The Best Spiced Lamb Burger

Lamb is my favorite meat and as a non beef eater, lamb burgers were always my guilty pleasure when I went to a good steakhouse. Growing up in NY, surrounded by a variety of cuisines, I’ve tried lamb burgers from many placed and my favorite were always the Greek-inspired ones. As anything else I ate out and loved, eventually I tried making my own version of lamb burgers at home but often found them to be too gamey for my palette. Gamey meat is often referred to this way because we find the meat flavor unfamiliar; we are use to eating meat of animals on corn or vegetable diets and not raw food in the wild, which is why this can happen. My recipe mixes 2 parts ground lamb with 1 part ground turkey to help mellow out this flavor of a bit while maintaining a lamb taste throughout the burger. The spice blend brings out the meatiness of the ground lamb while maintaining its flavor integrity. I hope you enjoy my lamb burger recipe and comment below if you have any questions.

PREP TIME: 10 minutes l l REST TIME: 30 minutes l COOK TIME: 20 minutes l TOTAL TIME: 1 hour  

Ingredients

Burger

• 1 lb ground lamb, I prefer Nature’s Reserve, which most grocery stores carry

• ½ lb. ground turkey

• 2 gloves garlic, grated

• 1 inch ginger, grated

• ½ teaspoon ground cumin

• 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary

• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder

• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric

• 1/8 teaspoon chili powder, optional

• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/8 cup mint, finely chopped

• 1/8 cup cilantro, finely chopped

• 4 burger buns, or 8 slider buns

Toppings

(You can customize this to your liking but these are the few I found tasted best together.)

• 8 oz. Athenos feta cheese chunk

  • You can also use white cheddar if you don’t like feta.

• Red onion, sliced to your taste

• Tomato, sliced to your taste

• Iceberg lettuce, large leafed

Yogurt Sauce

• 5 oz. low fat greek yogurt

• 1 tablespoon cilantro, finely chopped

• 1 tablespoon mint, finely chopped

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• Pinch of salt

Directions (makes 4 burgers, or 8 sliders)

1. In a small bowl, mix together greek yogurt, cilantro, mint, lemon juice, garlic and salt. Set aside in refrigerator to top burgers with after cooked.

2. In a morter and pestle or spice grinder, blend together cumin, rosemary, onion powder, turmeric, chili powder and garam masala.

3. In a large mixing bowl, bring together lamb, turkey, spice mix, cilantro and mint. Gently work the mixture by hand until just combined, try not to overwork the meat.

4. Refrigerate for minimum 30 minutes; this mix be store up to 2 days.

5. Once the mix has chilled form 4 large patties, these should be about 6 ounces each, salt both sides and place on greased aluminum foil.

6. To cook in a cast iron skillet, coat skillet with thin layer of neutral oil and heat till you see a slight ripple in the oil.

   1. Add in 2 burgers at a time, to not crowd the pan, and cook covered for until preferred doneness. (I cook my patties 4 minutes per side for medium, 6 minutes for well. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 170 degrees F for medium.)

7. To cook on a grill, preheat grill to 350-40 degrees.

   1. Place burgers on greased aluminum foil onto grill and cook closed for 2 minutes.

   2. Flip burgers, keeping them on foil, and cook closed again for another minute.

   3. Move foil to empty grill space or onto a heat proof tray.

   4. Transfer individual burgers patties to oiled grill grate and allow patties to cook through with cover open. (I grill my patties 4 minutes per side for medium, 6 minutes for well. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 170 degrees F for medium.)

8. Serve on buns with your favorite toppings and yogurt sauce.