Homemade burgers can be great fun to make. Make sure you add plenty of salad vegetables to balance the meal.
Add extra flavour to your burger by adding some crushed garlic or herbs, or maybe even a pinch of chilli flakes? Why not have a ‘creative ingredients’ tray in the classroom so children can choose and create their own flavours? Get creative!
Skills Check
Follow a recipe; follow food safety & hygiene rules; tidy away; use measuring spoons and cups; cut using bridge/claw technique safely; mash; shape e.g. burgers, fish cakes; garnish and decorate.
Allergens
Wheat | Gluten | Milk | Fish | Soya | May contain sesame
(please note the allergens listed are indicative only. Allergens vary depending on brand; check the labels on the products you use)
Equipment
Pastry brush, baking tray, oven gloves, measuring cups and spoons, large mixing bowl, knife, fork, fish slice, chopping board.
Ingredients (makes 4 burgers):
- Olive or rapeseed oil
- 2 slices of fibre enriched white bread
- 2 tsp dried mixed herbs
- 4 tbsp semi skimmed milk
- 2 tsp soy or Worcestershire sauce
- 1 red onion, chopped finely
- 450g lean minced beef
- Black pepper
- 4 burger buns
- Seasonal salad vegetables (lettuce, tomato, onion)
Method
- Heat the oven to 200°C or Gas Mark 6. Then spread a little oil over a baking tray using a piece of kitchen paper or a pastry brush.
- Tear the bread into small pieces. Put it in a bowl with the mixed herbs and sprinkle over the milk and soy or Worcestershire sauce. Leave to soak for 2-3 minutes and then mash with a fork.
- Chop the onion finely and add it to the bread. Then add the beef and a little pepper.
- Mix everything together with your hands. Divide the mixture into four pieces and shape them into burgers.
- Put the burgers onto the oiled baking tray. Cook them in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Lift out the baking tray, turn the burgers over and cook them for 10 minutes more. Then check to see if they are cooked. Push a knife into the burger, then press the top. The juices that run out should be clear, not pink. If they are pink, bake for 10 more minutes and then check again.
- Place burger on a bun and add salad.
So thinking about Homemade Burgers ...
Beef mince is a great source of protein and iron, as well as some other vitamins and minerals; however it can also be high in fat so choose lean mince where possible.
Bread is a good source of complex carbohydrates which gives us energy. It is also a good source of fibre and B vitamins. In general, wholemeal bread tend to be more nutritious than white, and it also contains more fibre.
Don’t forget your salad vegetables too! One of your 5 -a-day.
Nutritional Information
- | Energy | 1414kJ / 335kcal | 17% |
Med | Fat | 7.8g | 11% |
Low | Saturates | 3.1g | 16% |
Low | Sugar | 5.8g | 6% |
Med | Salt | 1.2g | 20% |
per 247g burger, including bun, lettuce and tomato
% of an adult's reference intake
Typical values per burger: Energy 572kJ / 136kcal
Notes
A traffic light system is used on nutrition labels to make it easier to see which foods and drinks are lower in calories, fat, sugar and salt. Try and choose more ‘greens’ and ‘ambers’ and fewer ‘reds’, and stick to smaller portions of ‘reds’.
Just because a recipe or a food has a red traffic light doesn't mean you shouldn't eat it. Understanding why a food or recipe might have a red light can be helpful. For example oily fish is high in total fat and so any recipe containing oily fish is likely to be ‘red’ for fat. But it is recommended that we eat oily fish at least once a week because the type of fat it contains is beneficial for our health.
% Reference Intakes are also shown. Reference Intakes are guidelines about the approximate amount of particular nutrients and energy required for a healthy diet (based on an average-sized woman doing an average amount of physical activity). Most children will require less than these Reference Intakes. The contribution of one serving of a food or drink to the Reference Intake for each nutrient is expressed as a percentage.