Cauliflower Is The Answer To Stretching Out Beef Burgers

While there's no denying that ground beef is tasty, especially when formed into juicy burger patties, it's certainly not the healthiest food. Along with concerns about the health effects of red meat, many people aim to reduce their environmental impact by limiting their intake. Of course, red meat can also be expensive, which means that stretching packages of ground beef makes sense from a financial perspective. Surprisingly, cauliflower is a great solution to these conundrums, as it makes a wonderful addition when incorporated into ground beef patties.

This cruciferous vegetable is such a great pairing with red meat because it adds extra heft to burgers without having a major impact on flavor. Cauliflower has a relatively mild taste, with subtle nutty and sweet undertones. That makes it an ideal accompaniment to burgers, as the inherent flavor of cauliflower will complement the beef without overpowering it. You'll also need to process the cauliflower nice and fine to fully integrate it with the ground beef, which requires a careful approach.

The process for making cauliflower rice can also be used to create your healthy and budget-expanding burgers. Accordingly, there are some helpful tips on how to process cauliflower florets using a nifty and convenient food processor. Start by cutting a large head of cauliflower into smaller pieces (one large head should generate approximately four cups of rice). Discard the stems and deposit the chopped florets into the food processor.

Continue processing the florets until they resemble the consistency of rice. Depending on the size of the appliance, you may need to process the vegetable in batches (the food processor should only be about ¾ full to ensure efficiency). Next, take the cauliflower rice and add it to a frying pan on your stovetop. Set a stovetop burner to medium heat and cook the cauliflower rice for about eight minutes or until toasty. You can also add your preferred seasonings while the rice is still in the pan. From here, you can incorporate the rice into your ground beef and get to cooking.

You'll need a large bowl to deftly mix your cooked cauliflower rice with your ground beef. Just keep working the mixture until the rice is fully integrated into the ground beef to ensure a good flavor and texture. Next, take the ground beef and cauliflower mixture and form it into standard-sized burger patties, which will go into a pan with oil. Cook on both sides until the patties become pleasantly browned.

You can keep searing the patties until they're charred or try finishing them in an oven preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Layer parchment paper over a baking sheet, then spread out the patties on top of it. The burgers will most likely need to bake for about 10 minutes, but you can gauge their doneness with a meat thermometer (you can remove them from the oven once they reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit). You can also simply broil them for around five minutes on each side. Your cauliflower-infused burgers are now ready to be adorned and enjoyed by you, your family, and your guests.