Buffalo burgers, also known as Bison Burgers, are a flavorful and lean alternative to traditional beef burgers. While bison meat is naturally lean, this recipe includes tips to make it deliciously juicy. Serve these tasty burgers with a side of oil and vinegar coleslaw or this potato salad with dill.
Made from ground bison meat, these burgers are prized for their rich, slightly sweet taste and nutritional benefits. Bison meat is tender and less fatty, which can give the burgers a firmer texture if not prepared correctly.
Buffalo burgers are a versatile and health-conscious choice that deliver great taste without compromising nutrition!
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😍 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Bison burgers are tasty and easy to prepare!
- You can prepare these bison patties ahead of time and freeze them until you're ready to enjoy them.
- Bison meat is significantly leaner than beef, with less saturated fat.
🔖 Ingredients & Substitutions
- Bison Meat: Bison meat is very lean, so lean in fact that suet is usually added to the ground meat as a binding agent. I always add olive oil to my bison burgers. Bacon grease, rendered pork fat, or beef tallow can also be substituted.
- Egg: One egg to bind the mixture.
- Bread: I didn't have breadcrumbs on hand and remembered that mom used to add a slice of bread to her beef kofta kebabs mixture. It's a great substitute!
- Seasoning: Montreal seasoning, salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes (optional).
*A full list of ingredients can be found at the bottom of this post.
🍔 How to Make Buffalo Burgers
Step 1: Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, using your hands. Make sure the ingredients are thoroughly combined
Step 2: Divide the meat into nine 4 ounce patties. Form the meat into patties using your hand, or a hamburger press. Place wax paper between the patties and freeze until ready to eat.
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Step 3: Cook buffalo burgers for approximately five minutes per side (either in a frying pan or on the grill).
Pro Tip: Do not press down on the burgers as they cook, this releases all the juices, resulting in a dry burger.
Step 4: Top with your favorite hamburger fixings and serve.
🤷🏻♀️ Recipe FAQs
Bison is lean in fat and high in protein. The fact that it tastes so good is definitely an added bonus. There are many ways to make this bison burger recipe even healthier.
One way to make the recipe even more nurtious is by replacing the bacon grease with olive oil. You can also grill the burgers, instead of frying them. Another idea is to replace the cheese with low-fat cheese or skip it altogether.
As mentioned earlier in the post, bison meat is very lean. Although we're trying to rectify that by adding oil or great, an egg and bread, we still have to figure out how not to dry out the bison burgers as they cook.
The following list will give you some ideas on what goes well on bison burgers.
Sauces and Spreads:
ketchup
mustard
mayo
thousand island dressing
barbecue sauce
chipotle mayo
Vegetables:
lettuce
tomato
red onions
spinach
arugula
freshly sliced jalapenos
Grilled vegetables:
grilled sweet onions
grilled mushrooms
Other:
cheese
bacon
fried egg
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- Instead of plain bacon, you can use turkey bacon.
- To further cut down on calories, leave the mayo off and replace it with mustard instead.
- My favorite way of cutting down on calories and carbs is to use Thomas' Lite English muffins instead of hamburger buns. They're not as "bready" as hamburger buns and have fewer calories/carbs, but you still get to have bread, yay!
- If you're really watching your carbs, serve the burger wrapped in butter lettuce. The soft leaves are the perfect shape and size for burgers.
- Do not press down on the burgers as they cook, this releases all the juices, resulting in a dry burger.
🥩 More Wild Game Recipes
If you enjoy these bison burgers, be sure to check out my new Blackstone smash burgers recipe!
📖 Recipe
Buffalo Burgers
Equipment
- 1 skillet
Ingredients
- 2 lbs bison burger
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Montreal Steak Seasoning
- 3 cloves roasted garlic (pressed)
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1 tablespoon bacon grease (or olive oil)
- 1 slice white bread (torn in small chunks)
- 1 medium egg
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, using your hands. Make sure the ingredients are thoroughly combined
- Divide the meat in half, then in fourths, and finally into nine equally-sized portions. You should have enough for nine 4 oz patties.
- Form the meat into patties using your hand, or a hamburger press. Place wax paper between the patties and freeze until ready to eat.
- Cook for approximately five minutes per side (either in a frying pan or on the grill).
- Top with your favorite hamburger fixings and serve.
Notes
- To cut down on calories, you can substitute thebacon with turkey bacon.
- To further cut down on calories, leave the mayo off and replace it with mustard instead.
- My favorite way of cutting down on calories and carbs is to use Thomas' Lite English muffins instead of hamburger buns. They're not as "bready" as hamburger buns and have fewer calories/carbs, but you still get to have bread, yay!
- If you're really watching your carbs, serve the burger wrapped in butter lettuce. The soft leaves are the perfect shape and size for burgers.
- Do not press down on the burgers as they cook, this releases all the juices, resulting in a dry burger.
Fancy says
I added green onion, just love this recipe! Bison is so much healthier than ground beef yum!
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Fancy Nancy! Thanks for the review, it's much appreciated! 🙂
Alycia Heese says
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Sheila Booker says
I love bison, it tastes much better than hamburger.