Low Carb Spinach Burger Recipe

I’ve mentioned before how much I like to play hide the spinach, and this recipe is another great example! This is a super simple low carb meal you can whip up quickly, and feel good about eating. Not only is it healthy, it’s also delicious!

As you can see, this beautiful hamburger steak is FULL of spinach:

Spinach ranks as one of the world’s healthiest vegetables. It’s also a great low carb source for both magnesium and potassium.

Spinach is well known for its nutritional qualities and has always been regarded as a plant with remarkable abilities to restore energy, increase vitality and improve the quality of the blood.

There are sound reasons why spinach would produce such results, primarily the fact that it is rich in iron. Iron plays a central role in the function of red blood cells which help in transporting oxygen around the body, in energy production and DNA synthesis.

Spinach is also an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C and folic acid as well as being a good source of manganese, magnesium, iron and vitamin B2. Vitamin K is important for maintaining bone health and it is difficult to find vegetables richer in vitamin K than spinach. –source

 

Low Carb Spinach Burger Recipe

Let me preface this recipe by stating the obvious: I rarely cook. You may have different preferences and want to test different alternatives, which is totally fine. 🙂

I also use frozen vegetables often, for two reasons: 1) I like vegetables year-round, even when they’re not in season, and 2) I can cook the amount I need, when I want it.

I find I have less waste that way, which results in grocery savings. Again, that’s just my preference.

For this recipe I used Pictsweet Frozen Chopped Spinach. I like this product because the ONLY ingredient is… Spinach. 🙂 It’s also a small flat package, which stows away nicely in my freezer – and also stacks well when I stock up on it.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 pound 80/20 Ground Chuck
• 2/3 cup (packed) chopped spinach
• 1 large egg

 

Directions:

• Prepare spinach first. Drain liquid.
• Mix spinach, ground chuck, egg & salt – blend well.
• Patty into 3 large burgers & season to taste.
• Cover. Cook on medium. Drain liquid & brown on both sides.

 

Nutrition Facts:

 

Prepare the spinach first. I followed the directions for the Pictsweet Frozen Chopped Spinach: run under warm water for one minute, then microwave for 7 minutes. I stirred it to make sure it was evenly cooked, and drained off the liquid.

I put the spinach in a Rubbermaid container knowing I would have some leftover for my omelet this morning, and let the dish cool. No sense dirtying up more than one bowl, right? 🙂 Once the dish cooled, I put in a pound of 80/20 Ground Chuck, 2/3 cup of the chopped spinach, then stirred up 1 Large Egg and poured in:

Note: I used a 1/3 measuring cup, packed the spinach tight and drained off the liquid. Given it’s “packed” it may be more than a 1/3 cup “serving”, but just barely – because I still came out with 3 full 1/3 cups (the package says there are 3 1/2 servings).

Draining the liquid off the spinach + the egg makes the hamburger meat a good consistency that won’t fall apart on you in the skillet.

I added salt to the mixture to blend it in and bring out the natural flavors of the meat & spinach. I didn’t measure the salt, but simply gave it a few shakes. 🙂

Mix it all together with your hands like you would a meatloaf. Mix the spinach and egg into the meat evenly. While your hands are still “icky”, go ahead and patty out your hamburger steaks and put them into a non-stick skillet. I made 3 large hamburger steaks, but you could easily make four out of this recipe.

Notice the hole in the middle? 🙂 That’s a great trick anytime you’re cooking hamburgers or hamburger steaks. After you patty out your burger, use your finger to make a hole in the middle. This keeps it from shrinking up on you, meaning you don’t have to “squish it back down” – so it turns out juicier (less dry). 🙂

Season To Taste

I mentioned adding salt to the mixture before cooking. Once they were pattied and in the skillet, I sprinkled them with: Mrs. Dash, Garlic Salt and regular salt.

I cooked mine on medium heat, and started by covering the skillet so they would cook through. I took the cover off, drained off all the liquid (spinach puts out a lot of liquid!), flipped them and browned them nicely on both sides. Once done, I laid them each on a plate covered with a paper towel to let them drain.

While they were cooking, I salted & seared sliced yellow squash in olive oil.

It made for a perfect low carb, balanced healthy meal of a meat and two vegetables…

They had a very nice texture, great flavor, and the spinach isn’t at all overpowering. You’ll hardly realize you’re eating spinach!

They turned out juicy (not dry), but a little more dense than your typical hamburger steak. Here’s a picture of the inside to give you an idea of the great texture, and just how much spinach it has in it (almost half meat, half spinach):

 

Very filling, very healthy, very easy to make! Enjoy. 🙂

Best,
Lynn Terry
aka @LowCarbTraveler

---

---