Easy lettuce-wrapped Bunless Burgers with Cilantro Dill Mayo Sauce make high protein summer meals fast and delicous!
Simply-seasoned burger patties kicked up a notch with a simple cilantro-dill sauce. As with most things in life, don't let the simplicity fool you-these lettuce-wrapped burgers are nothing short of amazing!
Quick Look: Bunless Burgers with Cilantro Dill Mayo
⏲️Ready In: 30 Minutes
🍽Servings: 4
🥗Nutrition: 261 Calories / 26.5g Protein
🥘Main Ingredients: Ground beef, Tomato, Red onion, Pickles, Mayonnaise, Cilantro, Dill
📋Dietary Notes: Gluten free, Grain free, Dairy free, Nut free
⭐Why You'll Love It: These simply-seasoned burger patties make a quintessential high protein summertime meal, made gluten free and low carb with lettuce wraps instead of buns!
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Summer wouldn't be the same without a great burger! Whether you choose to lettuce-wrap your burgers or use a gluten free bun, they make a great fast and high protein weeknight meal.
Once you've made these simple burgers, try Low Carb Chicken Cobb Burgers, SunButter Bacon Burgers, or Easy Gluten Free Tuna Burgers for more summer grilling meals!
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Key Ingredients
Ground Beef: While leaner ground beef will get you more protein per 4-ounce patty, extra-lean beef can make for tougher burgers. That said, I often use 88% lean beef for burgers and enjoy the results!
Mayonnaise: My go-to mayo is Primal Kitchen for its simple ingredient list and good flavor, but use whatever you like!
Cilantro + Dill: Fresh herbs add the flavor for the mayo sauce. If you dislike cilantro, you can substitute parsley or use all dill. If you don't have fresh dill available, use 1 teaspoon dried.
Lettuce: My favorite lettuce for lettuce wraps is green leaf lettuce! Using the outer leaves usually works well, and they're flexible enough to wrap without snapping. Collard greens can work well, too.
Toppings: For this recipe, I used classic burger toppings like sliced tomatoes, sliced red onion, and pickles. Obviously, you can change this up if you'd like! Use whatever toppings sound great to you, from ketchup and mustard to pickled onions or even peanut butter (you've got to try my SunButter Bacon Burgers if you're a PB-lover).
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Bunless Burgers
Step 1: Combine mayonnaise, cilantro, and dill in a small dish. If desired, thin the sauce with a tablespoon or so of water.
Step 2: In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, salt, and pepper with your hands.
Step 3: Form the ground beef into 4 equally-sized thin round burger patties.
Step 4: Grill the burgers over medium-high heat for approximately 2.5-3 minutes on each side.
Step 5: To wrap the burgers, place 2-3 leaves of green lettuce overlapping on a piece of parchment paper. Put the burger towards the top of the lettuce leaves and top with cilantro dill mayo, tomato, onion, and pickles.
Step 6: Use the parchment paper as a guice to help firmly wrap the lettuce around the burger, starting from the one side.
Step 7: Wrap the bottom of the lettuce up around the burger, then finish by wrapping the remaining side.
Step 8: Use the parchment paper as a "wrapper" to help keep the burger together and less messy, and dig in!
Top Tips from Chelsea
Don't overmix the meat - This'll make tougher patties. Mix the salt and pepper in with your hands, just until incorporated, then make your patties and call it good.
Make thin patties - I struggled so much with burgers until I finally started making thinner patties! As they cook, burgers shrink and plump up. So it's better for your patties to be more disc-like than hockey puck-like.
Wrapping your burgers with lettuce - I did my best to show the step-by-step of wrapping burgers with lettuce so they mostly stay together, but my best tip is that practice makes perfect! The more you try, the easier it'll get.
Use parchment paper or wax paper as your guide. Trust me, it's so much easier than trying to wrap that lettuce alone.
