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
I’m planning on making these for Chanukah along with some lamb chops and the latkes. Perfect that they are fried in olive oil.
I made these without the bread, rolled them into meatballs, and baked them with my cubed butternut squash at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes. They were delicious! I was surprised that they were so juicy with such lean meat and no added liquids.
Glad you enjoyed them Else!
Thanks Tori, Making these tomorrow. My mom made a Slovak version with bread, minus some of your spices.
Can you make this recipe with ground turkey? Love your website and recipes. Shabbat Shalom Liz
Yes for sure! It’s also great with ground chicken, or a mix of chicken/turkey. We make it that way often.
I made this recipe for dinner, along with some steamed veggies and kimchi (and oatmeal raisins cookies for dessert). I modified a few things, didn’t add onions, used the bread in oil method, formed 4 patties and let them rest in the fridge for about 4 hours. Very flavorful and simple.
Excellent! Made these for the second time and my wife and I loved them.
Perfect grilling idea. Love how you added turmeric. Thank you and enjoy your day 🙂
Hi,
Thanks for sharing such a tasty recipe here. Keep sharing & keep it up.
Another great recipe. I made it grilled with ground turkey and it was awesome!
Dear Tori,
Loving all of your recipes and sharing your amazing site with all my foodie friends. Thank you!
Thanks Carmen!
I might want to try this with lamb instead of ground beef. Going to pin it to try later
How about using some ground lamb? Maybe half & half with the ground beef. I think that would add a “doner kebab” flavor.
I have done it this way with excellent results, go for it!
Hello Tori,
I just discovered your nice blog ; thanks for sharing your recipes.
Concerning these little burgers, I wish to give you a tip.
My mother do the same (except that she soaks the bread in milk to add moisture ; and she ads dried mint too omitting the garlic) burger and we call it “köfte” because we are Turks from Izmir. There are so many ways of making turkish köfte (with or without garlic, kasar cheese, potato or even rice….) but my mom do quite the same as your ima.
Now her tip : once the patties are formed, she put them in the fridge for at least half an hour until a whole night ; this enables the flavors to impregnate correctly the meat.
I have eaten non fridged and fridged köfte ; believe me the fridged ones are so flavorful, very far away from the non fridged ones’s taste.
Next time give them a try this way, you won’t be deceived.
Greetings from Strasbourg where I live.
Great tip Emine! 🙂 My husband’s mom used olive oil for the bread; she kept kosher, and because of this she didn’t mix milk and meat at mealtimes. The refrigeration for ” flavor marination” is a great idea!
I didn’t have any bread and made the burgers with a scant 1/4 cup bread crumbs soaked in the amount of olive oil called for in the recipe. It worked great!
Super delicious! The bread in oil helps keep the meat juicy. Whatever recipe of yours I make it’s always a big hit.