Really wanted burgers tonight, but didn't have any ground beef. What we did have though, was a ton of baby food meats.
(Most of the ingredients are WIC eligible, but even without that this would be budget friendly at around 1.12 per burger, would be closer to .87 cents if you omit the cheese slice)
I took two jars of baby beef puree and mixed with:
Two tablespoons oat flour
One packet of instant grits
One large egg
One Tablespoon of shredded cheese (it was a mix of cheddar and mozz)
A few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
A couple shakes of garlic and onion powder
Generous pinch of sage and salt
Idk how much you need the oat flour with the grits, I started the experiment by adding to the beef with little bit of oat flour I had left, but the.. meat batter was too runny, so I looked around for something to add and saw the box of instant grits and thought it could work to absorb moisture to like coaguate everything to make a firmer burger texture. I wanna try to this again with just grits no oat flour to see how it compares.
Anyway back to the process
Heated stainless steel pan on medium heat until it was hot enough to make the water droplets dance (the mixture starts off like a paste and you don't want it to stick too bad, I'm surewould be easier to avoid with non stick pan)
Added butter to cost pan, used a muffin scoop to drop in balls and then flattened into burger shape with fingers. Allow crust to form 3-5 minutes before flipping.
Cooked tilled brown on both sides and firm throughout. (As you see I didn't achieve an ideal crust but it was decent lol)
This was served topped with a slice of muenster cheese on an improvised bun (hot dog bun half's) alongside a roasted sweet potato. The youngest diner took his a la carte, plain, and bunless.
surprisingly tasty and filling meal for very low cost per serving. It fed two adults and a 10 month old for around 6 bucks
Baby food beef : 2.78
Instant grits pack: .18 cents
Tablespoon of shredded cheese mix: .12 cents
Two tablespoons oat flour: .20 cents
One egg: .22 cents
Two buns: .54 cents
Two slices of meunster cheese: .40 cents
Two large sweet potatoes: 2
These are my favorite kind of dinners because you never see them coming. The day started out looking one of those grilled cheese and tomato soup nights. But staring into the cupboard earlier I thought… "Naw, we are having burgers"
It wasn't perfect, I'll admit. I want to find a way to make the color a little darker, and maybe get a firmer bite. But it was tasty, and definitely worth the money and time (took maybe 30 minutes at most from idea to burger time)
This recipe perfected and then served for maximal appeal – good toasted buns, lto, condiments etc could one day push the culinary limits of a pantry burger.
by LimitlesslyLiminal
13 Comments
Pan Fried Pantry Burgers
Ingredients
2 jars baby beef purée
2 Tbsp oat flour
1 packet instant grits
1 large egg
1 Tbsp shredded cheese (cheddar/mozzarella mix)
Worcestershire sauce, a few dashes
Garlic powder & onion powder, to taste
Pinch of sage and salt
Butter, for the pan
Instructions
1. In a bowl, mix baby beef purée, oat flour, instant grits, egg, shredded cheese, Worcestershire, garlic powder, onion powder, sage, and salt until a thick paste forms.
2. Heat a stainless steel (or nonstick) pan over medium until hot; add butter to coat.
3. Scoop mixture into the pan (muffin scoop works well) and flatten into burger patties.
4. Cook 3–5 minutes per side, letting a crust form before flipping, until browned and firm throughout.
5. Serve on buns with cheese if desired, or plain/bunless. Great with roasted sweet potatoes on the side.
no
Would.
Honestly this is such a good idea. I bet they taste terrific. I’m a meat eater but I really like Boca burgers and these sound like they’d be akin to that. 💕💕
kudos to you for being creative with your food. I wonder if you could also do like a veggie burger type thing with some of the other veggie purees?
I love the ingenuity 😊
This is absolutely genius!
I make veggie burgers with sweet potatoes and black beans. You could probably firm up the texture by mixing in mashed baked sweet potato (not sweet potato puree lol).
My grandparents used to make their burgers in a similar way (not as intense): they’d shred a bunch of white bread up, season it, toast it and then mix it with ground beef. They’d basically cut their ground beef with it but use a ton of bread (like 50/50 bread to beef).
I LOVED it and still love it, it has this weird texture like sausage but is super beefy because the bread sucks up the fat and grease. Still do it to this day when I’m cooking for myself.
Genius! I also applaud your ingenuity! 👏👏
If you have a box of stuffing, that works too. I make meatballs with prepared stuffing and ground beef, no eggs needed.
If you don’t mind a vegetarian alternative, I blend a can of beans with some oats, some onion, and some seasonings until it’s a semi workable texture. I form patties, put them on a plate and put them in the fridge for 20 minutes and then fry them for a few minutes on each side. One can of beans can make 8 or so patties. Can of beans ~$1, a few scoops of oats ~$0.30, some onion ~$0.25 so like $0.19 a patty. The get are pretty good if you season them well and much healthier for you and you’ll stay fuller longer. 🤷♀️ But love your creativity! I love seeing what people can come up with.
I understand this will inexpensive and probably taste fine. There must be a similar cost to getting beef in bulk and having the same cost.