Recipe: Healthier Hamburgers

I love my comfort food and from time to time I like to cook up a feast in the form of hamburgers. But where I would usually make that with a bun and loads of different toppings, I figured that you could easily change things up. Inspired by a Blogilates recipe, I decided to replace the bun for a roasted portobello mushroom and some sauteed onions on the side. This makes a great, quick and easy recipe for the weekend.

Healthier hamburgers

The original recipe called for making your own patties. But this is the lazy girl version and I just used store bought hamburgers instead. I find them tastier and more like a ‘real’ hamburger than when I squash some beef together myself. I just don’t find that the texture comes close to the real thing. So that’s why I call these healthiER option, not a healthy option. They’re still burgers afterall.

Total time: 20 minutes. Prep time: 5 mins. Cooking time: 15 mins. Serves: 2.

Ingredients:

• 2 portobello mushrooms
• 2 hamburgers (I froze the two that were left and saved them for a rainy day)
• 1/2 onion

I roasted my mushrooms using my oven, but if you don’t have one, you can easily stick these on a grill pan too. You just need something that will cook them, without overdoing it or needing a lot of oil.

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 180 C or 350 F.

Step 2: Line a baking tray, with aluminum foil and place your mushrooms on top. I drizzled mine with some olive oil for added flavor.

Step 3: Roast in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes.

Step 3: Cut up your onion.

Step 4: Get some butter going in your pan and place your onion and hamburgers in at the same time. This will make the onions cook longer, which should have them caramelize nicely. Cook your hamburgers according to the instructions on the packaging.

Step 5: You mushroom should come out of the oven looking nice and browned. It should feel soft to the touch, but not mushy. It’s okay if it is still a little firm.

And then it’s time to serve! You can eat it as is, or add some sauce for a bit of extra naughty goodness. Not the type of dish I will make in the middle of summer, but on a cold, dreary day, this is the best comfort food in the world.

What comfort food do you like?