When you’re craving a burger, these healthy hamburger bowls are a perfect way to hit the spot! With elevated ingredients including air fried sweet potato fries, pickled red onions, and a spicy arugula base, they’re a great option for a high protein, lower carb meal.
Nothing beats a good burger and is a meal the whole family can usually agree on. But if you don’t want the heaviness of the bun or don’t happen to have buns on hand, you can make these delicious loaded hamburger bowls instead.
Just gather your favorite burger toppings, and make the juiciest burger with my fail-proof easy method. This salad style meal is perfect for an easy dinner or a meal prep lunch, and is highly customizable with your favorite toppings. And check out some of my other great beef meal prep and family dinner recipes including beef teriyaki bowls, tip steak with potatoes and tri-tip in the crockpot.
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Why you’ll love these healthy burger bowls
- Delicious and juicy burgers, made using an easy and fail-proof method. You’ll love this recipe and enjoy it in these burger bowls or for traditional burger night when you’re serving them on buns.
- High in protein and nutritious thanks to additional veggies so you get extra fiber and nutrients. By layering the burger patty on nutrient dense salad greens, and adding sweet potatoes, tomatoes and avocado, you’re creating a nutrient dense meal!
- Great to feed a family or crowd. Just set up a bar with these suggested toppings and any others you fancy, and let your guests create their own burger bowl concoctions. It’s like a fun salad bar!
- Quick, easy and simple ingredients. Don’t feel like slogging through a complicated dinner recipe? I feel you, that’s why I love creating easy bowl recipes where everyone can assemble their own. Easy on the cook for prep and cleanup!
Ingredients needed for hamburger bowls
- Lean ground beef or lean ground turkey. Go for the lowest fat ratio you can find, as it will create non-greasy yet still delicious burgers and be more heart healthy.
- Sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges like thick-cut fries.
- Salad greens like arugula or romaine lettuce are most recommended. While iceberg lettuce is the typical green of choice for burgers, these aren’t your typical burgers.
- Cherry tomatoes instead of beefsteak tomatoes allow for you to get bright bite size bursts of flavor!
- Pickled onions – this gives the burger bowls some tang and replaces boring old fresh onions and also provides the sour bite you would normally achieve with dill pickles.
- Feta cheese – swap out traditional American cheese or cheddar cheese for feta. We’re elevating the cheeseburger bowl, remember?!
- Avocado – lastly you need some creamy avocado to provide rich yumminess and of course some healthy fats.
Ingredients to make an extra tasty and juicy burger
You’ll need Worcestershire sauce, quinoa flakes (or bread crumbs), 1 egg, a bit of milk, and then seasonings including garlic powder, onion powder, salt & pepper.
For the special homemade burger sauce
For the special sauce, all you need is fresh lime juice, Greek yogurt and sriracha sauce or your favorite hot sauce of choice.
How to make the most delicious burger patties
It’s really simple to make juicy and flavorful burgers, even when using extra lean ground beef. It’s all about adding some a couple of extra ingredients beyond just herbs and spices and then forming the patties in a shape that will allow the juices to stay intact.
Start by adding the ground beef, milk, quinoa flakes, egg and herbs & spices to a large mixing bowl. With your hands, mix the ingredients till well incorporated. Press the hamburger mixture into a somewhat flat mound and then with a knife, score the meat evenly into 6 parts.
Take each section of the hamburger meat and form it into a hamburger patty. The thickness should be about 1-1.5 inches. Set each formed patty on a parchment lined baking sheet. With the backend of a spoon, gently press an indentation into the center of the patty. This trick will keep the burgers from puffing up in the middle and getting really swollen.
Now you’re ready to grill the burgers! On an outdoor grill or an indoor grill pan, or better yet, in a cast iron skillet, start cooking the burgers. On medium-high heat, cook each burger till browned on each side and cooked to your desired doneness. We like ours medium-rare, so we cook them for about 5 minutes per side.
When done cooking, remove from the pan and set aside.
Cooking the sweet potato wedges
Peel and slice up the sweet potatoes into thick wedges. Toss with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper, and roast in the oven or cook in the air fryer. You can use my easy air fryer sweet potato wedges recipe that will not disappoint for crispy fries.
Assembling the hamburger bowls
In a small bowls, assemble your hamburger bowls by layering all the yummy ingredients. Start with the salad greens, then add in the sweet potato wedges, and delicious juicy ground beef burger patties. Top with the fresh veggies including the grape tomatoes and avocado, and garnish with the feta cheese and pickled onions.
If you’d like to make the special burger sauce, all you do is stir together ¼ Greek yogurt with the juice of ½ lime and a squeeze of hot sauce or sriracha. Stir and drizzle on these easy burger bowls.
Recipe Tips for these yummy burger salad bowls
- Burger patties can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge till ready to cook. No need to allow them to come to room temperature before cooking.
- Quinoa flakes are a great binder and add a tiny bit of fiber to the burgers, but if you have trouble finding this ingredient, use bread crumbs. Panko or regular bread crumbs work just as well.
- Keep the ground beef or ground chicken on the lean side to eliminate a lot of excess grease from the burgers. You don’t want burger grease dripping all over your yummy fresh salad ingredients.
- If you are short on time, feel free to just cook up the ground beef instead of making burger patties. This will feel more like a taco bowl, but the toppings will still scream burger bowl!
These healthy burger bowls have all the delicious flavors of a burger, but are a lot more customizable and a smidge healthier. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does! If you give them a try please consider leaving a comment and review.
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Hamburger Bowls
Equipment
- 1 Air Fryer
- 1 Cast Iron Skillet
Ingredients
To make the burger patties
- 1.25 lb lean ground beef use a standard package, get as lean as possible
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoon quinoa flakes or breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce you can also use balsamic vinegar
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¾ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
To make the sweet potatoes
- 2 small sweet potatoes peeled and cut into wedges
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
To make the special burger sauce
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoon lime juice adjust according to taste preference
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce adjust according to taste preference
Burger bowl toppings/garnishes
- Salad greens arugula or romaine lettuce
- pickled onions
- feta cheese
- cherry tomatoes
- avocado slices
Instructions
To make the burger patties
- Combine all burger patty ingredients into a large mixing bowl and incorporate with your hands until all ingredients are well combined.1.25 lb lean ground beef, 1 egg, 3 tablespoon quinoa flakes, 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce, ¾ teaspoon garlic powder, ¾ teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper
- Flatt patty mixture into a flat disc and score meat, dividing it up into 6 equal parts. Take each part and form a burger patty about 1.5" thick, and place on a parchment lined sheet pan.
- With the back of a spoon, indent a small circle into the center of the burger patty to avoid the burgers puffing up during cooking.
- Cook in a cast iron skillet on medium-high heat or a grill until desired doneness is reached. For medium rare, cook for about 5 minutes per side.
To make the sweet potato wedges
- In a bowl, combine the sweet potatoes with the olive oil and herbs and spices. Toss well then place in a 375 degree preheated air fryer or oven for about 12-14 minutes. See detailed instructions in my air fryer sweet potato wedge recipe.2 small sweet potatoes, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
To make the special burger sauce
- Combine the Greek yogurt, lime juice and hot sauce in a small jar and stir/shake till well combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.¼ cup Greek yogurt, 2 teaspoon lime juice, 1 teaspoon hot sauce
Assemble the hamburger bowls
- In a bowl, layer the salad greens then the sweet potato wedges and place a burger patty on top. Add desired garnishes and drizzle with special sauce. Add desired toppings and enjoy!Salad greens, pickled onions, feta cheese, cherry tomatoes, avocado slices
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