These Middle Eastern Burgers are known as “ima burgers” in our home. With a flavor reminiscent of kebab, these slider-sized burgers get their flavor from a traditional combination of typical Middle Eastern ingredients and spices – cumin, onion, garlic, cayenne and fresh herbs. Throughout the years I have added my own touches to the original recipe, like turmeric and smoked paprika, for even more flavor.
Growing up, my husband used to watch his ima (the Hebrew word for mom) in her Israeli kitchen while she made these Middle Eastern-style burgers, studying the way she would chop the herbs and spice the meat. Her method of soaking a slice of bread in oil, then shredding it and stirring it into to the meat, adds moisture. Bread stretches the amount of servings per pound of beef. It also adds moisture, meaning you can use a leaner cut of meat and still get a very juicy burger. Nowadays I tend to omit the bread (which makes the burgers gluten free), but you can add it using the optional recipe note below.
We don’t eat beef very often, reserving it for special occasions, but once in a while we all crave this recipe. I am more than happy to oblige if we have organic grass fed meat on hand. They are so easy to make! Cook the burgers by pan-frying or grilling them for that smoky char-grilled flavor.
We usually serve these Middle Eastern Burgers with a side salad and no bun to cut down on calories. The recipe amounts below create slider-sized burgers, which is the way we make them, but you can also make larger burgers if you prefer. Serve alongside some Middle Eastern mezze for a healthy and delicious meal. Top them with spicy sriracha mayo for a really zesty flavor.
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Food Photography and Styling by Kelly Jaggers
Middle Eastern Burgers
Ingredients
Burger Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley or cilantro, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons onion, very finely minced
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (more or less to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (more or less to taste)
- 1 slice white bread (optional - see note below)
- Olive oil (optional, for pan frying - can also be grilled)
Sriracha Mayo Sauce Ingredients (optional)
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoon sriracha sauce
NOTES
Instructions
Middle Eastern Burgers
- Place ground beef in a medium mixing bowl. Add the parsley or cilantro, onion, egg, cumin, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika and turmeric. Cayenne is very spicy - the amount here will give the burgers a slight kick, but won't add a lot of heat. If spice sensitive, adjust to taste. Add salt and pepper to taste - I usually add about 1/2 tsp each of salt and black pepper.
- Omit bread if keeping recipe gluten free or keto. If adding bread, cut the crust off of your piece of bread. Pour 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil onto a small plate. Soak the crustless bread in the olive oil, turning the slice once, until all the oil is soaked up by the bread. Shred and crumble the oil-soaked bread into tiny pieces and add it to the other burger ingredients.
- Stir all ingredients with a fork and/or clean hands until the spices and herbs are well blended with the meat.
- Gather the meat mixture in 1/4 cupfuls and make small thick patties (they will shrink up during cooking).
- Cook the patties. If grilling, grease the preheated grill before you start cooking. Grill for 15-20 minutes until cooked through to desired doneness. Cooking times may vary by grill type. Brush the burgers with olive oil periodically as they grill to keep them nice and moist.
- If you prefer not to grill the burgers, you can cook them in a skillet using 1/4 cup of olive oil. Heat the oil over medium heat. Fry the burgers for 10-15 minutes, flipping occasionally, until cooked through to desired doneness.
Nutrition
Hello Ms. Avery,
Came by for a burger receipe but when I saw your pretty face I had to say hello.
Came out great.
Thanks for your help!
Bill
Hi Bill! Thanks for writing. Glad you liked the burgers! 🙂
Hi Tori, I am so thankful to HaShem to have found your website. I have made tons of different recipes from your website and all of them have been a joy to my mouth and belly :). I get so many complements that I have become a big fan of your cooking. This one in particular was a big hit. I made meatballs instead of burger and it worked great too. Thank you so much for posting them. Blessings.
These were delicious. I used a slice of gluten-free bread, which is smaller than a standard slice, but it seemed to be enough. It’s really important to cut off all the crust! I found a couple of hard bits of crust I hadn’t managed to trim as I was massaging in the olive oil and wouldn’t have wanted to bite down on them. I had a shallot so I used that instead of onion, and I made them big, 1/4 lb each, and skillet-fried them. I cut back on the salt and the cayenne, and they were still totally yummy. Thank you for posting this recipe way back when, though I just discovered it today 🙂
Can I put these burgers in the oven? I was thinking maybe 400d 10 min each side?
