Lean Burger Patties

What to make with extra lean ground beef? Of course, this ultimate homemade lean burger patties recipe! This recipe is the best burger recipe to use extra lean ground beef, a simple and juicy burger patty recipe full of flavor. Your family will request this healthy recipe over and over again. These pan-fried extra lean ground beef burger patties on a hot cast-iron skillet are ready to serve in 30 minutes. Without sacrificing taste, this delicious recipe is keto-friendly, dairy-free, and gluten-free.

Nothing is faster and easier than ground beef to make quick, nutritious, and delicious burger patties. However, making burger patties taste good can be difficult without using ground beef with high fat content. And how to make them juicy enough for the kids to enjoy? But I don’t like using high-fat ground beef. Firstly, I try to prioritize my health and therefore try to reduce the amount of saturated fat I consume. Secondly, I don’t like the smell that lingers in the house afterwards.

How to make lean ground beef juicy

So I needed to figure out how to make lean ground beef juicy and taste good. And, of course, have the kids and husband taste-approve my efforts! I recently figured out this easy-to-make and healthy recipe, and my family can’t get enough of it. This is a great 30-minute meal for today’s busy life.

This burger recipe results in crispy outside and juicy and tender inside burgers. Absolutely delicious, even when well-done, and it is ideal for kids.

I served extra lean ground beef burger patties with homemade naans. Then, I used a mix of tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, and avocado to make a quick and simple fresh salad. This recipe is on our weekly rotation.

Ingredients

• Ground beef. I used extra lean ground beef – a 93/7 lean-to-fat ratio. You can use any other ratio of meat for this ground beef/hamburger recipe.
• Onion. I used red onion. Red onions are sweeter. You can instead add saute onion. Use any onion you like the most. Shallots work fine, too.
• Baking soda. The secret ingredient to make the easiest and juiciest lean hamburger patty recipe ever.
• Garlic and onion powder. Both add a lot of flavor. Alternatively, use 1 clove of finely chopped fresh garlic.
• Oil. I use avocado oil to fry the patties. Avocado oil has a high smoke point, which is excellent for frying. You can use whatever oil you have available.
• Salt and pepper. Add any other seasonings such as sauces, spices, or herbs you like.

How to Make Lean Burger Patties

Step 1. Grind the onion. Use a grater or food processor to grind the onion. Place the extra lean ground beef in a bowl and add to it grated onion.

Step 2. Combine the ingredients. Add the onion, garlic powder, baking soda, salt, and black pepper to the bowl. Mix all the ingredients well to combine.

Step 3. Divide and shape. To make the burger patties, take a knife and divide the mixture into eight equal portions and shape them into balls, and flatten them using your hands.

Step 4. Cook to the desired doneness. Let the cast-iron skillet heat up well over a medium-high flame over the stovetop. Add frying oil to the skillet. Let the oil heat until shiny. Transfer burger patties into skillet four at a time. Let them cook for about 4-6 minutes until the desired doneness is on each side or until golden brown.

Step 5. Serve. Serve it with your favorite side dishes, and ENJOY!

Tips

• Use a cast iron skillet. To make the perfect burgers, fry burger patties in a cast-iron skillet. This will make for better searing to create a browning crust.
• Use avocado oil. Use a high smoking point cooking oil like avocado oil.
• Make a double batch. Double the cooked recipe and save the rest in the fridge for another day or make a freezer stock. Or use the same recipe to make turkey burgers.
• Do not skip onion and garlic. Add onion powder and garlic powder to boost the flavor.
• Let it rest. A secret to a great lean hamburger meat recipe is to let the patties sit in baking soda for five minutes before frying them. This will tenderize meat further.
• Adjust cooking time. If you want your burger patties medium and red inside, cook them for less time.
• Turn them once. Let the burger patties fry evenly on one side before turning them over.
• Make them flat. Using baking soda in the recipe makes the burgers somewhat puffed up which I like. But, you can make an indent/depression in the middle of the patties before cooking them so that they will stay flat after cooking.

