Rice Free Basil-Pesto Beef Burgers
Juicy, herb-forward, and built entirely without a single grain in sight, these burgers are the kind of meal that makes you forget you're working around any restriction at all. The homemade pesto is the real star here — fresh basil, garlic, and tiger nuts blended with good olive oil and a squeeze of lemon create a bright, nutty sauce that clings beautifully to each patty. Tiger nuts stand in for the traditional pine nuts, delivering a subtly sweet, earthy richness that works surprisingly well in a classic pesto format. The 80/20 ground beef gets a gentle seasoning of salt and ground ginger before hitting a hot skillet with coconut oil, building a deeply browned crust that locks in all the flavor. Butter lettuce leaves replace the bun entirely, keeping things crisp and light while holding everything together with a satisfying crunch. It's the kind of workaround that doesn't feel like a workaround — just a genuinely delicious burger that happens to skip the bread and the rice-based fillers you'd find in some store-bought patties or sauces. Serve them straight off the pan with a spoonful of pesto and a few rings of red onion, and dinner is done.
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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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