Those who know me know that I find it hard to resist a good burger.
I often felt we were on the burger tour of America on our recent trip to the US as we ate so many! Not quite one a day, but close. Some were great, some were average, some were downright dreadful.
Few, if any, were as good as a homemade burger. Especially a lamb burger. You control the meat and what goes in it, you control the toppings, you control the amount and the type of sauce, mayo, butter, other bits.
For the record, butter DOES NOT belong on a burger. EVER.
I really don’t know why I don’t make homemade burgers more often. They are quick and easy, and far cheaper than buying them from the local fast food joint.
We have eaten beef, chicken and lamb burgers this week for lunch. As we’re on holidays and have Mr13 with us, my goal was to find quick, easy and nutritious meals that we all enjoy, that don’t require the cook (i.e. me!) to spend much time in the kitchen, and that dirty as few dishes as possible.
Burgers tick all boxes.
These lamb burgers took about 30 minutes from start to eat, and about 15 minutes of that involved me sitting outside with a good book while I “supervised” the BBQ doing the hard work. Bliss.
For these I used about 500g of lamb rump steak (I think that was the cut), as it has a bit of fat. I trimmed some of the fat, cut it into cubes, and minced it in my Thermomix (yes, I brought my Thermomix on holidays with us 🙂 ). You could also mince it in a food processor, or just buy 500g of lamb mince.
I like this cut of lamb for mincing as burgers need a bit of fat to add to the flavour. I did trim some of the fat off, but only about 25% of it.
I also made my own breadcrumbs, which I always do, as they are so much nicer than the commercial ones.
Ready for the BBQ!
If you are not sure if you have the flavours right, make a mini burger (about the size of a 10c piece) and cook it – that will let you know if you need to add any more spices or seasoning.
These lamb burgers were a huge hit, and very filling.
What are your favourite burger combinations?
A beer would have been perfect with these. Instead I had a healthy glass of water.
What you need
- 500g lamb fillet, minced OR 500g lamb mince
- 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
- 2 slices of stale bread, made into breadcrumbs OR 2/3 cup of commercial breadcrumbs
- 2 tbs tomato sauce
- 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
- 1 egg
- 1tsp fennel seed
- 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- few grinds of black pepper
- 4 bread rolls
- Toppings of your choice - With lamb burgers I like:
- lettuce
- tomato
- feta cheese
- thin slices of red onion
- roast capsicum strips
- sauces of choosing - tomato, BBQ, sweet chilli, mustard
What you do
- Add everything to a bowl and mix together well with your hands.
- Form into 4 largish or 6 smaller patties.
- Heat BBQ to medium heat and cook - for about 6-7 minutes each side. I like them quite well cooked through, and I usually turn them 3-4 times while cooking.
- Once cooked, assemble the burgers - or put everything on the table and let people mix and match their own (this does create extra dishes to wash up though!)
- Eat and enjoy!
I’m wanting to make these for lunch tomorrow now 🙂 I’m a traditionalist when it comes to burgers – cheese, tomato, lettuce and tomato sauce all make me happy!
I love all those too Sarah, but also bacon. I ate a lot of burgers with blue cheese when we were in the US recently – SO GOOD!
You’re right, burgers can be healthy and provide a pretty well balanced meal. I have to disagree on the butter though; I love my butter (not margarine) and I’d butter my rolls.
Love the addition of the chilli flakes! I’d love to make a chicken burger topped with a handful of fresh coriander leaves and some chilli-infused mayo. Got me thinking now!
GINA! How could you mention the “m” word on my blog! That’s awful stuff!
Your chicken burger sounds like my kind of burger! I love chipotle mayo – sooo good! And coriander goes well with so much, especially chicken.