Substitutes and variations to the recipe

• Customize protein. Substitute ground lean beef with ground chicken breast or turkey breast, or salmon fillet.
• Make them into desired thickness. Make burger patties thin like mine for dinner hamburger patty or thick as a steakhouse burger. Adjust for cooking time.
• Make them vegan. Use ground chickpeas instead of meat and 1 tbsp. flour to hold the patties together.
• Make them vegetarian. Use grounded chickpeas or your favorite grounded legumes. In this case, you can use 1 egg to hold the patties better together.
• Use other seasonings. I made my burgers simple as a basic recipe. Use your favorite spices and herbs, and sauces to your taste. This is an easy way to customize the flavor without adding calories. (eg, cayenne pepper, cumin, turmeric, paprika, Italian seasonings, steak seasonings, scallion, dill, cilantro, or parsley. Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, bbq, or soy sauce).
• Make them spicy. Use more black pepper, chili powder, or red pepper flake.
• Add in other vegetables. You can add almost any vegetable to make these burger patties more nutritious. Adding 1 cup of crunchy or starchy vegetables works great. Grate or finely chop carrot, sweet potato, zucchini, celery, pepper, spinach, kale, peas, beets, or butternut squash well using a food processor and remove the liquid. You can add 1 egg to hold the patties together better.
• Use other cooking methods. Another great way to use this recipe is to bake the burger patties on a baking sheet in a super hot oven (500 °F), air fryer, or grill them in the oven or outside. Follow the above instructions for the perfect and juiciest hamburger patties regardless of the method of cooking every time.
• Use them in a stew, soup, chili, meatball, or meatloaf.  Shape them into tiny little balls and add them to your favorite sauce, such as tomato sauce, and make a stew. You could add them to your favorite soup recipe for an additional protein bonus. Or add them to your beloved chili recipe. Use them in your meatball or meatloaf.
• Substitute baking soda. Mix 4 tablespoons of bread crumbs/ crushed crackers, 1 egg, and 1 tablespoon milk and add it to the meat mixture. This helps to hold the meat’s natural juice in the burgers.

Equipment

• I used a 10-inch cast-iron skillet to fry the burger patties. Everything tastes extra delicious when cooked in cast-iron cookware.
• Grater or food processor.

Storage and reheat

• Store these cooked extra lean ground beef burger patties in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Whenever ready to serve them, let them heat up low and slow on a stovetop or microwave them for a few seconds.
• You can freeze them cooked in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. Let them thaw in the fridge the night before, then heat them on the stovetop or microwave them.

How to serve burger patties

• Serve them as a classic burger. Serve them like classic burgers with hamburger buns, slices of tomatoes and onions, cheddar or mozzarella cheese, lettuce, and fried potatoes with your favorite hamburger patties toppings, sauces, and condiments, eg, pickles, mayo, mustard.
• Serve them with grains. Rice, quinoa, biscuits, cous cous, sourdough tortillas, or sourdough flatbread are great options.
• Serve them low-carb. Serve them with sautéed green beans, broccoli, slaw, or spring salad.
• Serve them as a taco! Smash them down and serve them in my delicious smashed burger tacos.

I hope you love this healthy lean hamburger patty recipe as much as we do! Perfect every single time.

If you make my recipe, please come back and let me know about your experience; I love to hear from you 🙂

If you like making meaty recipes, try my delicious ground beef and broccoli casserole. This one is an easy go-to recipe, and everyone will love it.

Also, please don’t forget to rate, comment, and share this recipe on Pinterest. Thank you ever so much! Bx

FAQ

Lean Burger Patties

This easy-to-make juicy extra lean ground beef burger patty recipe is so tasty that everyone will love it.

4.76 from 65 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Course Dinner, Beef recipes

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Calories 137 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 pound extra lean ground beef
• 1 medium-size grated onion
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• ½ tsp. onion powder
• 2 tbsp. avocado oil
• ½ tsp. kosher salt or to taste
• ¼ tsp black pepper or to taste

Instructions

 

• Grind the onion. 

  Use a grater or food processor to grind the onion. Place the extra lean ground beef in a bowl and add to the grated onion.  
• Combine the ingredients. Add the onion, garlic powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper to the bowl. Mix all the ingredients well to combine, do not overdo it.  
• Divide and shape. To make the burger patties, take a knife and divide the mixture into eight equal portions and shape them into balls, and flatten them using your hands.
• Cook to the desired doneness.

