Greek-Style Lamb Burgers

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If you like Greek food, you’ll love these flavorful lamb burgers topped with tzatziki, feta, tomatoes and red onions.

Greek-style lamb burgers on a wooden surface with burger toppings.

These Greek-style lamb burgers topped with tzatziki, feta, and all the fixins’ are a fun way to change up the standard cookout fare. The secret to making the burgers extra flavorful and juicy is mixing a panade, or bread and milk paste, into the ground meat along with lots of seasoning. You can’t taste the panade, but it guarantees tender and juicy burgers every time, especially if you like your burgers a little more well done or you accidentally overcook them (a little insurance never hurts!). If you can’t find ground lamb, feel free to substitute 80/20 ground beef.

What You’ll Need To Make Greek-Style Lamb Burgers

lamb burger ingredients

Step-by-Step Instructions

Combine the bread pieces and milk in a medium bowl. Mash with a fork until a paste forms. Fork in a bowl with panade.

Add the shallots, garlic, mint, oregano, salt, and pepper.

adding seasonings to the panade

Mix well.

panade and seasoning mixture

Add the lamb.

Ground meat in a bowl with seasonings.

Use your hands to mix until well combined.

lamb burger mixture

Form the meat mixture into 6 oval-shaped patties about ½-inch thick.

lamb burger patties

Oil the grilling grates. Grill the patties, covered, until nicely browned on the first side, 2 to 4 minutes. Flip the burgers and cook for a few minutes more until desired doneness is reached.

lamb burgers on the grill

Place the burgers on a tray and cover with foil while you warm the pita rounds on the grill. Assemble the burgers and pass the toppings and tzatziki sauce alongside.

Two Greek lamb burgers on a wooden surface.

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Greek-Style Lamb Burgers

If you like Greek food, you’ll love these flavorful lamb burgers topped with tzatziki, feta, tomatoes and red onions.

Servings: Makes 6 burgers
Total Time: 20 Minutes

Ingredients

For the Lamb Burgers

  • 1 slice white bread, crust removed and cut into ¼-inch pieces
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • ¼ cup finely chopped shallots, from 1 to 2 shallots
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1½ pounds ground lamb (not lean; 80/20 beef may be substituted)
  • 6 pita bread rounds* (hamburger buns may be substituted)

For The Toppings

  • 1 small head iceberg lettuce, shredded
  • 2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
  • 1 red onion, thinly sliced
  • 6 ounces crumbled feta cheese
  • Tzatziki sauce

Instructions

  1. Preheat the grill to high heat.
  2. Combine the bread pieces and milk in a medium bowl. Mash with a fork until a paste forms. Add the shallots, garlic, mint, oregano, salt, and pepper; mix well. Add the lamb, then use your hands to mix until well combined. Form the meat mixture into 6 oval-shaped patties about ½-inch thick.
  3. Oil the grilling grates. Grill the patties, covered, until nicely browned on the first side, 2 to 4 minutes. Flip the burgers and cook for a few minutes more until desired doneness is reached. Place burgers on a tray and cover with foil while you warm pita rounds on the grill. Assemble the burgers and pass toppings and tzatziki sauce alongside.
  4. Note: There are two types of pita bread: pita pockets and pocketless pitas. You can use either for this recipe. For pita pockets, be sure they are at least 6 inches wide. Trim off the top ¼ of each round and stuff the burgers and toppings inside. For pocketless pitas, serve burgers open-faced or, if pitas are large enough, wrap them around burgers.
  5. Make-Ahead/Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The uncooked burgers can be made and refrigerated up to one day ahead of time or frozen for up to three months. (Freeze the burgers on a baking sheet or plate so their shape sets, then transfer them to a sealable plastic bag for easy storage.) Defrost the burgers overnight in the refrigerator prior to serving and then cook as directed.

Pair with

Nutrition Information

Powered by Edamam

  • Per serving (6 servings)
  • Serving size: 1 burger
  • Calories: 514
  • Fat: 29 g
  • Saturated fat: 12 g
  • Carbohydrates: 40 g
  • Sugar: 2 g
  • Fiber: 5 g
  • Protein: 26 g
  • Sodium: 456 mg
  • Cholesterol: 83 mg

This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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Comments

  • Yummm! This is so good that we crave it and prepared multiple times! We’ve tried with different meats as well, ground Turkey or Bison. I used your seasonings listed here to do Gyros, similar thing, same presentation. Prepared and grilled in advance to take camping, reheated in foil over the fire. Very Happy campers!

    • — Mara on June 11, 2023
    • Reply
  • Hi Jenn, just wanted to thank you for this incredible recipe. Currently sizzling as we speak. I’ve made it more than a handful of times and it is always a winner. We are gluten and dairy free over here so I substitute almond milk for milk and gluten free bread crumbs for white bread. I also add almost a whole bulb of garlic, because why not? Thank you, thank you, thank you!

    • — Stephanie Strauss on November 29, 2022
    • Reply
  • Made almost as per recipe, was delicious. Topped with white goat cheese instead of feta as we used that up in the Greek salad…

  • The lamb burgers were excellent! I didn’t have any mint, so I used a little bit of peppermint tea then used yellow onion instead of shallots but I just ate it plain with a salad with Ken’s light Caesar dressing. I will make it again!

  • These Lamb Burgers were so delicious. I am Greek so I really know my lamb dishes. We all loved them. I served them on rolls with home made tzatziki, my garden tomatoes and red onions. Your recipe is a keeper! Thanks so much for sharing.

  • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!!!! Made these lil guys tonight 8-25-21. Omgggg! They were EXCELLENT! Thank you sooo much . 🇬🇷

  • Imade this recipee along with the israeli salad….a big hit….delicious mix of herbs in both recipees….thank you!

  • Great recipe! My husband raves about them every tine we make them. Fantastic!!

    • — Michelle Burch
    • Reply
  • I am definitely not a fan of mint. When I do use it I use it very SPARINGLY, so 2 TBSP of chopped mint seems like an awful lot. How minty do these burgers taste on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being you can hardly tell it is in there and 5 being tastes like toothpaste?

    • — Karen A Bashak
    • Reply
    • Hi Karen, I’d give it a 2 (they really don’t taste minty) but feel free to cut back or omit the mint if you’d like. Hope you enjoy!

    • These were hands down the best lamb burgers I have ever eaten or made. This will be our go-to burger recipe going forward. Delish!

  • Amazing everyone is asking for the recipe

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