Learn how to make healthy, low-fat burgers with low-fat ground beef that are still juicy and full of flavor. Adding a panade for moisture and seasoning lets you easily make healthy hamburger meat for burgers everybody will love.
🐄Ingredients
Lower-fat burger
Starch for panade—bread crumbs, crackers, oats, etc.
Seasonings—Worcestershire sauce and Montreal seasoning or salt, pepper, and other herbs and spices.
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It isn't easy to cook healthy burgers with ground beef that is more than 85% lean without drying and losing most of the flavor. But by adding a panade and seasoning, the moisture and flavor can be retained for great taste and tenderness low-fat beef hamburgers.
These burgers are low fat and low calorie due to the low-fat beef. The 4 oz. standard 80/20 ground beef has about 287 calories and 23 grams of fat, compared with 95/5 ground beef will be 155 calories and 8 grams of fat.
Severe with Crispy Baked French Fries and a garden salad for a classic meal. For other healthy burgers, try Ground Chicken or Turkey Burgers or Grilled Marinated Portobello Mushrooms.
👨🍳How to Cook Low-Fat Burgers on the Grill or Stovetop—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Preheat the grill on high, or for the stovetop, prepare a cast iron skillet or other large skillet with oil.
2. Prepare the starch for the panade, like crushed oats, crackers, bread, or panko bread crumbs.
3. Add the starch, Worcestershire sauce, Montreal Seasoning, or another seasoning to the low-fat burger. Mix well by hand, but do not overmix.
4. Form into ¼ to ⅓ pound burger patties about 3 ½ to 4-inch diameter and dimple the center to prevent puffing.
5. Cook over high heat on the grill or in a skillet with some oil over medium-high heat. Flip every 4-5 minutes until an internal temperature of 160°.
6. The cooking time will be about 10 minutes on the grill and a few minutes longer on the stovetop. Remove from heat and allow them to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
🌡️When are burgers done?
According to the USDA, ground beef must be cooked to an internal temperature of 160° for safety. If the burger contains ground poultry, such as chicken or turkey, the minimum safe internal temperature is 165°.
🐄Ingredient options and variations
Burger—Use 90 to 96% lean ground beef.
Starch for panade—riped bread, panko bread crumbs, crushed cracker, crushed oats.
Worcestershire sauce, while optional, will enhance the beef flavor, some of which is loss with the fat.
Seasoning: Season to your taste. Montreal Steak Seasoning is an easy shortcut that includes salt and pepper. I use my All Purpose Seasoning mix, but you can use any other seasonings, such as paprika, onion, or garlic powder.
🥣What is a panade?
A panade is a mixture of starch and liquid mixed into ground meat to add moisture and tenderness when cooked. It can also add flavors. A classic example is meatloaf.
Common starches are panko bread crumbs, bread, crushed crackers, or crushed oats. The liquid can be almost anything but commonly milk or other dairy products, broth, or water. In this recipe, we depend on the liquid already in the meat.
🍔Not low-fat burger recipes
Don't miss these other burger recipes, like Grilling Burgers, Juicy Lucy Burgers, Meatloaf Burger Patties, and Smoked Hamburgers.
🍴Serving suggestions
Serve on a whole wheat or other bun. Top with a slice of tomato, red onion, avocado, pickle slices, and lettuce. Add mustard, ketchup, or other condiments. Cheese and bacon may be added, but they defeat the low-fat theme.
Side dishes like a salad, Baked French fries, coleslaw, or veggies.
Baked French Fries
Learn the secrets to the best oven-baked French fries that are tasty, crispy, and healthier. Cut them yourself or use frozen fries. The perfect side dish for burgers or any casual meal.
❄️Storing leftovers
Leftovers may be stored airtight in the refrigerator for 4 days or frozen for 4 months. They can be reheated in the microwave, an air fryer, or a skillet.
❓FAQs
An indentation will prevent the burger from puffing up. Without this, you will almost burn the outside before the center is done.
The indentation in the center of a burger about one-third of the thickness of the pattie and the size of a quarter or a bit larger.
Sure, but ground chicken or turkey needs different handling, seasoning, and cooking temperatures—see Ground Chicken or Turkey Burgers.
During cooking, water is forced out of the meat's cells. By giving the meat some time off the heat, the water will be reabsorbed back into the cells, increasing moisture and tenderness.
🐄About lean ground beef
Everybody "knows" you should have an 80/20 hamburger for great taste and moisture. That is 20% fat; in a ¼ lb burger, it is over a tablespoon of fat. Ground turkey is usually 93/7, but lean ground beef will be 90/10 to 96/4 for extra lean ground beef. So lean ground beef can easily have about the same or less fat and calories than ground turkey.
📖The Recipe Card
Low-Fat Burgers
Save this recipe link to your inbox for later!
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef - 90-96% lean
- 2 tablespoons crushed oats, crushed crackers, bread, or panko bread crumbs
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Montreal seasoning - or seasoning of choice
- hamburger buns for serving
Instructions
Preheat the grill to high, clean, and oil the grates. For the stovetop, prepare a large pan, nonstick, or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat with a light coat of oil.- Prepare the starch for the panade, like crushed oats, crushed crackers, bread, or panko bread crumbs.
- To the burger, add the starch, ½ teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon of Montreal Seasoning, or another seasoning and hand mix, but don't overmix.
- Form into ¼ to ⅓ pound burger patties about 3 ½ to 4-inch diameter, then depress the center of the patties about a third of the thickness and about the diameter of a quarter to prevent puffing.
- Cook over high heat on the grill or in a skillet with some oil over medium-high heat. Flip every 4-5 minutes until an internal temperature of 160°—about 10 minutes on the grill but a bit longer on the stovetop.
- Remove from heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes
- Use 90% to 96% ground beef. Ground chicken or turkey needs different handling, seasoning, and cooking temperatures—see Ground Chicken or Turkey Burgers.
- Remember to indent the center of the burger. This will prevent the burger from puffing up, which can cause the outside to burn before the center is done.
- The minimum safe internal temperature is 160°.
- Nutrition is for a ¼ pound of 95/5 ground beef.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
© 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors.
Editor's Note: Originally Published August 15, 2010. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Ellen says
Hi Dr Dan, Your website is super helpful. My family really enjoyed these burgers, the pan seared oven baked chicken breasts and the roasted red potatoes. Thank you!
Travis says
Is there much grease? I just got out of the hospital with instructions to eat low fat, no fried or greasy foods.
DrDan says
Hi Travis,
Since this uses 95% burger, there is 11 gm fat in an 8oz burger. That is a large burger. Go down to a normal 1/4 to 1/3 pound burger will decrease the fat proportionately. The "quarter-pounder" is only 5.5 gms. That is low fat especially relatively to a full fat burger with about 24.
There is very little fat to drain here. The oats act to retain moisture and probably most of the fat stays also. Not much of anything drains from these burgers.
Your doctor probably gave you an number of fat grams per day so you can work it in.
Also, my best no-fat recipe is Zero Fat Biscuits and check the Low-Fat category at https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/category/low-fat/
Good luck with the diet.
Dan
Farzana Bilkes says
very useful, thanks