Next time you grill up some burgers, take your guests to the mediterranean with this ultimate recipe for lamb burger with feta and garlic dill mayonnaise.
Lucky for us, May is National Burger Month. Although I don’t many burger recipes (I really need to change that!), I do love a fabulous burger! For me, homemade burgers are the BOMB!
I like them big, fat and juicy, requiring two hands to hold together. And of course, the very best burgers are grilled over fire, for a little touch of smoky goodness. Today I am sharing something my whole family enjoys, this fabulous Greek inspired lamb burger.
Why you should try this recipe
Lamb is one of the staple meats in Persian cuisine. We use lamb shanks in stews, marinate leg of lamb in yogurt and grill it, and use ground lamb for kabob. But here in the US, lamb can be expensive and hard to find.
If you were not raised on lamb, then perhaps you are not fond of the flavor. But my family is simply crazy about lamb, so I do my best to keep it on the family menu.
Lamb is also a popular meat in the Mediterranean Diet. I wanted my lamb burger to reflect all the fabulous colors and flavors found in the Mediterranean. This means fresh vibrant herbs like oregano, dill and chives.
The lamb burger is flavored with onions, garlic, and coriander. And of course, my Mediterranean lamb burger is topped with feta and pepperoncinis along with fresh vegetables like cucumbers, tomatoes red onion and arugula.
My kids are used to regular burgers but they were totally willing to try these lamb burgers. And yes, they went nuts for them and quickly asked me to make them again. We have a winner!
Ingredients you need
Burger Ingredients
- Ground lamb: If you only want a little bit of lamb flavor, you can mix half ground lamb with half ground beef.
- Onions: Grating the onions help the flavor meld better with the meat. You can use regular brown, white or red onions.
- Garlic: I’m a huge fan of fresh garlic, but you can use garlic powder instead.
- Fresh oregano: Just like the garlic, I’m a huge fan of fresh but you can use dried oregano.
- Seasonings: Ground coriander, kosher salt and pepper
Garnish Ingredients
- Garlic mayonnaise: mayonnaise, fresh dill, lemon juice, lemon zest, chives and garlic
- Feta: I used crumbled feta but you can add a slice of feta. Greek feta is more dry then French or Bulgarian feta.
- Persian cucumbers
- Tomato
- Red onion
- Arugula
- Pepperoncinis
- Hamburger buns
Step-by-step directions
1. In a bowl, combine lamb, grated onions, 2 crushed garlic cloves, coriander, oregano, salt and pepper. Let mixture sit for one hour for the flavors to meld together.
2. To make the mayonnaise, mix together mayonnaise with lemon zest, lemon juice, 1 crushed garlic, chopped dill and chives. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
3. Divide meat into 6 equal portions and shape each into a patty that is ½-inch-thick and roughly ½-inch wider than the burger buns.
Using your thumb, make an indentation into the center of each burger patty. This prevents burgers from doming up in the center while it cooks.
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4. I personally prefer to cook my lamb burgers on the grill, with some hardwood lump coal or wood chips for smoky flavor. But I live in Southern California, where it’s grilling season 365 days out of the year. And of course, not everyone is blessed with this kind of weather!
If you can’t grill then you can totally cook lamb burgers on the stove. I like to use my cast iron grill pan. The grill pan lets the lamb burger cook to perfection allowing the fat drippings to collect underneath, away from your burger and mimicking a grill. And because it’s a cast iron pan, you get excellent even heat to cook your burger.
5. To assemble the lamb burgers, place a patty inside a hamburger bun and spread garlic dill mayonnaise on top along with a sprinkling of crumbled feta. Add slices of pepperoncinis, cucumbers, tomatoes and onions with a pile of arugula.
Recipe tips and FAQs
For my lamb burgers, I created an extra special garlic dill aioli for it. What is an aioli? It’s basically a fancy mayonnaise seasoned with garlic. This garlic mayonnaise also has lemon zest, lemon juice and fresh dill and chives. It is so incredible and the perfect topper for this lamb burger.
If you are low carbing it, feel free to omit the bread, wrap in butter lettuce leaves or use some cloud bread. My kids wanted french fries with their lamb burgers, so I topped them with feta and some more oregano to keep the Greek theme going. You can also serve your lamb burger with cucumber tomato salad (Shirazi Salad) – another family favorite!
Can lamb burgers be cooked rare?
There is a great debate on how well cooked your burgers should be. When I enjoy steak, there’s no question to how done I like it: medium rare, baby! But with steaks, any harmful bacteria sits on the surface of cuts of meat. They are killed off by searing and cooking the meat, even when the center is left rare.
But burger meat is minced and mixed together, so the harmful bacteria is all over, including the center of the meat and can only be killed if cooked completely. This is the case whether you are using ground beef or ground lamb.
Cooking your lamb burger to medium heat internally doesn’t mean you are left with a dry burger. However you like to enjoy your burger, I give instructions for either doneness in the recipe below.
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Yield: 6 burgers
Lamb Burger with Feta and Garlic Dill Mayonnaise
Next time you grill up some burgers, take your guests to the mediterranean with this ultimate recipe for lamb burger with feta and garlic dill mayonnaise.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Additional Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 25 minutes
Ingredients
New Group
- Burger Ingredients
- 2 lb ground lamb
- ½ cup grated onions
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed (divided)
- 2 TBS chopped fresh oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- Topping Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 4 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- ½ cup crumbled feta
- 2 Persian cucumbers, sliced
- 1 large tomato, sliced
- 1 red onion, sliced
- ¾ cup arugula
- 6 pepperoncinis
- 6 hamburger buns
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine lamb, grated onions, 2 crushed garlic cloves, coriander, oregano, salt and pepper. Let mixture sit for one hour for the flavors to meld together.
- To make the mayonnaise, mix together mayonnaise with lemon zest, lemon juice, 1 crushed garlic, chopped dill and chives. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- Preheat the grill to medium-high heat.
- Divide meat into 6 equal portions and shape each into a patty that is ½-inch-thick and roughly ½-inch wider than the burger buns.
- Using your thumb, make an indentation into the center of each burger patty. This prevents burgers from doming up in the center while it cooks.
- Brush grate with oil then place hamburger patties on the grill indentation-side up.
- Grill burgers for 4-5 minutes on each side (8 minutes total for medium-rare, 10 minutes total for medium). Let burgers rest 2-3 minutes.
- To assemble the lamb burgers, place a patty inside a hamburger bun and spread garlic dill mayonnaise on top along with a sprinkling of crumbled feta. Add slices of pepperoncinis, cucumbers, tomatoes and onions with a pile of arugula.
Notes
If serving with french fries, top potatoes with more crumbled feta, grated lemon zest and fresh oregano.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1 hamburger
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 768Total Fat: 48gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 28gCholesterol: 165mgSodium: 1830mgCarbohydrates: 36gFiber: 4gSugar: 10gProtein: 46g
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