That said, don't just wrap the parchment paper up in the lettuce wrap pinwheel-style. Then you'll just be eating paper with your burger. No fun.
Instead, you use the parchment paper to help form the lettuce wrap, but pull the parchment paper back to prevent it from getting caught up in your bundle of food.
If all else fails, ditch the lettuce wrap and make it a salad.
Freeze leftover or unused patties - You can easily prep several batches of patties and freeze them until you want to grill!
Lettuce-Wrapped Bunless burger FAQs
I prefer using green-leaf lettuce because it's crisp but flexible enough to wrap around burgers without snapping. Collard greens can work as well, but they're typically a little tougher than green-leaf lettuce.
Yes! I suggest partially freezing patties laid out flat on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or wax paper, then add the partially frozen patties to a freezer-safe zip-top bag or container. This prevents the patties from sticking together into one lump.
My best tips here: Don't use too-lean ground beef (80-88% works best) so the fat helps keep the meat together.
When forming the patties, firmly press the meat into a ball before flattening into a patty.
Finally, grease the grill grates before grilling so the meat doesn't stick.
Serving Suggestions
A good gluten free burger recipe needs some fresh, light gluten free sides to pair with it!
Make my favorite Thai Cabbage Salad with Peanut Dressing, Celery Salad with Dates & Walnuts, or super easy Tangy Cucumber Salad with Chives.
As a starchy side, serve simple Easy Oven-Roasted Potato Rounds, straghtforward Baked Plantain Fries (great with leftover cilantro dill mayo sauce), or Mashed Plantains!
Did you try this easy Bunless Burger recipe? I'd love to hear what you think! Please leave a comment and rating or tag me on Instagram - I appreciate your feedback.
Print📖 Recipe
Easy Bunless Burgers with Cilantro Dill Mayo Sauce
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 burgers 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Grilling
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Easy lettuce-wrapped Bunless Burgers with Cilantro Dill Mayo Sauce make high protein summer meals fast and delicous! Simply-seasoned burger patties, classic toppings, all kicked up a notch with a simple cilantro-dill sauce.
Ingredients
For the Cilantro Dill Mayo
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ½ tablespoon to 1 tablespoon water (if desired)
- 1 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro
For the Burgers
- 1 pound ground beef, 80-88% lean
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Beefsteak tomato, sliced
- ½ Red onion, sliced
- ½ cup sliced pickles
- Green-leaf lettuce, for lettuce wraps
Instructions
- Make the cilantro dill mayo. Add the mayonaisse, ½ tablespoon of water, dill, and cilantro to a small bowl and stir. If the mixture is still too thick for your liking, add an additional ½ tablespoon water. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve to allow the flavors to meld.
- Preheat grill and make patties. Preheat a grill to medium-high (about 500 degrees F). Using your hands, combine ground beef, sea salt, and ground black pepper to a bowl. Be careful not to overmix! Form the beef into 4 thin patties.
- Cook burgers. Oil the grill grates by brushing with oil. Grill the burger patties for 2 ½ minutes on each side, flipping only once. Rest the patties on a plate for a couple minutes before crafting the burgers.
- Make lettuce wraps. To wrap the burgers, lay out a strip of parchment paper. Place 3-4 pieces of green lettuce on the parchment paper, overlapping a bit. Position the burger patty near one edge. Add tomato slices, red onion, pickled, and cilantro dill mayo sauce. Starting on one end, wrap the lettuce around the burger, using the parchment paper as a guide to help. Wrap the lettuce as tightly as possible, pulling back the parchment paper so it doesn't get caught up in your burger! Fold the back of the parchment paper to contain the burger. Eat immediately.
Notes
- Burger patties need a little fat to hold together and prevent them from being too tough. 80-88% lean ground beef works well, but too lean and the burgers may not turn out well!
- Make thinner patties than you think. The beef will plump up and shrink as they cook, so the thinner the better; they'll cook faster and more evenly.
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