Blended Burgers and Beyond: Add Vegetables while Saving Money on Meat

Right now, it’s more important than ever to stretch your food dollar. If you’re looking for a way to make more portions per pound of ground meat, try blending in some veggies! You can make blended burgers, meatballs, meatloaf, sauces, and fillings by mixing ground meat with vegetables before cooking them.

Benefits of Blending

One big benefit of blended meat dishes is that they help make more portions per pound of meat. But did you know they are also a way to include more vegetables to your meals? Adding vegetables to your ground meat dishes helps you meet your MyPlate goal to make half your plate fruits and vegetables. It adds more variety of nutrients and fiber to the meal, while also lowering saturated fat because you’re replacing some of the meat in the recipe with vegetables. Another bonus is that blending vegetables into your meals makes them extra juicy and more flavorful!

What to blend

Try blending any of these vegetables into your ground meat before forming them into burger patties, meatballs, or meatloaf. It also works in dishes that use crumbled ground meat like taco filling, meat pasta sauce, or sloppy joes – just add the vegetables to the skillet right after browning the meat. You can use any type of ground meat, such as beef, turkey, venison, chicken, pork, lamb, or even plant-based crumbles.

• Fresh mushrooms, finely diced or shredded
• Shredded carrots
• Shredded zucchini
• Cooked lentils
• Canned beans, slightly mashed
• Canned pumpkin
• Rehydrated TVP (texturized vegetable protein)

Next time you’re in the mood for burgers or any other dish that uses ground meat, try doing a blend. There are so many possibilities to add new flavors, nutrition, and cost-savings to your old favorites, like this twist on classic sloppy joes:

Turkey Bean Joes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground turkey 
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped 
• 1/2 cup ketchup 
• 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish 
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard 
• 1 can (15 ounces) refried beans 
• 1 can (15 ounces) kidney beans, drained 

Preparation:

1. Wash hands with soap and water. 
2. In skillet, cook turkey and onion 5 to 7 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 160° F on food thermometer. 
3. Drain and return mixture to skillet. 
4. Stir in ketchup, horseradish, mustard, and beans and bring to a boil. 
5. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 10 to 15 minutes, until mixture is heated through. 
6. Serve over toasted bread or buns. 
7. Refrigerate leftovers.