   Let the cast iron skillet heat up well over a medium-high flame over the stovetop. Add frying oil to the skillet. Let the oil heat until shiny. Transfer burger patties into skillet four at a time. Let them cook for about 4-6 minutes until the desired doneness is on each side or until golden brown.
• Serve. Serve it with your favorite side dishes, and ENJOY!  

Notes

Tips

• Use a cast iron skillet. To make the perfect burgers, fry burger patties in a cast-iron skillet. This will make for better searing to create a browning crust.
• Use avocado oil. Use a high smoking point cooking oil like avocado oil.
• Make a double batch. Double the cooked recipe and save the rest in the fridge for another day or make a freezer stock. Use the same recipe to make turkey burgers.
• Do not skip onion and garlic. Add onion powder and garlic powder to boost the flavor.
• Let it rest. Let the patties sit in baking soda for five minutes before frying them. This will tenderize meat further.
• Adjust cooking time. If you want your burger patties medium and red inside, cook them for less time.
• Turn them once. Let the burger patties fry evenly on one side before turning them over.
• Make them flat. Using baking soda in the recipe makes the burgers somewhat puffed up which I like. But, you can make an indent/depression in the middle of the patties before cooking them so that they will stay flat after cooking.

Substitutes and variations to the recipe

• Customize protein. Substitute ground beef with ground chicken breast or turkey breast, or salmon fillet.
• Make them into the desired thickness. Make burger patties thin like mine for dinner hamburger patty or thick as a steakhouse burger. Adjust for cooking time.
• Make them vegan. Use grounded chickpeas instead of meat and 1 tbsp. flour to hold the patties together.
• Make them Vegetarian. Use grounded chickpeas or your favorite grounded legumes. In this case, you can use 1 egg to hold the patties better together.
• Use other seasonings. I made my burgers simple as a basic recipe. Use your favorite spices and herbs, and sauces to your taste. This is an easy way to customize the flavor without adding calories. (e.g. cayenne pepper, cumin, turmeric, paprika, Italian seasonings, steak seasonings, scallion, dill, cilantro, or parsley. Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, bbq, or soy sauce).
• Make them spicy. Use more black pepper, chili powder, or red pepper flake.
• Add in other vegetables. You can add almost any vegetable to make these burger patties more nutritious. 4 tbsp. of crunchy or starchy vegetables all work great. Finely chop carrot, celery, pepper, spinach, or kale or ground potatoes, peas, beets, or butternut squash well using a food processor and remove their liquid. you can use 1 egg to hold the patties together better.
• Use other cooking methods. Another great way to use this recipe is to bake the burger patties on a baking sheet in a super hot oven ( 500 °F), air fryer, or grill them in the oven or outside. Follow the above instructions for the perfect and juiciest hamburger patties regardless of the method of cooking every time.
• Use them in a stew, soup, chili, meatball, or meatloaf.  Shape them into tiny little balls and add them to your favorite sauce, such as tomato sauce, and make a stew. You could add them to your favorite soup recipe for an additional protein bonus. Or add them to your beloved chili recipe. Use them in your meatball or meatloaf.
• Substitute baking soda. Mix 4 tbsp. of bread crumbs/crushed crackers, 1 egg, and 1 tbsp. milk and add it to the meat mixture. This helps to hold the meat’s natural juice in the burgers.

Equipment

• I used this 10-inch cast-iron skillet to fry the burger patties. Everything tastes extra delicious when cooked in cast-iron cookware.
• Grater.

Storage and reheat

• Store these cooked extra lean ground beef burger patties in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Whenever ready to serve them, let them heat up low and slow on a stovetop or microwave them for a few seconds.
• You can freeze them cooked in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. Let them thaw in the fridge the night before, then heat them on the stovetop or microwave them.

How to serve burger patties

• Serve them as a classic burger. Serve them like classic burgers with hamburger buns, slices of tomatoes and onions, cheddar or mozzarella cheese, lettuce, and fried potatoes with your favorite hamburger patties toppings, sauces, and condiments- e.g. pickles, mayo, mustard.
• Serve them with grains. Rice, quinoa, biscuits, naans, or flatbread are great options.
• Serve them low-carb. Serve them with sauteed green beans, broccoli, slaw, or spring salad.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 137kcalCarbohydrates: 1gProtein: 17gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 50mgSodium: 164mgSugar: 1g

Keyword Burger patties

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