Hi, these sound great! My Ima used to use a white dinner bun instead of slice of bread to make her burgers. She would pull the insides out of the bun and soak it . I am going to make these burgers tonight as well, I am making the hamburger buns to go with them. There is a great hamburger bun recipie on the King Arthur Flour website. It is easy easy to make and utterly delicious .
This recipe looks amazing but I was just wondering if I can use breadcrumbs instead of the white bread, and if so how much? Thanks! Can’t wait to try it!
Hi Shuli– sure, that works, but I prefer them made with bread. It doesn’t have to be white bread, as long as it’s not particularly grainy. Challah works well too. Bread will soak up the olive oil without clumping and give these burgers an awesome texture. Do try it, you won’t be disappointed.
Hi there
My name is eli
A chef from Iran
I’ll be happy to visit the website
Sorry I can not speak English very good
In addition, your recipes are great
Just tried this! Easy & super juicy-licious!!!
This is a keeper! Even my picky 4 year old finished this to the last bit!
So glad you liked it Sara! It is one of our family favorites!
Great recipe. I have to agree with Isabelle’s comment about your mother-in-law’s cleverness in creating a kosher, dairy-free panade for her burgers.
For those who don’t speak Hebrew, I thought I’d point out that “Ima” is pronounced “ee-ma,” not “eye-ma.”
Oh my goodness, just made these- they are out of this world!!!! Keep it coming with these awesome recipes!!!! thank you
Hey lady. I finally found the sauce. Yeah. So I did these up and they are on the blog. They are amazing Tori. We loved them. I can’t do the mayo but the guys had it and loved it. I even used it for fry dip. The burgers just blew my mind. Thanks so much. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
You are the sweetest, Kim. So happy you enjoyed the burgers! http://cravingsofalunatic.blogspot.com/2011/08/shiksas-ima-burgers-and-foodbuzz-thank.html
Try adding a little ketchup and water to the mayo and sriracha for a great sauce. I love this over boiled eggs or a quick sandwich. Great recipes Tori!
When I lived in Israel we called them (I do not know the correct spelling ) Pitzezot
Ima must be my mom too 🙂 Very similar to Turkish kofte! Cumin makes everything good 🙂
Hi Tori~ I made these tonight for dinner and they were great. DH just loved them. I had planned on grilling them but due to circumstances beyond my control I was forced to pan fry them. Now, I’m really not a big fan of frying burgers but I have to say these came out so juicy and tender that I was really surprised. I’m thinking that these would be great with ground lamb too! Thanks for a great and easy recipe! ~Peggy
Happy you enjoyed them Peggy! I bet they would be terrific with ground lamb too, great idea. 😉
Just cooked those burgers for my “Ima” and she liked them very much. The Sambal Oelek I used was a little junkie as you feared but I smashed in a food processor with the majonaise and some garlic.
Hence I gonna have a non meat barbecue this Monday I gonna try it with Tofu and Thuna.
Glad you found a way to make the sambal oelek work for you Matthias! Hope your meatless Monday BBQ turned out great. 🙂
These look really good. I am making them tomorrow night for dinner. I am a big fan of sriracha. Thank you for posting the recipe.
Hope you enjoyed the burgers, Swamp Dawg! (gotta love that name) I’m a big fan of sriracha, too. 🙂
Hey Tori, I am going to make these this weekend, sunday to be exact. The only thing I do not have is the sriracha sauce. I have never used it and not sure where to get it. Going to the high end market tomorrow so here’s hoping they have it. This area is horrible for foodies. Hard to find what seems normal to most people. Very frustrating. Will let you know how they turn out.
That can be so frustrating, Kim, I know! Next week I’ll be posting a recipe for harissa which could be subbed for the sriracha, but that won’t help if you’re making them this weekend. Most of the larger grocery store chains will have sriracha in the Asian foods section. Good luck!
how sweet and nostalgic of him! Every now and then I crave something my mom would make for me too. Its amazing how those simple things stick with us. These look tasty.
Tori! These look incredible!! All your ingredients compliment each other so well and I bet this is delicious! Making these for my boyfriend this weekend for sure! 🙂