian herb mix)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
TO ASSEMBLE
225 g can sliced beetroot, drained
2 tomatoes, sliced
6 lettuce leaves
6 slices (120 g) low-fat cheddar cheese
6 wholemeal or wholegrain bread rolls
Sauce of your choice – e.g. tomato, BBQ, mustard (Note: if you add a highly sweetened sauce like sweet chilli this will affect the nutrition information.)

Nutrition per serve

Includes one wholemeal roll, BBQ sauce, olive oil for cooking plus a slice of low-fat cheese.

1869 kJ (447 Calories), 30 g protein, 13 g fat (including 5 g saturated fat), 49 g carbohydrate (including 17 g sugars), 6 g fibre and 1085 mg sodium. Read our nutrition rating system.

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine the beef mince, onion, garlic, dried herbs, Worcestershire sauce and egg.
Using a ½ cup measure, scoop out the mince mixture and form into a burger patty (to make 6 patties, scoop out a level ½ cup of mixture). Repeat until you have formed 6 patties.
Refrigerate the patties for 10-15 minutes (this allows them to hold together when you cook them).
Whilst the patties are setting, wash and prepare the lettuce, tomato and beetroot. Slice the bread rolls in half.
Drizzle some olive oil in a non-stick pan on medium-high heat. Once hot, add the patties and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. If you have a small pan, you’ll have to cook the patties in two batches.
When the patties have about a minute left, place a slice of cheese on each of them and cover with a lid – that way the cheese melts onto the patty. Yum!
Once the patties are done, assemble your burgers or take to the table along with the prepared vegetables and let everyone assemble their own.

Variations

Add 1-2 teaspoons fresh herbs to your patties e.g. parsley, dill.
Use any vegetables of your choice e.g. grated carrot, cucumber, baby spinach, avocado or caramelise a red onion.
Replace beef mince with chicken, turkey or pork mince.

Recipe and photo by dietitian Sophie Feng. You can follow her on Instagram at @sophies_foodfeast