I have to say I do love a good burger. Whether it’s a meaty one, or a bean or veggie burger I love how versatile they can be and how much flavour you can add with spices, toppings and condiments. Usually burgers aren’t thought to be the most healthy of meals, when I asked one of my community groups for examples of less healthy foods, burgers were near the top of the list! They were pretty amazed when I explained how easily burgers can be made to be healthy.
I’ve been posting pics of my usual beef burgers for quite a while now. For me, they are a really tasty way to eat some good quality red meat. I always buy my red meat organic so that it contains the most nutrients, and generally organic mince is a lot more affordable that other organic forms of red meat. Sainsbury’s do a good deal with 3 packs of organic mince for £10.
This recipe was inspired by a gorgeous burger I had from the Gourmet Burger Kitchen a few weeks back. I was thinking about diversifying the kind of animal protein I’ve been eating recently as I am still not the biggest fan of chicken or turkey right now. Lamb is actually a very healthy meat and is packed with protein, iron, vitamin B12, zinc and selenium. It is also lower in saturated fat if that kind of thing is a concern for you. I just really like the taste of it, and it certainly works well with the flavours here!
The minted feta is just fabulous and makes the perfect accompaniment to the lamb. The sweet potatoes, along with a few red onions add another dimension of sweetness too. This recipe is also incredibly simple with only a handful of ingredients, yet it tastes sophisticated enough to serve to family and friends and trick them into thinking you’ve created something much more complex! If you are vegetarian, obviously the lamb is out, but the overall idea could still be created with a tasty bean burger instead. Try my Sweet Potato Falafel Burgers or Spicy Rye and Bean Burgers instead.
With barbecue season (hopefully) just around the corner, this is a great recipe for creating a healthier burger with a twist. You can also make the burgers up in advance and freeze them, then just defrost on the day you’d like to eat them. I made up 4 burgers and popped the rest of them in the freezer for a later date.
- 1 pack of organic lamb mince (usually they come in 400g)
- 1 egg
- 200g feta cheese
- 1 bunch of fresh mint
- 3-4 sweet potatoes
- 1 red onion
- Combine the lamb mince with the egg in a bowl, use your hands and squish everything together. Form into 4 patties, pop onto a plate, cover with cling film and refrigerate.
- Pre heat the oven to 200c. Chop the sweet potatoes into wedges and roughly chop the red onion in large chunks. Set the red onion aside, and add the sweet potatoes to an oven tray or dish, along with 1 tbsp of coconut or olive oil. Roast for 15 minutes then add the red onion and continue to cook until tender.
- While the sweet potato is cooking mash the feta in a bowl. Pull off the mint leaves from the stems and finely chop. Add to the feta and mix well.
- To cook the burgers place a frying or griddle pan on a medium high heat. Remove the burgers from the fridge and put into the pan, turning a few times until they are cooked to your liking (about 15 - 20 minutes well done).
- Plate up the burgers with the minted feta and sweet potato wedges, enjoy!
- Lamb can be quite fatty, so you may want to drain the burgers on some kitchen paper before serving.
- You don't have to use all 4 burgers, just freeze the ones you don't use. To make a single serving just use one burger, 50g of feta, a few mint leaves and one sweet potato.
Are you a fan of lamb? What are your favourite burger toppings?
Lamb burgers are a favourite in my house! They go really well with some grilled halloumi and a green salad too!
Mmm I have halloumi as well! Might have to try that version this weekend :-)
As lovely as this recipe looks, lamb is the one meat I don’t like. Maybe because I hate mint sauce as well and had a bad experience of eating it when I was younger? I do love a good burger though – and feta is one of my favourite cheeses! And sweet potato fries on the side…oh yes!
I like a big fat beef burger with lots of ketchup. Can’t beat that at a BBQ! Maybe ribs with BBQ….ahh I love BBQs!
It would definitely still be nice with a normal beef burger I think. I do love one with onions and ketchup at a bbq as well! Let’s hope we have some bbq weather this summer!
Lamb burgers are my absolute favourite we always make our own too. Our recipe is the same as yours but I pack in a mix of fresh herbs usually, coriander, mint and parsley. I’m definitely going to try them with your feta recipe sounds yummy. My children love a good home made burger. Coincidentally though I made sweet potato oven chips last night. Not a winner! All three children didn’t touch them and my husband is Egyptian and thinks sweet potatoes are only something you eat for pudding (he ate his though). I loved mine ha ha!
I definitely have to try adding more herbs in mine! What a shame about the sweet potatoes, I always thought they’d be a winner with kids. Glad your hubby ate this, interesting the Egyptian thing of having them as pudding, although I do still love having them with sweet things like cinnamon.
Burgers are the best! A great way of getting some great protein – I haven’t had a lamb one for years so I will be giving this a try maybe with some homemade guacamole …
Guacamole would be so good with these!
I’m not usually a fan of lamb but I’d definitely eat this! I do think burgers can be healthy if you adapt them a bit – I usually go without the bun as it makes it so much less stodgy! x
Yep, I tend to go chips or bun never both!
This has gotten me all excited about Summer, light nights and BBQs as I always associate them with burgers!
Yay to the sweet potatoes on the side. They’ve become a regular firm favourite in our house now that Dan has admitted to liking them!
Sounds like a delightful meal, I don’t really do burgers but these sound good and you can’t beat homemade!