Someone posted up on Instagram recently a halloumi “burger.” No meat. Just a big slab of grilled halloumi with all the fixings. While I couldn’t quite get behind a meatless halloumi burger (I mean, don’t get me wrong, I post plenty of vegetarian burgers! My favorite being my black bean quinoa burger!), it did get me thinking on some Mediterranean flavors for a burger.
I have posted up a delicious Greek-inspired lamb burger, but I wanted to go more generalized Mediterranean… grab the flavors shared by that regional style of cuisine. Think tzatziki, hummus, halloumi, goat cheese, and roasted red peppers. I encourage you to make this with ground lamb, but it is just as delicious with ground beef!
This burger is MESSY! Grab an extra stack of napkins before digging into this bad boy (or bad girl ~ girls can be bad too, right?). Or you can do the ultimate sacrilegious thing and grab a fork and knife… No judgment here. Well, a little judgment here. Just a little. I did give my husband the side-eye when he grabbed a fork and knife… definitely considering he’s the king of napkins when it comes to a messy burger.
Anywho, this burger is as easy as any of my other burger recipes. A lot of people and even famous chefs swear by not flavoring the patty meat. I am 100% in utter disagreement with these people. It’s like suggesting you shouldn’t season or marinate your steak or chicken. Let me ask… is, say, a steak seasoned with salt and pepper better than an Asian marinated steak?? Or is chicken seasoned with salt and pepper better than, say, blackened chicken??? I think not my friends; I think not.
I am all about seasoning my burger patties, and how I season them varies depending on the type of burger I’m making. But, according to the world burger critic (aka, my teenage son), my burgers are unbeatable. Even my traditional, “basic” cheeseburgers have seasoned patties. For those, I tend to go with yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and a little bit of A-1 steak sauce. Trust me, AMAZING burgers! Seasoning your burger patties is life-changing. You. Will. Not. Go. Back.
So, I incorporated some of my traditional seasonings, using yellow mustard and Worcestershire sauce, even though they’re not that “Mediterranean.” But, trust me, it works and adds a nice umami flavoring to the meat that compliments the rest of the flavors. I also season the patties with paprika and cumin to pull the flavors together.
The other thing I generally opt to do is to pan fry my burgers on a cast iron pan. Why? Well, first, I don’t have a charcoal grill. I don’t find a gas grill adds any “flame-grilled” flavor to meat. It’s the flavor the charcoal gives that makes grilling worthwhile. But the other big reason is that it retains all the juices and any added liquid flavorings I add to the patties. For example, my Korean burgers are packed with both liquid and dry seasonings, and cooking them in a pan retains all that deliciousness. Also, if you like to toast your burger buns, they are so much more delicious when grilled in the burger drippings!
Before cooking the burgers, I fried up the halloumi first, searing each side for a minute or two. Then I set them on a plate while the burgers cooked… don’t stack them on a plate! You don’t want them to meld together! I cook my son’s and my burgers for 4 minutes per side for a perfect medium-rare. For a perfect medium, I’d recommend 5 minutes per side. And for hockey pucks, like my husband’s burger… ya know, just keep on cooking it until it’ll slide smoothly across the ice.
I returned the halloumi to the burgers for the last couple minutes of cooking to reheat and let them melt over the patties. I smeared garlic hummus on the bottom burger bun, added the burger patties with the cheese, then topped with roasted red peppers, a good dollop of tzatziki, before smearing the top bun with an awesome goat cheese spread!
Yes, there are a ton of different things going on with this burger! So many flavors! But they all meld really, really well together. I am totally jazzed with how this burger came out; I can’t wait to try slight variations on it in the future!
Enjoy!
Mediterranean Burgers with Fried Halloumi, Roasted Red Peppers, Tzatziki, & Garlic Hummus with a Cilantro Goat Cheese Spread
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Burgers, Mediterranean
- Cuisine: Dinner
Ingredients
Burgers
1½ lbs ground beef or lamb
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 TB yellow mustard
1 TB Worcestershire sauce
8 oz halloumi, cut into 8 even rectangles
Goat Cheese Spread
4 oz goat cheese crumbles
1 tsp cumin
handful cilantro (about ½ cup loosely packed)
To Serve
4 brioche buns
1 cup homemade or store-bought tzatziki
½ cup garlic hummus
1 jar roasted red peppers, drained
Instructions
In a medium bowl, mix together the ground beef or lamb with the ground cumin, paprika, yellow mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Form 4 equal patties.
In a small food processor, blend the goat cheese, ground cumin, and cilantro until smooth.
Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat and cook the halloumi for about 1 minute per side. Remove and set aside. Add the burgers and cook 4 to 5 minutes per side, depending on doneness preference. During the last 2 minutes of cooking, add the halloumi on top and cover the pan with a lid. Remove the burgers from the pan and toast the buns, if desired, for about 1 minute each.
Smear about 2 tablespoons of hummus on the bottom bun. Top with the burger and layer roasted red peppers on top. Smear goat cheese on the top bun and then dollop about 2 to 4 tablespoons of tzatziki on top. Top the burger and serve immediately. Great paired with Greek salad and fries! Enjoy!
Keywords: Mediterranean burger, burger with hummus, halloumi burger, burger with halloumi, Greek burger, lamb burger, burger with roasted red peppers, cilantro goat cheese
