Paleo Mini Burger Platter

It’s simple to get right for everyone’s taste as the whole idea is to serve up lots of sides to go with the patties to cater for all palates including toddlers. The options are endless but I have listed 10 sides that are my favourites including a fermented veg to give this meal an extra nutritious gut healing boost. You can also try more variations in the one meal as the patties are mini size so you could easily have 3-4 patties with different toppings.

Paleo Mini Burgers with Caramelised Balsamic Onions

I’m loving my Staub Cast Iron Grill Pan for my mini burgers and pineapple! (get it here)

Paleo Mini Burgers

In many Vietnamese dishes we like to wrap our meat or fillings with lettuce and herbs, getting your hands dirty is all part of the experience so this Paleo Mini Burger Platter is not far off how I grew up eating except the ingredients are different.

It may seem a little tedious getting so many ingredients together, but it will be totally worth it when you sit down and taste the flavours all together. You can of course cut down the sides and choose what works for you based on your time availability and palate. All these ingredients (except for the fermented veg) can be made the day before.

Paleo Mini Burgers

If you haven’t made fermented veggies before, you can try out the fermented carrots which I think is a great introductory for kids. This one seems to be the most popular with all of our non paleo friends or you can scroll to the fermented foods section on the recipe page for some ideas. You will need to allow 7 days for the fermentation, so in the meantime, you can just add grated carrots instead.

• 500gm minced beef (organic, grass fed where possible)
• 1/2 small onion diced
• 1/2 cup grated carrot
• 1/2 cup grated zucchini
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1-2 tbsp coconut aminos (buy from iherb or amazon) or wheat free tamari (buy tamari from iherb or amazon)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• olive oil for cooking
• 2-3 heads of iceberg, cos or radicchio or a mix

Paleo Mini Burgers (this was a double portion)

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients together with your hands
• Take about a walnut size ball of the mixture, roll then flatten slightly
• If you want to make the caramelised onions, put your patties aside and scroll down below to start on your onions first, then return here 🙂
• Otherwise heat a frypan on medium high with about 2 tbsp olive oil
• Cook for about 3 minutes each side or until brown and cooked through
• If you are including pineapple, you can add them to the pan to cook in the juices now 🙂
• Serve with any of the sides below

For the sides:

 

These are my 10 favourite sides to have with the mini burgers

• caramelised balsamic onions (recipe below)
• guacamole – Mash one avocado, pinch of salt and juice of 1/2 to 1 lime. I prefer to keep this simple since there are a lot of toppings otherwise you can try my other guacamole
• fermented carrots
• bacon
• fried Quail Eggs (since they are mini patties, quail eggs are the perfect size)
• sliced or diced tomatoes
• grilled pineapple (either grill with the bacon or throw in the pan after the patties are cooked)
• grilled japanese eggplant – 30mins prep & cook time (Japanese eggplants are long thin ones which is a perfect size for mini burgers) Heat top element in your oven/grill to 200 degrees, cut japanese eggplants and brush with lots olive oil. Line a baking tray with baking paper and place in a single layer. Grill on both sides for about 10 minutes each or until golden
• grilled red & yellow peppers (capsicum)- 25mins prep & cook time. Heat top element in your oven/grill to 200 degrees, cut slice peppers and toss with olive oil to coat. Line a baking tray with baking paper and place in a single layer. Grill on both sides for about 10 minutes each or until golden
• Grilled or fried haloumi (or cheese) – if you can have a little dairy or sprinkle some sesame seeds or pine nuts instead

Caramelised balsamic onions & guacamole

Caramelised Balsamic Onions

 

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 30mins

You will need:

• 2 large brown onions or 4 medium (or spanish also works well)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp coconut sugar

Method:

• Place a saucepan with the olive oil on medium high heat
• Add the onions and leave for about 2 mins, careful the oil is not too hot as you don’t want to burn the onions
• Gently stir the onions, after about 10 mins you will need to stir more frequently so the onions don’t burn

Caramelised balsamic onions at 20 minutes

• They should be a nice brown colour at 20 mins

Caramelised balsamic onions at 20 minutes

• At 30 mins, add the balsamic vinegar and coconut sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved

Caramelised balsamic onions at 30 minutes

• Remove from the pan so they do not burn and use the same pan for the meat patties

The options are endless with how you can create the mini burgers, you can adjust the patties as well to add anything you like. I like sneaking in some veggies wherever I can so including them in the patties on top of all the sides and lettuce wraps is a bonus. I also get a mix of lettuce as I love the slight bitterness of radicchio and my kids like iceberg of cos.