Persian Burgers

Persian Burgers are tasty hamburgers bursting with flavor.  Saffron and grated onion are kneaded into the meat. Stack them up with tomatoes and onions for a hearty, tasty meal.

This recipe is for fabulous kabob burgers that are healthy, super delicious, and almost too cute to eat.  Once you have a taste, however, you will be popping them away!

These modern hamburgers are modeled after the infamous koobideh kabab, a mouth-watering kabab made of ground beef and lamb that is grilled and sold on the streets in Iran and is served in fancy restaurants along with other types of meat kababs.  Persian burgers are basically kababs shaped into hamburgers and served with a bun.  The combination of unique spices and flavors, charbroiled taste, and raw onions kneaded into the fatty meat creates juicy, flavorful meat that is near impossible to resist.  

Normally I stick with ground turkey for my recipes.  In this recipe, I combine both ground turkey and lean organic ground beef to make these little burgers extra tasty.  If you can find ground lamb the flavor would be more authentic to kabab and very delicious. 

Health benefits:

• high protein in lean meats
• well balanced
• low fat

In Persian cuisine, kabab is served with a special spice called sumac.  Most commonly found in middle eastern dishes, sumac gives a citrusy flavor, especially nice on red meats.  To keep the taste similar we add sumac straight into the meat mixture.

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Unique ingredients:

• whole grated raw onion
• saffron
• sumac
• egg
• bread crumbs
• dried mint (optional)

Egg and bread crumbs are used as binding agents.

I grilled these little burgs inside using a grill pan however they would be even tastier grilled on a regular outdoor grill. 

 The great thing about having an indoor grill pan is that you can cook up barbeques anytime rain or shine. 

Traditionally, melted butter is often poured over the tops of koobideh kabab after grilling for even moister, rich flavor.  In keeping with healthier options, we skip the butter.  Adding aromatic spices ensures that skipping extra fat won’t be missed.  These cute little burger bites have a slight orange color attributed to the saffron I mix in for Persian flair. 

Bloomed saffron threads

Mini buns are fun and helpful with portion sizing however they can be tricky to find.  Brioche buns are delicious with these burgers. 

If you can’t pin down slider buns, Brioche buns are fantastic with these kabab burgers.  I was thrilled to find a really good tasting wheat brioche bun from Whole Foods.

For the Fixin’s on these mini burgers, we like to keep it simple.  The veggies that typically go with kabob are tomatoes and onions.  Slice them thick and stack it up.

Unique topping options:

• fresh sliced tomatoes and onions
• Mast o Khiar | Persian Cucumber and Yogurt Dip
• Hummus

For variation and even more of a middle eastern touch, try Persian burgers with a dollop of Persian Cucumber and Yogurt Dip | Mast O Khiar!  Spreading homemade hummus on top is yummy too.

If you like the flavor notes of these Persian slider burgers, you will also love our recipe for Easy Greek Meatballs.

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