Artificial Flavors Free Basil-Pesto Beef Burgers
Burgers this good don't need a bun to steal the show. The real star here is the homemade pesto — fresh basil, garlic, tiger nuts, and a squeeze of lemon blended into something bright and herbaceous that puts any jarred sauce to shame. Because every component is made from scratch with whole, recognizable ingredients, there's zero guesswork about what's actually in your food — no mystery flavor packets, no store-bought shortcuts hiding unwanted additives. The beef patties get a subtle warmth from ground ginger and cook up with a deeply browned crust that's genuinely hard to resist. Wrapping everything in crisp butter lettuce keeps things light and fresh while letting the pesto really shine. It's the kind of meal that feels indulgent but is built entirely on ingredients you can name and trust.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the pesto
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
- ¼ cup tiger nuts, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ¼ tsp salt
For the burgers
- 1 ½ lb ground beef (80/20)
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
For serving
- 8 large butter lettuce leaves
- ½ small red onion, thinly sliced (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Make the pesto: combine the basil, tiger nuts, and garlic in a food processor and pulse 8–10 times until coarsely chopped. With the machine running, drizzle in the olive oil in a steady stream and process until the pesto is mostly smooth with a little texture remaining. Add the lemon juice and 1/4 tsp salt, pulse once more to combine, then taste and adjust salt. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.
- 2
Divide the ground beef into 4 equal portions (about 6 oz each). Gently form each into a patty roughly 3/4 inch thick, pressing a shallow dimple into the center of each with your thumb. Season both sides evenly with the 1/2 tsp salt and ground ginger.
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