Beef and Zucchini Burgers

Often times, when I read an interesting recipe on a food blog, I flag it and leave a comment like, "I want to try this recipe out!"  But when it comes time to actually cooking, I forget about these recipes and never actually attempt them.  I've been trying to be better about this and I have recently been on a real kick of trying new recipes out from food blogs or recipe sites.  It started with Meghan's White Bean Truffle Dip and most recently, I tried Janel's Crunchy Baked Chickpeas. 

Earlier this week, I saw a recipe on Healthy Delicious for Beef and Zucchini Burgers that I knew that I wanted to try.  When I lacked inspiration in the kitchen last night, I picked up the two simple ingredients - ground beef and a zucchini - for these burgers and decided to give it a whirl!

The preparation for these burgers are so easy.  First, you wash and peel the zucchini.  You then julienne the zucchini into thin ribbons.  I tried grating the zucchini at first because I was hesitant to have thin slices of zucchini in my burger but the grated zucchini was way too watery.  I switched to my hand julienne peeler and julienned the rest of the zucchini.  I squeezed the zucchini strips and grated zucchini with a cheesecloth to draw out the excess water.

The rest is easy.  You mix the zucchini with one pound of ground beef.  I chose an 85% lean mixture because I think it is good to have a little fat in your burger to keep it from being too dry.  I seasoned the burger and zucchini mixture with pinches of salt, pepper and Montreal steak seasoning.  Using my hands, I divided the burger into four thick patties.

Bret got to work pan-grilling these burgers while I prepared a simple side salad and got together some burger condiments.  Trust me, we have a ton of other options (especially mustard) but I narrowed it down and chose some of our favorites.

The burgers were so thick and juicy.  I totally could have gone with a leaner cut of meat because there is no way these burgers would have been dry.

Bret chose to top his burger with melted cheddar cheese.  But I couldn't have an ordinary burger so when the burger was almost done, I fried up an egg over easy.

If you know me, you know I can't resist a good runny egg yolk.  The runny egg yolk with dashes of hot sauce only made this burger even more delicious.  As for the burger, it was super moist.  Honestly, you couldn't taste the zucchini at all.  While this might discourage some of you from adding this to your burger, for me, it is a great way to add moisture and another vegetable in my meal with little effort at all.